Senior Sides stumble at New Norfolk
A Bowls Report for The Mercury
by Peter Kirby
The first two rounds of Bowls Tasmania’s Seniors (Over 60’s) Men’s and Women’s State Wide Challenge series were played at New Norfolk Bowls Club on Tuesday. With rain forecast for early afternoon the organisers decided to reduce all games to 15 ends, and to take lunch after the completion of the second round. This proved to be the correct decision as steady showers commenced shortly after the last bowl was played.
Bowls South’s sides did not enjoy the best of days, winning just one of the matches played when its Women’s A side defeated the North West on 2 rinks in the opening round, 45-31. Jeanette Lane, supported by Robyn Ratcliffe (lead), Denise Turner, and Jennie Suttie were the big winners, 26-5 against Karen Redman, and Rosie Geeves’ rink of Kerrie Lane (lead), Janet Rutherford and Lyn Page the other winner, defeating North West’s Jan Marshall, 15-9. Gail Thow won for the North West, defeating Lyn Triffett’s rink of Adrienne Calnan (lead), Sally Knott and Di Peck, 17-4. Bowls South’s A side lost its second round match against the North by 38 shots, 24-62.
In their first round match, Bowls South’s Men’s A side had a very close encounter with the side from the North West, losing by 2 shots, 42-44. A highlight was the 14 shot win by Shane Young’s rink of Scott Booth (lead), Greg Sandford and Chris Norris against North West’s Greg Douce. The South lost on the other two rinks, Tony Vince, with lead Michael Andersch, Greg Fehlberg and Michael Eiszele losing to Ricky Richardson, 10-15, and Grant Chamberlain’s rink of Kevin Raby (lead), Roger Dale and Peter Marshall being defeated by Ian Moore, 9-20. In their second round match, South’s Men’s A side lost on all rinks to the North, 30-54, with Tony Vince losing to Dennis Bassett, 8-15, Grant Chamberlain defeated by David Minns, 13-21, and Shane Young down to Michael Billing, 9-18.
Although Bowls South’s Men’s and Women’s B sides lost both their matches, overall they performed much better than the A sides. The Women’s B side lost their round one match against the North by 9 shots, 40-49, losing on two rinks and drawing the other. In the second round against the North West they had the better of their opponents on two of the rinks with Cheryl Ann Nielsenbeck’s team of Anne Mullavey (lead), Trudy Davis and Christine McGrath defeating North West’s Jan Marshall, 15-6, and Gaylene Ridgeway, with lead Shirley Calvert, Debbie Stearnes and Sue Clark winning 11-9 against Gail Thow. Unfortunately, Roseanne McCann’s team of Miranda Wood (lead), Lee Shead and Di Cleary lost to North West’s Karen Redman, 5-22, enabled the North West to win the contest, 37-31.
In a great performance, South’s Men’s B side’s Grant Allford, with Rex Lowe (lead), Geoff Doyle and Glenn Frame won both of their games, defeating the North’s David Minns, 16-11, and the North West’s Ricky Richardson in the second round, 17-13. Another excellent performance was that of Gavin Cleary’s rink, Peter Gangell (lead), Paul Eaton and Phil Ions who were right in the match at the end of the 14th end against North West’s Greg Douce with the scores locked at 10-all, only to drop 3 shots on the last end to lose the match, 10-13. Shane Peck’s rink of Ross Bannister (lead), Kelvin Lynema and Peter Jenkins lost by of their games, 8-15 to North’s Dennis Bassett, and 13-18 against Ian Moore from the North West. South’s Men’s B side lost to the North, 32-43, and to the North West, 40-44.
The overall standings at the completion of Round 2 of Bowls Tasmania’s State Wide Challenge series has the South leading narrowly on 82 points, 2 ahead of the North West on 80 points, and the North on 65. The North leads the Senior Men’s ladder on 22 points, the North West second 0n 20 and the South 6. The Senior Women’s ladder has the North in the lead on 23 points, the South on 15 and the North West on 10 points. Rounds 3 and 4 of the Seniors State Wide Challenge will be played in the North on Tuesday, 17 January.