The weekend of November 21/22nd 2020 was a busy one at Bowral Bowling Club. To start with, though at Campelltown not Bowral, Club Chairman Stephen Della was contesting the quarter finals of the Zone 5 Champion of Champions Singles. His opponent, Adam Johnson had a home advantage as he was singles champion of Campelltown City. Unfortunately Stephen did not progress to the semi final as he lost narrowly 31-28. I gather at one stage Stephen was 19-5 down, so to come back to lose by just three shots was a great effort. Still, he and Kevin Stafford have the NSW Champion of Champions Pairs to look forward too. A great effort all round.
Meanwhile, back at Bowral the Club was host to Robertson Bowling Club for round two of the Southern Highland Cup/Eric Plain Trophy. Having been the losers at Bundanoon the week before Bowral needed a big effort to ensure they went into the final with a good chance. Bowral performed well and ended the day winning two matches and narrowly losing the third. In the Pairs David Coltman and Alistair McGhee won both nine end sets for maximum points. First set was 10-6 and the second 13-5. Our triples team was Ted McPhee, Dennis Beatty and skipper Paul Leverett. This team also won both sets, the first 11-6 and the second 12-5. Finally in the fours we had Chris Forrester, Julie Hayden, Kevin Stafford and Glynn Phillips. A loss in the first set by 5-12 was followed by renewed effort to have a convincing second set win 16-3. My copy of the score card indicates Bowral won the first two ends of the tie breaker and were 4-0 up. The final end is öff the page” so presume Robertson won this by five shots plus as they won this match. After two of the three round robins Bowral have 3 points, Bundanoon 2 and Robertson 1 with Robertson at home to Bundanoon next week followed by the final with all three teams at Bundanoon the week after.
Over on the synthetic green the semi finals of the Club Senior Singles were being played. On rink 11 Eric Willacy was up against Robin Staples. This was expected to be a very close match with a prediction that there would be no more than three shots gap at the end. As so often happens it did not turn out that way. Robin eased away to an early lead 13-4. By end 21 Robin was up 25-7 before Eric put together some good ends scoring a maximum 4 shots and then a one and a two. This brought him up to 14 shots but five shots to Robin saw him win 31-14. On the next rink Mike Holmewood took on Peter Morales. Another game that could go either way. Mike had the better of early play and was away to a 18-6 lead by end 13. Next end Peter scared 4 to close up a little 18-10. Mike responded and won the next four ends and looked comfortable at 25-10. Never giving up Peter fought on and over the next ten ends accumulated 13 shots, but as Mike only needed 6 shots the margin was too great and Mike won 31-23. Next Saturday, 28th November is scheduled for the final between Mike and Robin. That is also the day of the AGM of the Men’s Bowling Club at 11am, so don’t forget to come early on that day.
Sunday 22nd November and the Club Mixed Pairs semi finals were settled. Elaine Jones and Bob Edwards, coming off that great win against the defending title holders, played Rita South and Brian Porter. The score was even at the beginning, 6 all after 6 ends. Then Elaine and Bob began to pull ahead and were 14-8 after 11 ends and 27-10 after 16 ends. Final score was 36-14 to Elaine and Bob, another very good win. The other semi was Gail Fraser and Jim Neely against Alex Lamb and Carl Spilker. I understand that Gail and Jim always had the edge but had to work hard for their win which in the end was 23-16. Progress scores were 11 ends 11-7 to Gail and Jim, 16 ends they lead 20-12 and as stated final score 23-16. The final will therefore be between Elaine Jones and Bob Edwards seeing if they can continue their giant killing form to beat Gail Fraser and Jim Neely. The final is to be played next Sunday, 29th November 2020.
On the Friday of this weekend the Friday Night Hit Out was concluded. When I have a result I will post it, but note that a new event to this formula is on the notice board ready for entrants. Also do not forget to enter a team for the Bernie Michael Commemoration day on Saturday 19th December 2020.
