Plenty has happened since the last Bowls News was written. An excellent result from the Zone 5 Champion of Champions Pairs. The Consistency and Handicap Singles have been completed. The Handicap Pairs are well under way and the Minor Triples will commence shortly. Pennant training has started on Saturday mornings.
Kevin Stafford and Stephen Della played in the Zone 5 Champion of Champion Pairs competition during May 2022. This was the delayed 2021 event as a result of Covid problems. Kevin and Stephen had a great tournament reaching the finals. In the final they met the Wallacia pair of Kane Shorter and Sam Dukes. Sounded like a close came but the honours were with the Willacia pair taking a narrow victory 18 shots to 14 shots.
Stephen Della was also the winner of the Club Handicap Singles competition. Alistair McGhee was his opponent in the final. Alistair started from a kindly 12 shots while Stephen was on a 2 shot handicap. Do not have much details of the game but gather Stephen quickly reduced the handicap margin and took a good lead. Alistair fought back to close the margin but just fell short losing to Stephen by two shots 29-31 shots. The notice about the match was placed on the notice board so I will repeat it below.
The Consistency Singles was even closer and another cliff hanger of a game. Gordon Lewis (13 handicap) met Bob Crowley (9 handicap) in the final. Bob successfully reduced the handicap of 16 shots so that by 20 ends they were level on 92 shots each. Remember with the consistency game it is first to 150 shots and handicap difference is multiplied by four with 10 shots on offer each end. As the players neared the finish Bob lead by 146-138 and only needed 4 more shots for the win. However, next end Gordon played a blinder and scored 9 shots to 1 to level the score at 147 each. Next end and both players scored 5 shots and were now tied at 152 shots each. Gordon’s best bowl was closest to the jack and the match was awarded to Gordon. A super close hard fought match by both Bob and Gordon with a wonderful result for Gordon. Gordon suggested that this might be his last competition win as age takes it’s toll, but I very much doubt that we have seen the last of Gordon standing on the top step.
Handicap pairs is well under way. A little bit of a delay due to the weather but the competition had reached the quarter final stage by Saturday 29th May. Peter Cornwall and Richard Denman had a good win over Terry Norwood and Brian Porter. Peter and Richard won 21-13 and were always in control. A tight game between Glen Giese and Gordon Lewis against Terry Butt and Kevin Stafford. Glen and Gordon started with a 7 shot handicap lead and held this lead so that at 19 ends they still led 23-19. Next end Terry and Kevin scored 5 shots to take the lead 24-23 shots. Then they rammed home the victory by scoring 4 shots on the last end. A terrific win for Mick Flynn and Peter Morales to take out the highly fancied pair of Bob Crowley and Ashley Lewis 31 shots to 23 shots. The win was maybe helped a little as the Peter pair started with 16 handicap shots ahead. Even so, at the 19th end they led 26-23 and won the last two ends to seal an excellent win. Final match was Ted McPhee and Eric Willacy against Owen Williams and Don Chapman. Owen and Don had a 3 shot handicap start. After 11 ends they still led 13-7. The second half of the match belonged to Ted and Eric who came racing back to win by 11 shots with a score of 29 shots to 18 shots. The winners should play the semi finals next Saturday.
A quick round up of other news. Entries are on the board for the Minor Triples. This event has been moved a little and entries now close on the 11th June with the first round just one week later on the 18th June. The first of the Pennant Training sessions was held on Saturday morning 28th May. A good turn out of bowlers who have put their names down for pennants turned out and everyone seemed to have a good time and hopefully helped improve their game. These training days will continue for a few weeks and should continue to be of good value.