Kingborough and Howrah do battle
Ladies Division 1 report by Peter Kirby
23 March 2023
Kingborough and Howrah in battle for place in Grand Final
Bowls South’s Women’s Thursday Pennant Finals series commence today with the Qualifying and Elimination Semi Finals in all four divisions being played. In Division 1, minor premiers, Kingborough will be hosting second-placed Howrah in its Indoor Bowls Centre. Kingborough has won both home and away rounds against Howrah during the season, but Howrah will be buoyed by their Round 12 encounter at the same venue, winning two rinks to one but losing by ten shots overall. A similar effort could have them moving straight to the Grand Final in two weeks. Kingborough, though, having lost just one of their last nine matches, and on a seven game winning streak, have the confidence, form and home green advantage to send Howrah to the Preliminary Final next week.
By finishing third, Sandy Bay will host the cut-throat, Division 1 Elimination Semi Final against Buckingham. Perennial finalist, Sandy Bay’s season commenced rather slowly but has consolidated of late, especially after the return of Carol Bannister to the side, and would be extremely confident of moving on to the Preliminary Final after their solid thirty shot win against Buckingham two weeks ago. Buckingham has had those two weeks to regroup and move on from that loss, and could just squeeze past the home side to keep their season alive.
In other divisions, top side in Division 2, Brighton, will be at home to Sandy Bay in the Qualifying Semi Final. The winner of this match is hard to pick as each has won one of their encounters during the season, although Brighton had a twenty four shot win in their most recent meeting. Home green advantage should help Brighton. The Elimination Semi Final in Division 2 will be played at Kingborough, Cremorne the opponent. Honours are even between the two sides this season, but Kingborough will be somewhat confident having defeated Cremorne comfortably when they played each other on the same green earlier in the season.
Brighton will play their Division 3 Qualifying Semi Final at home against Beltana. The visitors will be supremely confident of a win, having defeated Brighton by 35 shots in their only encounter this season, the other game being a washout. North Hobart, on their home green, would be of the same mind in regard to the result of their Elimination Semi Final matchup with Kingborough, but the visitors will take good form into the match, having had an all-rinks win against second-placed Beltana in the last roster round.
The finalists in Division 4 are new to each other as the roster season for this division was played in two sections, the winner of each section, Claremont and Glenorchy Rodman meeting in the Qualifying Final. The Elimination Semi Final features Royal Hobart in their initial season of Women’s Thursday Pennant, a magnificent feat for the club, taking on Brighton. Both finals matches in this division will be played on a neutral green at Buckingham.