Southern bowlers to the fore in BTAS Gala Week
A report for The Mercury by Peter Kirby
Bowls South’s pennant competitions are in recess this week due to bowlers from all parts of the state converging on the North-West Coast for Bowls Tasmania’s showcase Gala Week events being hosted by the Burnie Bowls Club, supported by South Burnie, Penguin and Ulverstone Bowls Clubs from Saturday 11 to Friday 17 March. State championship titles will be awarded in Open and B Grade Men’s and Women’s Singles, Pairs and Fours, as well as Disability Singles and Pairs, and Bowling Arm Triples and Fours events.
So far, the Fours events have been decided, as well as the B Grade Men’s and Women’s Pairs, the latter two events due to the low number of entries. Southern bowlers have been to the fore in the Open Men’s Fours, being part of both the winning team and the runners up. Glenorchy Rodman’s Luke Turner and Jack Ellis were part of a composite team with Tim Douce (Latrobe) and Matthew Jackson (Longford), powering their way to a convincing 24 shot win in the Final against another composite team skipped by Claremont’s Mick Taylor, with club mate Dean Shaw, Darren Monks (Rosny Park) and Brad Carver (Kingborough). Douce played some big conversion shots to race out to a 6-0 lead after three ends, then 15-1 after the eight, before finishing 29-5 when the game stopped after the fourteen end.
Latrobe’s Erin Moore teamed up with Kings Meadows Rae Simpson and Invermay’s Debbie Lee and Kim Saunders to win the Women’s Open Fours Championship over a gallant composite combination of New Norfolk’s Lauren Banks and Penguin’s Makayla Gibson, Tracey Little and Glenda Fielding. In an outstanding game of bowls, scores were locked at 18-all after 18 ends and the sudden-death tiebreaker went down to the last bowl before Moore came out on top winning 19-18. Another southern team of Carol Bannister, Jennie Martyn, Nadine Seabourne and Kerrie Lane bowed out at the Semi Final stage, losing to Moore.
The B Grade Men’s Pairs Championship Final was an all-Sandy Bay Bowls Club affair with Mark Guinane and Michael Gallen defeating Bill Mothershead and Tony Barrie, 17-14. In the Open Men’s Pairs, southern combinations won through to the Semi Finals, Glenorchy Rodman’s Jack Ellis and Grant Allford losing by one shot to northerner Rowdy McMullen and Brad Johns (Franklin), 13-12, after defeating star pairing Josh Appleyard and Josh Walker-Davis in the Quarters, 18-17, and Dover’s Rick Ormerod and Cam Norris also failing to progress to the Final.
Friday will be a big day at the Burnie Bowls Club when the Gala Week concludes with Finals in the Open Men’s and Women’s Singles and Pairs, Bowling Arm Triples and Fours, and Disability Singles and Pairs.