GDBA - Geelong Advertiser Bowls Reports

This page contains the report for each weeks round with previous reports available as PDF documents from the links at the bottom of the page. Most of reports have been edited and reduced in sixe to meet the page availability in the Geelong Advertiser. Note these pages are published a day or two after the paper is published.

GDBA – Bowls Report Round 9 – 29^th Nov 2008

Premier

Saturday saw the end of the first half of the home and away season. All games went as expected with the higher placed sides winning, but the nature of each of these games differed greatly.

The Torquay versus Highton game was crucial for both clubs with Highton having lost a couple of close games early and sitting outside the four behind Geelong West and Torquay wanting to get some valuable points to keep ahead of Belmont and avoid relegation. In the end it was valuable for both clubs with Torquay winning 3 rinks but Highton getting up overall to claim the 10 points. Craig Elliott’s rink of Ray Wilkinson, Adam Lee and John Doherty got off to a shaky start trailing by 5 shots after the first 3 ends. That lead for the Torquay rink of Peter Whitmore, Bruno Martino, Ray Thompson and skip Des Bruhn was maintained for most of the day with it getting out to 10 and the final result being 5 shots. Torquay’s Peter Barnes and Mac Smith had excellent preparation for the clash as ex-Highton players they knew the greens well and along with Vin O’Flaherty and Geoff Grigg had a see-saw tussle with Cal Inderberg’s rink of Bill Williamson, Yanek Olsen and Neil Jones. The lead changed 5 times for the afternoon and they were tied at 16 all on the 19^th end. Both Peter Barnes and Cal Inderberg played some magnificent shots during the afternoon including the last 6 ends. Peter Barnes guided his rink to 3 three’s during the run home to secure a 7 shot margin. Daryl Kitchin continued his good form with his side of cliff Sharp, Wayne Canning and Vic Robb went away in the last 4 ends to get a 4 shot win. Craig Hodges rink of Doug McGregor, Ryan Jones and Peter Hardy led for most of the day against Kitchin but lost 7 shots in the last 4 ends. 

Overall however these three rink wins for Torquay were not enough to overcome the big loss on the 4^th rink. Returning from a bruising weekend in Ballarat Lachie Campbell with his rink of Graeme Wright, Rob Priddle and Zane Lugg had a very convincing 39/9 win over the Alan Sampson rink of Noel Phyland, James Banks and Tony Evans. The young James Banks son of former Highton and Torquay skip Gary Banks had a great first game back for the season. The preparation provided to Campbell to reduce the swelling sufficiently on his eye to allow him to see gave him confidence in all his shots. Apart from his leader Graeme Wright who only managed to position catchers at the back of the head, the rest of his rink played high quality ‘Lawn Bowls’. Rob Priddle in the top side for his first game this season had full command of the wide side of the green in the gusty conditions, failing only on the last end on a change of hand. Zane Lugg played consistent bowls over the day and had much the better of his direct opponent Tony Evans who could not find the line in the wind. Things went will for Campbell who played magnificent bowls and for Sampson holes and trails to back catchers were the order of the day. Despite the loss Torquay were happy with the preparation of the green by greenkeeper David Gudgeon.

In the other Geelong based game Queenscliff handed Central Wendouree a thrashing with a overall margin of 52 shots. It was a day for scores of 39 in Premier Division. In this game Steve Sullivan had 39/8 win over John Nunn to compliment the three other Queenscliff rinks great performance. In other games 39 was also prominent with Geelong West skips Mike Kelly 39/11 and Brenton Coad having 39/15 having big wins against Webbcona leaving the languishing at the bottom of the Ballarat section and a fight with Mt Xavier to avoid relegation. The other Geelong based team Belmont travelled to Ballarat to meet Mt Xavier and unfortunately had a significant 84/104 loss which in the context of their season will be crucial. A win against Mt Xavier who were above only one above them on the ladder was crucial and yet they could not make it happen. It will be difficult to see Belmont winning enough games in the second half to avoid relegation. Next week the second half starts with Highton looking for revenge after a 1 shot loss in round 1, Torquay looking to defeat Webbcona who are low on form and last year’s finalists Victoria and Geelong West play again this time in Ballarat.

Premier Ladder, Victoria 126, Queenscliff 117, Geelong West 99, Sebastopol 96, Highton 95, Central Wendouree 75, Mt.Xavier 69, Torquay 57, Webbcona 56, Belmont 20

Division 1

Heading - First Win for Port

Portarlington who were yet to record a win for the season hosted Drysdale who were coming of a series good wins. This week however they were not able to match the restructured Portarlington side or come to grips with the synthetic surface. Leo McNamara’s rink of Wal Skowronski, Lou Dobson and Fred Darbyhad a very convincing win over Steve Duffield’s rink. The Drysdale boys were not able to match the class of the Leo’s side who played magnificently to finish with a 32 shot win. Ivan Gribble has now taken over the skip position from Greg Ash who had only 1 win for the year. This rink with Michael Dennis back in at second and Kevin Todd leading were much too good for the Brian Bennett side of Don McKeeman, John Potter and Ray Bennett winning in the end by 25 shots. Charlies Sproal also had a changed rink with Tony Demaria, Colin Ranger and John McKeon. They played the “young guns” rink of Mitch Jeffs Charlie Harrison, Steve Coates and skip Rhys Jeffs who had over recent week been performing well. This time though the Port rink was able to keep the pressure on and win by 7 shots. The only winning rink for Drysdale was former Ocean Grove skip Charlie Catania who with Ivan Kurelja, Alan Fiscalini and Jim McCooke held of the previously best performing Port skip in Jim Chapman. Charlies side had all the answers against the octogenarian skip to win 31 to 20.

Lara’s season seems to have hit some hard bumps in recent weeks with a loss in round 7 to Bareena by 45 shots and this week to Geelong RSL by 43 shots, significantly both games were played on the sand filled synthetic surface which compared to the new carpet at Lara is a big change. Next week they travel to Portarlington so their challenges are not yet done. This time against RSL they were unable to control a very steady Jim Fitzpatrick rink of Peter Lewis, Steve Dodds and Ray Maloney who came away with a very creditable 36 to 10 win. Jim’s season has been a struggle with only two wins previously out of the 7 completed games but the club is now more than happy with his form. George White continues as RSL top skip following his move from Highton. This round saw a steady 12 shot win. Lara’s Michael Tull is back to the winners list after a big loss last game to Ron Marell. This win puts Mick back toward the top of the skip’s table in Division 1.

In other games Geelong West shared rink wins with Highton but finished well on top in the 16 shot win. New Highton skip Allan Thompson had his hands full trying to contain ex-premier division skip Ian Bush. Ocean Grove continued on their winning way with 16 points and a 33 shot win against Leopold. Leopold are suffering because of a regular change of skips with Andrew Doyle away almost every other week with work commitments. It would appear the secret to bowls success is stability in sides and having your best skip away so often causes problems. Bareen continued the rampaging run, especially at home, with a 83 shot drubbing of Queenscliff. Two wins by 35/18 to Fox and Wilding and even bigger wins to Marell and Shelton spelt the end for Queenscliff who are looking down the barrel of relegation unless they can turn things around in the second half of the season.

Division 1 Ladder, Ocean Grove 114, Bareena 111, Leopold 95, Geelong RSL 93, Lara 93, Drysdale 76, Geelong West 68, Highton 66, Queenscliff 48, Portarlington 46

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