Saturday 4th December 2021. Final of the Bowral Bowling Club McGrath Senior Singles. A great, close and exciting match with Gail Fraser adding another Fraser family name to the four already on the trophy. As usual conditions were nothing to write home about with overcast skies but dry and cool. An even start with close ends right from the start. After 8 ends the score was level at 5 shots each. Gail put on a bit of a spurt and won the next 5 ends to move ahead 14-5 shots. Jim won the next 3 ends but was restricted to a single shot each end and now trailed 14-8 after 16 ends. Also limited to 1 shot each end Gail won the next 3 ends and stretched her lead to 17-8 after 18 ends. Two more singles to Jim made the score 17-10. Gail added 4 more shots and was looking as comfortable as you can in a final with a 21-10 lead. Time for the pendulum to swing in Jim’s direction and he brought the score back to 21-15. Gail answered the challenge, picked up some more singles and at 32 ends lead 24-16 shots. Not a bowler to go down without a fight Jim launched his come back. Over the next 8 ends he scored 10 shots to Gails 4 shots and at 40 ends had reduced Gail’s lead to 2 shots and a score 28-26. End 41, 1 shot to Jim. End 42, 1 shot to Jim and they are level 28 shots each. Play continued in an extremely tight game. in which on a couple of the ends Jim barely missed with trail shots which would have swung the match his way. Gail persevered to win the final 3 ends and a memorable win 31-28 in a mammoth 46 ends. Commiserations to Jim who made it a really close match and congratulations to Gail for a splendid win. Gail’s next target is a win in the State Ladies singles. We wish her luck.
Moving onwards to Sunday, a long day was planned with the quarter and semi finals of the Bowral Club Championship Fours sponsored by BOQ. Play got under was in the unending miserable conditions with a temperature high of 10 degrees, not what we expect from summers day even in Bowral. First match of the draw was Robin Staples, Mike Holmewood (for Carl Spilker), Nathan Boyers and Mick Anderson against Chris Forrester (for Graham Hunt), Bob Crowley, Tony Oakes and Bob Edwards. The Anderson team had an early slender lead. Bob scored 3 shots on end 13 to level the score 12 all. Mick scored 4 in reply and won the next 4 ends to ease out to 20-12 shots. Bob won the last 3 ends but each was only 1 shot so lost 15-20. Great game by Nathan and Mick and while all of Bob’s team played well he shone.
Next on the draw was Tim Blake (for Noel Fraser), Dennis Beatty (for Russell Knight), Jim Neely and Dugald Braithwaite. The opponents Peter Cornwall (for Keith Edwards), Terry Norwood, Glen Giese and Brain Porter. This was the closest game of the draw. Brian away to a 5 shot lead before Dugald passed this score to lead 6-5 shots. At 9 ends, 8-6 to Brian. next end they gave away a 5 shot score and Dugald pulled away to 19-12 before it was Brian’s turn for 5 shots and the score 20 all at 20 ends. Dugald team won with a single shot on the final end. All of Brian’s team seemed to be playing well and I understand Brian’s driving was very accurate in the latter part of the game. We would expect a solid performance from quality players in Dugald’s team.
Top of the lower half of the draw was Eric Willacy, Alex Lamb, Julie Hayden and Paul Leverett versus Andy Connor, Stuart Grundy, Oscar Wahlen and Gordon Lewis. Paul’s team out to a strong start winning the first 5 ends for a 8 shot lead. Gordon’s team closed to within 4 shots on end 16 but Paul pulled away again to a comfortable 21-13 shot win.
Final Game looked to be the television rink match with a great match up of very strong, grade 2, bowlers. Terry Butt, Glynn Phillips, Stephen Della and Kevin Stafford against top seeded (if we had seeds) Ashley Lewis, Josh Woodcock, Mick Armstrong (super sub for Gary Brown) and Mick Spong. Not the close tussle that we might have expected from two strong teams. Mick’s team held sway right from the start and never let Kevin’s team into the match. Score 17-2 after 10 ends and 27-5 after 19 ends. kevin did score 3 shots next end to make their score a more respectable 8 shots but Mick finished with a 31 shot total.
Subdued play commenced after a short break with the cold dampening spirits. Mick Anderson team against Dugald Braithwaite team. Playing long ends with Tim Blake leading well Dugalds team eased away to a 7-2 lead after 7 ends. Áfter 13 ends they still lead 10-8. Next end was the match breaker. Mick held two shots close to the jack with Dugald’s closest touching the second bowls. After careful consideration of the situation Mick retired to the bowlers end and delivered a gem of a bowl to take out the Dugald team bowl and collect 6 shots. This gave the team a 14-10 lead and winning the next 4 end took the lead to 20-10 and enough to end up 20-15 winners. Mick was superb all day and amply supported by Nathan and Mike. For Dugald Tim Blake played the long ends well and spare a thought for Jim Neely who having played 46 ends on Saturday played from 10 am to 6 pm on Sunday.
Final game of the day was Mick Spong against Paul Leverett. Mick advanced onwards without trouble with another dominant win. Nine ends before Paul placed a score on the board at which stage it was 15-1 in Mick’s favour. The Mick team continued to score freely and at 18 ends with the score 23-6 the match was declared of his team.
The final is scheduled for next Saturday 12th December. I understand the new event for the under sixties bowlers will be played over this weekend. There is also a final event on the notice board for three bowl pairs on the 19th December with five games of ten ends. A Christmas present really for members from the Club with only $20 entry fee and Christmas dinner included and a $1000 in prize money. Limited to fourteen teams, not surprisingly there is a strong entry already of powerful teams.
