Dover achieve a major upset
Premier Division report by Peter Kirby
4 February 2023 (Round 14)
In the major upset of Bowls South’s Derwent Eye Specialists Premier Division, Dover heaved itself off the bottom of the table, defeating Glenorchy Rodman by 4 shots on its home green, winning on 3 rinks, 85-81. After being down 9-12 at the 12th end, Dover’s Chris Norris, with great support from Jarrah Allan in the two spot, applied the pressure against Steve Clifford to run out comfortable 12 shot winners, 29-17. Rick Ormerod, with good support from Barb Liddington, played some big bowls and changed the game against Jack Ellis to win by 4 shots, 22-18, and Cam Norris withstood a late challenge from Luke Turner to win by 2 shots, 20-18. Tony Vince salvaged two points for the home side with a comfortable 14 shot win against Josh Mazur, 28-14.
Gazumped for match of the round by Dover’s phoenix-like triumph, Sandy Bay Premier Division winning streak came to an end on a slow Bay track. Kingborough’s 13 – 1 win was set up by Jarrod Long’s rink of Treb O’Neil, Brad Carver and Shane Garth. Long showed some great form and new work skills by locking previously unbeaten Bryce Guy in solitary confinement, winning by 19 shots, 30-11. Garth set up the win with precision leading and creates a selection headache for Jason Fowler moving forward. Fowler had his own troubles with Keghan Booth early in the game, but managed to get the choccies late with precision slow green bowling to get a 2 shot win, 21-19. Ryan McCoull had a great tussle with Nic Courto, with the scores level with 2 ends to play. Courto found his range and with his front end and three, Nathan Dinning, setting up good ditch to ditch heads, Courto kept his best until last, securing 6 shots in the final 2 ends for a 22-16 win. Ryan Guy resorted to the traditional war cry, ‘Let’s go Scallops’, mid-game which seemed to spark his rink to secure a draw on the last end against Andrew Norris. Norris, who had Guy’s measure for most of the day, secured the only biscuit for the Bay with a 16 all draw. This win catapults Kingborough to the top of the table and sets up a salivating finals series.
Beltana scored an important victory over the visiting side, Cremorne, winning on three rinks, 77-72. Gary Richardson continued his good form beating Pat Hoffman 22-18, Shane Young had a handy 7 shot win against Peter Marshall, 21–15, and Alex McCoull also won by 7 shots against Leigh Munnings, 23–16. Cremorne’s leading skip, Brad Knight, scored two points for Cremorne with a solid 12 shot win over Mick Coppleman, 23–11.
At Buckingham, New Norfolk continued its chase for a finals spot with a split rinks, 11 shot win, 68-79. New Norfolk’s Kerry Hill stopped Craig Owen’s good run to win by 18 shots, 28-10, and Lauren Banks had a comfortable win over Todd Oakley by 10 shots, 19-9. Buckingham’s winning rinks were Andrew Chamberlain, with George Sarfalvy leading well, with a 12 shot defeat of Barry Bone, 27-15, and veteran Barry Nash’s defeat of Chris Chalker by 5 shots, 22-17.
Brighton had a comfortable all rinks, 28 shot win over Claremont, 94-66. In a team effort, Matt Breward’s rink led the way for Brighton to defeat Paul Hart by 12 shots, 30-18. Mick Daniels played some big bowls for his team to defeat Shane Peck by 4 shots, 21-17. Grant Wakefield and Mick Taylor had a close game until the 18th end with Wakefield picking up 13 shots over the last 4 ends to win by 9 shots, 24-15. Ricky Limbrick played well all day to lead his team to a 3 shot win over Paul Grover, 19-16.