BBC PENNANTS BROADCAST SATURDAY APRIL 12th       (Terry Norwood at the desk)

Saturday saw the Bowral Grade Six pennants side travel to Picton to take on the Razorbacks in a top of the table clash. At the start of play, Bowral led the competition by five points so the leadership was up for grabs on the result of this encounter. So to the results of the three matches:

Noel Fraser, Jim Neely, Gail Fraser, Robin Staples   19   Vs   Picton   18

Both sides scored on early ends in this matchup for the Bowral to lead 6 – 4 after six. Bowral then pushed the score out to 13 – 5 after ten ends and looked to be in a solid position. However, Picton then found better form and dominated the next eight ends to tie the score up at 15 all. Under great pressure, Bowral then rose to the challenge to edge to a four shot lead with one end to play. In a ragged last end, Bowral held on to win by a single shot. and so collect a precious competition point.

Reta South, Chris Forrester, Gordon Lewis, Ash Lewis   26   Vs   Picton   18

In this encounter, all Bowral bowlers opened well and with skipper Ash in great form, the team ripped the opposition to lead 13 – 0 after six ends. Picton won a couple of ends but Bowral, with Reta leading strongly and Ash tidying up excellently, continued to dominate and led 20 – 3 after twelve. This was then advanced to 26 – 5 to have Bowral well on top. And then Picton lifted! All Picton bowlers rose to the occasion, out-bowled their opposite numbers and the team scored thirteen shots over the last five ends. Bowral held on for a 26 – 18 win and another point.

Bruce Yahl, Terry Norwood, Dave Coltman, Al McGhee   8   Vs   Picton 27

The home side took the first end with a single but Bowral edged them on the next three ends to lead 5 – 1. Picton then hit their straps to win the next four ends and lead 9 – 5. Bowral got the score to 7 – 9 but the team was fairly ragged and Picton’s third and skip were extremely bowling well. In fact, the back half of the match was a disaster for Bowral as they were consistently out-bowled and could manage to win only one end. Although they battled away to keep the leakage to singles on the last five ends, it was not a good day for this Bowral four.

So, overall, it was a disappointing day for the Bowral side. The two rink wins meant that Bowral collected those two points from the encounter compared to the eight points to Picton. This result meant that Picton now leads the competition by 11.5 points and, with only one round remaining, can’t be beaten for the section 3 title. Congratulations to Picton who came from eight shots behind on the totals board with about ten ends to play across the three rinks to take victory by ten shots. Overall, Bowral remains in second position 3.5 point ahead of the Taralga Tigers and will  finish in second position if they can snatch a win at Robertson in two weeks time.