BBC BROADCAST SATURDAY OCTOBER 25th (Terry Norwood at the desk)
Major Singles Championship
After weeks of well fought tussles, the final of this prestigious competition was staged on Saturday October 25th. Much to the relief of the finalists, Dugald Braithwaite and Noel Fraser, the weather was mild and, fortunately, the strong winds of previous weeks had faded to a gentle northwesterly. With Peter Flight as umpire and Terry Norwood as Marker, the players took to rink 4 of the Wilson Green at 12.30pm.
So, to the match . . . Noel won the toss and elected to take the mat which worked well for him as he racked up a three on the first end and shook the nerves out of his system. Unsurprisingly, Dugald then notched up three shots on the next two ends, but, by the sixth end, Noel had pushed out to a lead of 7 – 3. At this stage, Noel was drawing the better of the two, hugging the jack, and keeping Dugald at bay. However, Dugald then found better length to go with impeccable line, and so reduce Noel’s lead to two shots by the ninth. The tenth end then proved decisive; Noel, holding shot, with his last bowl nudged his opponent’s bowl to the jack to lose the end and, it seemed, his momentum, because Dugald then grabbed twelve shots over the next four ends to leave Noel in his wake! In this short burst, Dugald drew magnificently, structured the heads skilfully and left Noel struggling to finish close to the jack. At 19 – 8 ahead, confident and his spinnaker set, Dugald was never going to be run down. Unfailingly, he ground out the final four ends against a valiant Noel who refused to surrender despite the quality of his opponent’s bowling. The final score in Dugald’s favour was a commanding 25 – 10. Hearty congratulations to Dugald on a masterful display of lawn bowls, and, yet again, on becoming the Major Singles Champion of the Bowral Bowling Club. And congratulations also to Noel for reaching the final after some long, drawn out matches through the tournament.
Dugald . . . the style, and, . . . Dugald the Champion!