The weekend of the 31st July and 1st August 2021 saw the quarter final and semi final of the  McGrath Major Triples at Bowral Bowling Club.  Entries were down by two teams from last year so all eight teams were straight into the quarter finals on Saturday.  First match was Julie Hayden (substitute for Keith Edwards who is recovering well from gall bladder surgery), Glen Giese and Brian Porter against Terry Butt, Carl Spilker and Mick Anderson.  Across the green I could see Julie’s pale blue bowls peppering the jack and many congratulatory calls for Glen and Brians bowls, so it was obvious the the Brian team was putting up a good showing against the fancied opponents.  The score card bears this out as at 7 ends the score was level at 7 shots all.  By end 10 Brian had the lead 9 shots to 8 shots.  Losing 6 shots over the next two ends put them behind 14-9.  Brian and team then managed also to score 6 shots over the next three ends to retake the lead 15-14.   Very even for the next few ends so that at end 21 Brian still lead 19-17.  For the final 5 ends I understand Carl put down super bowls  so that with that imputus Mick went on to win 27-19.  Probably the score does not show how close Brian and co were to a win.  Down on rink 2 the match was Noel Fraser, Jim Neely and Nathan Boyers against Andy Connors, Glynn Phillips and Josh Woodcock.  With two top teams this should have been a close match.  I cannot give much information about the game as the card submitted only has the last four ends recorded with the Josh team winners 27-20 and no need to play the 25th end.  The feature match of the day would be the match between Oscar Whalan, Russell Knight (substitute for Stephen Della) and Dugald Braithwaite against Ashley Lewis, Kevin Stafford (substitute for Gary Brown) and Mick Spong.  Indeed a tight game with just one shot difference at the finish.  Early advantage  was with the Spong team leading 10-4 at 6 ends and 16-12 at the half way point.  Slight advantage to Dugald over the next 6 ends with 5 shots to 3 shots. Dugald then eased into the lead with 4 shot in the next 2 ends to lead 21-19.  Next end was the match winner as Mick and team scored 6 shots to retake the lead 25-21.  Though Dugald won both the last two ends they fell short of the win by 1 shot.  The final game was another 1 shot margin victory to Terry Norwood, Gordon Lewis and Bob Crowley over Ted McPhee, Eric Willacy and Robin Staples.  Much of their win can be attributed to excellent leading by Terry but not forgetting some great shots by Gordon and accurate saving weighted shots by Bob.  Bob’s team was always in the lead.  A solid start saw 8 single shot end wins to lead 7-1 after 8 ends.  A bit of a fight back saw the score 10-9 at end 13 before another swing to Bob’s side had them leading 19-12 after 18 ends.  The Staples team tried hard to reduce the gap but fell short by 1 shot to lose 22-21.

On to the semi finals on Sunday morning.  Not so nice weather as Saturday with a cool Westerly wind and spitting rain.  First semi was the Spong team, rearranged as Mick Spong was missing to lead David Coltman, second Ashley Lewis and skipping Kevin Stafford.  Their opponents were Terry Butt, Carl Spilker and Mick Anderson.  The first half of the game was very even so that at end 10 scores were level at 10 shots each.  Neither team were able to break away so still level at 19 ends with 17 shots each.  The break came on the next end with a lovely shot by Kevin trailing the jack to his awaiting bowls and scoring 4 shots.  The team followed  up this break by scoring 8 shots on the last 3 ends to advance to the final with a 29-18 win.  The second semi was a real thriller going down to the last end.  Andy Connor, Glynn Phillips and Josh Woodcock against Terry Norwood, Gordon Lewis and Bob Crowley.  This latter team had the higher profile players and started off the match moving to a 12-7 lead after 13 ends.  So the Bob team was not far behind and they had the better of the next 7 ends so that at end 20 all was level with 15 shots each.  Still level 2 ends later at 16 all.  Bob’s team scored a single shot on both ends 23 and 24 and lead 18-16 going into the final end.  So close but so far for the under dogs as a great finish by Josh team had them score 3 shots on the final end and win by that single shot.

Final will be played next Saturday 7th August and feature Ashley Lewis, Kevin Stafford and Mick Spong (or substitutes) against Andy Connor, Glynn Phillips and Josh Woodcock..  Should be a high quality match.