BBC BROADCAST WEEKEND DECEMBER 13th/14th         (Terry Norwood at the desk)

Some gristle to chew on for a start:

1. Saturday saw the semi-finals of the Major Fours Championship and the playing off by the first round loosing teams for the Fours Plate. More on that below.
2. Also on Saturday was the BBQ to round off the year and well attended by members. Many thanks to those who pitched in to get that organised and served up on the day, especially Chris Forrester who is a shopping whizz, butterer extraordinaire Robin Staples, sausage turner Owen Williams and crowd manager Peter Flight! The storm and following intermittent rain failed in their attempt to foul things up!!
3. Despite this mayhem, the sausages, bread and onions were edible . . . well, no reports of food poisoning yet!
4. The Southern Highlands Cup was concluded on Sunday with the playing of the final round at Robertson. More on that below.
5. The executive of the Men’s Committee will hold its December meeting on Wednesday at 10am. Bowlers can get any issue to any of our meetings through the committee members, including Ian Duncan, Chris Forrester, Ted McPhee, Graham Hunt, Robin Staples, Peter Flight, Richard Denman, Gordon Lewis and Terry Norwood. Draft minutes of the meeting will be posted as soon as possible after the meeting.
6. Nominations for the Consistency Singles close on Saturday December 20th, so there is not long now for you to get your name on the list. This is a handicap event where the better bowlers give the newer bowlers a start.
7. The new design of the Bowral Men’s Bowling Club website by Ian Duncan has the go-ahead from management and will be swung into action (sorry, don’t know what the technical term is for that!) in the new year. I’m told it will look prettier and be easier to navigate.
8. And for those who haven’t yet glanced at the previous posting, the mid-week ‘Spirit of Bowral Bowling – FOSS Award’ concluded last Wednesday with Robin Staples finishing in first place, Barry Werfel second and Peter Flight third.

Major Fours Championship Fours Semi-Finals

Dodging the storm and some intermittent rain, the semi-finals were played out on Saturday on the Wilson Green. Despite quite some rain which had the green on the heavy side, bowlers were able play with confidence on either hand.

In the match on rink 3, Gordon Lewis, Ross Barber, Al McGhee and Ash Lewis had the better of the early ends against Rikki Wilson, Tisi Lear, Peter Flight and Mick Flynn to lead 6 – 2 after five. They then advanced this to 13 – 4 after eleven and had the opposition under quite some pressure. Rikki and Tisi were getting some handy bowls away for team Flynn, but all the team Lewis bowlers were managing to destroy anything they set up. Mick’s team kept battling hard through the back half, but horrendous five shotters against them on the seventeenth and nineteenth ends buried their chances. So, first through to the final was the Ash Lewis led team which closed out the semi 29 – 8 on the twentieth end.

In the second match, the favoured team of Noel Fraser, Jim Neely, Dugald Braithwaite and Oscar Whalin took to the green against Mark Barrow, Graham Hartnup, Paul McInerney and Dave Charlesworth and it was Oscar’s team that opened the stronger to lead 8 – 3 after seven ends. And when they then ran the next four ends together, they put themselves into a very strong 17 – 3 position, and had their opposition grasping for answers. Dave’s team did then pick up five shots over ends twelve to fourteen, but then Oscar’s team really applied the heavy screws to smother them and lead 27 – 8 when stumps were pulled. It was an impressive display by four very good bowlers who will take quite some beating in the final.

So, the final of the Major Fours Championship will be staged at 12.30 next Saturday December 20th between the teams led by Oscar Whalin and Ash Lewis, and there will be some fine bowls on display for interested viewers.

Fours Plate Final

In this consolation match for first round losing fours, Barb Wainberg, Ian Duncan, Peter Martin and Mick Fisher took to rink 2 to battle against Arnie Lenczuk (sub for Ted McPhee), Robin Staples, Terry Norwood and Chris Forrester and it was Chris’ four that grabbed the initiative early to lead 6 – 1 after four ends. Continuing to dominate, they pushed this to 11 – 1 after seven, and seemed to have the opposition under real pressure. And then the pendulum swung!! As lead, Barb began to find the jack bowl after bowl, as did Peter her second and they placed their team in excellent positions tight to the jack so that Mick’s team won nine of the next eleven ends and had moved to a lead of two shots. Wow, what a turnaround! However, Chris then steadied his team which responded with a trickle of shots in the head, and by the twentieth end, were back in front by a shot. With it all to play for on the last, Peter gave Mick’s team two shots only to see it reduced to one as the skips went to the mat. And then, under pressure with the match all square as the bowls sat on the green, Chris put down a pearler, to trail the jack and take the match. It was a great game with some fine bowling, and a great final end. 18 – 16 was the final score.

The Fours Plate victors, Terry Norwood, Chris Forrester, Robin Staples and sub Arnie Lenczuk!

 

Southern Highlands Cup

Bowral bowlers headed to Robertson for the final round of the Cup holding a solid lead of 8 points over the second placed Bundanoon, and either of these two teams could claim victory. Each team is represented by two pairs sides and two triples, so each can aim for a maximum of 12 points per round because there are 3 points available for each game.

In the pairs matchup on rink 6, Terry Norwood and Chris Forrester for Bowral were on the end of a horrible thumping from the Robertson pair in both eleven end games, and so earned zero points for Bowral.

In the other pairs match, Bowral’s Oscar Whalin and Dugald Braithwaite lost the first game to Bundanoon, but then bounced back to take the second game and the playoff decider end to collect 2 precious points for Bowral.

In a triples match on rink 1, the team of Reta South, Gail Fraser and Robin Staples won one of the games but lost the other. They also lost the playoff decider end, but collected 1 point for Bowral by winning one of the eleven end games.

In the other triples match, Noel Fraser, Dave Coltman and Al McGhee had an excellent day winning both eleven end games against a Bundy trio and so collected the maximum 3 competition points for Bowral.

So, overall, Robertson on their home green won the day with 9 points, followed by Bowral with 6 and Bundanoon who collected 3 points. The final totals then were Bowral 25, Robertson 15 and Bundanoon 14, and as a consequence, Bowral retained the Eric Pain Trophy. It was a great competition well organised by the Peter Flight (Bowral), Sue New (Robertson) and Scott Kelly from Bundanoon, and eagerly contested by the bowlers from the three clubs. And the dates have already been set for 2026 when Bowral, Bundy and Robbo will again take to the green on 8th, 15th, and 22nd of November.