Dover in the boilover of the season – ALMOST
Premier Division report by Peter Kirby
The roster season in Bowls South’s Derwent Eye Specialists Saturday Pennant Premier Division is complete with no late changes in either the top four or last spot on the ladder. Kingborough will host Sandy Bay next Saturday in the Qualifying Semi Final, and Cremorne will be travelling to Glenorchy Rodman to contest the Elimination Semi Final. Sad news for Beltana, which finished in tenth spot, ten points percentage in arrears of Claremont in ninth.
Dover almost claimed the scalp of the season in its home game against Kingborough, but it was the depth of strength across all rinks and never-give-in spirit that brought the minor premiers back from the brink of defeat to win the match by a heart-stopping one shot, with rink wins shared, 77-76. Ryan Guy’s last bowl of the day in his match with Cam Norris proving to be the difference between the two sides, claiming a win for Kingborough by five shots, 21-16. Dover had built up big leads on several rinks early in the match, but Kingborough was able to withstand the pressure to grind their way back into the match. Jason Fowler did well to reduce his loss to Chris Norris to two shots at the end, 19-21, and Nic Courto had a good win for Kingborough, defeating Josh Mazur by thirteen shots, 28-15, to counterbalance Will Coad’s fifteen shot loss to Dover’s Ricky Ormerod, 9-24.
Any remote chance that Beltana had to remain in the top division was well and truly ruined by other results on the day, notwithstanding the daunting task of trying to claim a minimum three rink victory on their home green to gain enough points for survival. In the end, it was a dominant Sandy Bay side that had the three rink win, by 19 shots, 85-66, sealing Beltana’s fate – relegation. Stewart Cashion, with an eighteen shot win over Michael Coppleman, 29-11, led the way for Sandy Bay, while the results on the other three rinks were much more keenly fought. Andrew Norris won by three shots in a tight battle with Shane Young, 18-15, and Bryce Guy claimed the third rink win for Sandy Bay with a one shot lead over Alex McCoull, 20-19. Gary Richardson was Beltana’s sole rink winner, defeating Keghan Booth by three shots, 21-18.
Needing a good win leading in to the finals Glenorchy Rodman had to fight hard against a gallant Brighton. With little separating the teams at the half way mark the home team dug deep to come away with a three rink win, 27 shots up, 90-63. With Danny Gahan and Anthony Clifford playing well, Luke Turner defeated Mick Daniels by 15 shots, 29-14. Peta Barnett led well and Cam Tegg was in exceptional form to defeat a brave Ricky Limbrick by 12 shots, 26-14. A terrific game from Grant Wakefield was not enough to get over the line against Jack Ellis who won by one shot after leading by 9 shots after 14 ends, 18-17. Mark Breward salvaged two points for the visitors with a one shot win over Tony Vince, 18-17.
At New Norfolk, Pat Hoffman ensured that Cremorne held on to fourth position on the ladder, and a place in the finals, with his convincing fourteen shot win against Chris Chalker, 28-14, to be the only highlight for the visitors who conceded the other three rinks to their hosts in a 13 shot loss, 68-81. Kerry Hill had a twelve shot win against Leigh Munnings, 22-10, while Wayne Clark won by eleven shots over Brad Knight, 22-11. Peter Marshall made Lauren Banks work much harder for New Norfolk’s third rink win, going down by four shots, 19-23.
Grant Chamberlain did most to ensure that his side completed its season on a winning note at Buckingham, winning by eleven shots against Claremont’s Craig Coad, 23-12, with Andrew Chamberlain picking up the other rink win for the hosts, defeating Michael Taylor by two shots, 23-21. Paul Hart won by two shots over Jeanette Lane, and Max Barry was the other rink winner for Claremont, taking the match against Craig Owen by four, 21-17. Overall, Buckingham won by 7 shots, 80-73.