PENNANTS SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 17th
First Division
The Bowral Bulls travelled to Glenbrook for the final round of the Zone 5 pennants competition. The Bowral boys were looking for a win and so work themselves off the bottom of the four team ladder. In this encounter, the three Bowral teams gave a very spirited account of themselves, and all had hard fought games. Unfortunately for Bowral, the results didn’t all work out as hoped for.
In one game, Terry Butt, Carl Spilker, Garry Brown and Mick Anderson took on a particularly strong Glenbrook four. With a very tenacious performance, the Bowral boys held on for an impressive two point victory 25 – 23. In the second game, Gordon Lewis, Ashley Lewis, Mick Spong and Mick Armstrong found themselves with their backs to the wall against their opponents. Unfortunately, despite high quality bowling from the Bulls, Glenbrook took the game 20 – 18 on the final end. In the third game the Bowral four of Andy Connor, Alistair McGhee, Steve Della and skipper Dugald Braithwaite found themselves in battle with a particularly tenacious Glenbrook four. Unfortunately again for Bowral they were unable to match their opponents and went down 25 – 15. Although the master board went against Bowral 68 – 58, it was a very creditable, even if frustrating, performance from the Bulls.
The result overall saw Glenbrook take 9 competition points and Bowral one point. Penrith, who had led the table coming into this final week of competition, secured a 9 – 1 victory over Austral and so headed the competition table. This meant that the incomplete match between Bowral and Penrith from the previous week did not need to be rescheduled and was declared a draw. The five points that Bowral secured from the draw meant that they fell one point behind third place Austral on the competition table. The final positions on the ladder were Penrith 45, Glenbrook 36, Austral 20 and Bowral 19. A tough competition and no doubt the Bowral boys are better for the experience.
Fourth Division
In the final round of the division four competition, Bowral hosted the division champions from Taralga. The Taralga Tigers had secured the championship the previous week with a home win against Picton. That aside, the Bowral Bulls had much to play for as second position on the ladder was still a possibility if the results went Bowral’s way. And, of course, the Bowral boys were determined to seek revenge for the mauling they’d received when they’d ventured to Taralga three weeks earlier.
Although a fine (there were only a few spits of rain during play) and mostly sunny day, a stiff, cold wind blew out of the west. This was to prove a real issue for all the bowlers through the entire day. Play was assigned to the newly renovated synthetic Waratah Green, a surface quite different from anything the Taralga boys were likely to have played on. Running at about 17/18 seconds, the Waratah was quite slick indeed.
In the game on rink 8, Peter Cornwell, Mick Flynn, Tony Oakes and skipper Dave Coltman put in a brilliant performance for Bowral. Winning nine of the first eleven ends, they raced to a lead of 22 – 2. Although the Taralga team fared a little better in the second half of the game, the Bulls surged to a massive 33 – 9 victory, which included an emphatic 4 on the final end. All members of the team played a part in this victory, and congratulations are due to Dave for his clear and decisive leadership.
Chris Forrester, Richard Denman, Terry Norwood and skipper Robin Staples tackled their four on the adjacent rink. In this game also, Bowral began very well despite the fast surface and tricky wind. With Chris leading very well, and skipper Robin guiding the team very astutely, the Bulls led 15 – 4 after eleven ends. The Taralga boys played better in the second half of the game, but with Robin bowling extremely well and Richard getting many of his back-hand loopers in the count, the Bulls came home with a solid 24 – 10 victory.
And the good news for Bowral continued in the third game! Unlike the other two games, Arnold Lenczuk, Graham Hunt, Glenn Giese and skipper Bob Crowley found themselves in a real dog-fight. Down 8 – 0 after six ends, the Bowral four were finding the surface and conditions quite testing. And their opponents were bowling better than they were! However, a 4 shot haul on the eighth end got Bowral moving and another 4 on the twelfth end had them within two shots of the Taralga side. And yet another 4 on the fourteenth end when Graham skilfully put the kitty into the ditch saw Bowral take the lead 15 – 14. With all Bowral bowlers now out-bowling their opponents, they finished strongly to win 23 – 17. This was a truly creditable win to come from behind, and congratulations to Bob for his calm, supportive leadership throughout a pressure game.
It was, therefore, a magnificent day for team Bowral! The master board had Bowral on 80 to Taralga’s 36; a resounding victory. As a consequence Bowral secured all 10 competition points from the encounter, and the interest then turned to the result from the other match between Picton and Bundanoon. And the news for Bowral was good! Picton had defeated Bundy with their first win of the season, and took nine competition points to Bundy’s one. The final competition table then had Taralga in first place with 38 points, Bowral second with 34, followed by Bundanoon on 28.5 and Picton on 19.5. Overall, it was quite a successful season for the Bowral bowlers, who now look forward to the return of the normal pennant season towards the end of summer.
ZONE 5 OPEN RESERVE PAIRS
For the past couple of weeks, the Bowral Bowling Club has been hosting round two and round three matches of the Zone 5 Open Reserve Pairs competition. At the initiative of Board Chairman Steve Della, the Club put itself forward as a possible venue and was fortunate enough to receive the honour.
This last Sunday, September 18th, there were two round three matches staged in the morning, and a quarter final for the winners in the afternoon. The Wilson Green had been chosen as the site, and the bowlers had to contend with a strong wind blowing directly across the surface from the west.
In one of the games, the Taralga pair of Albert Whipp and skipper Geoff Croker took on the pair of Steve Lyons and Karl Szynal from Camden Mens. In the end, the Taralga boys proved much too strong and ran out very convincing winners 23 – 7.
Karl Szynal riding one home! Albert Whipp happy with that one!
In the second game, Juan Enego and skipper Robert Beattie from Campbelltown went head to head with another pair from Taralga, Joe Corby and skipper Glenn Elliott. This turned out to be a much closer game and the boys from Campbelltown and held on to win by a single shot 19 – 18.
Glenn Elliott watched by Robert Beattie! Taralga lead Joe Corby in action!
The quarter final in the afternoon therefore had Whipp and Croker from Taralga up against Campbelltown’s Enego and Beattie. As it turned out, the Campbelltown pair dominated the match to run out comfortable winners 27 – 11.
Taralga skipper Geoff Croker in action!
Congratulations to all players for the high standard of play, and special congratulations to the quarter final winners from Campbelltown Juan Enego and Robert Beattie. Thanks are also due to Bob Crowley and Steve Della for sharing the umpiring duties throughout the day. This was a successful staging of some Zone events, and the Club looks forward to hosting further Zone matches in the future.