Open SWC second sides shine at Kingborough
A Bowls Report for The Mercury
by Peter Kirby
Bowls Tasmania’s 2022-23 State Wide Challenge series continued on Sunday when the first two rounds of the Open Women’s and Men’s section of the competition were played at the Kingborough Bowls Club. As the host region Bowls South fielded A and B sides in both events. in the morning round, Bowls South’s Open Women’s and Men’s A sides played against sides from Bowls North West while the B sides were pitted against sides from Bowls North.
Bowls North West proved to be superior in both the Men’s and Women’s division, defeating Bowls South’s Open Men’s side by 45 shots, 36-81, with skip Keghan Booth’s and his team of Ryan Guy (lead), Brad Carver and Josh Lording the only winning rink for the South, defeating Mark Nitz, 24-20. Bowls South’s Open Women’s A side fared little better against their North West opponents, losing on 2 rinks, 40-50, with South’s rink win coming from skip Lauren Banks and her team of Miley Sutton (lead), Nadine Seabourne and Peri Buckley, recording a close 2 shot win against the North West’s Makayla Gibson, 15-13.
Bowls South’s B sides performed creditably against Bowls North, with both achieving solid 2 rink wins, the Women 10 shot victors, 50-40 and the Men by 8 shots, 52-44. Highlights of these matches were Lyn Triffett’s rink of Wendy Gray (lead), Debbie Smith and Di Cleary defeating Maxine Monson, 19-9, and the Michael Taylor rink of Cam Norris (lead), Paul Grover and Jarrah Allan defeating Lucas Howell by an impressive 18 shots, 26-8. Trudy Davis’ team of Amity Booth (lead), Teena Bennett and Miranda Wood were South B’s other successful rink, 1 shot winners over Rae Simpson, 15-14.
Although Bowls South’s A side played with more determination in the afternoon round against Bowls North it was still not enough to register an overall win, losing on 2 rinks by 9 shots, 45-54. Keghan Booth’s rink completed a very successful day, defeating Bowls north’s Mark Strochnetter, 21-10. The Open Women’s A Side had a reversal of fortunes in the afternoon against their Northern opponents, having a comfortable 7 shot win, 53-46. Although being the losing rink, Crystal Brooks and her team of Peta Barnett (lead), Kerrie Lane and Peri Buckley fought back from being 8 shots down midway through the contest against Erin Moore to reduce the deficit to 3 shots at the end, 16-19, to contribute to her side’s success.
While Bowls South’s B side lost on all rinks in the afternoon to the strong North West side by 25 shots, 34-59, the efforts of Michael Taylor’s rink, 11-14 to David Gamble, and the rink of Jason Fowler, 10-19 to a rampant Josh Appleyard playing some incredible conversion shots, were noteworthy. Bowls South’s Open Women’s B side made it 2 wins for the day with a heart stopping last gasp 1 shot victory over the North West, 51-50, with Trudy Davis’ rink winning by a 1 shot margin again, this time 14-13 against Makayla Gibson. Lyn Triffett’s rink made it 2 wins for the day, also, 23-13 against Alison Venn.
After the completion of the first two rounds of the Juniors and the Open Men’s and Women’s sections of the State Wide Challenge series for 2022-23, Bowls South is defending its possession of the Veolia Overall Trophy on 61 points, 11 points ahead of Bowls North West, 50 points, and Bowls North a further 30 points in arrears on 20 points. The Senior Men’s and Women’s (Over-60’s) section will be contested at New Norfolk Bowls Club on Tuesday, 13 December, to complete the first two round of the series.