Kingborough withstand Howrah’s pressure
Ladies Division 1 report by Peter Kirby
25 March 2023
Kingborough withstand Howrah’s pressure to advance to Grand Final
Bowls South’s Women’s Thursday Pennant Finals series commenced on Thursday. The minor premiers in Divisions 1, 2 and 3 all progressed to their respective Grand Finals with strong wins in their Qualifying Semi Finals, with their opponents having a second chance to meet them in the season’s decider through the Preliminary Finals next Thursday.
Division 1 minor premiers, Kingborough, made the most of their home green advantage in their Qualifying Semi Final encounter with second-placed Howrah. Howrah commenced the better of the two sides and had built a commanding twenty shot lead overall a third of the way through the match, but calm and relaxed bowling from Kingborough’s rinks had the two sides level 31-all at the lunch interval, with the home side beginning to take the upper hand. The last half of the match went Kingborough’s way with its lead extending to fourteen shots late in the match, with Kingborough holding off a resurgence from Howrah, to win on all rinks, 67-58.
Maddie Johnston’s rink withstood the early onslaught from Howrah’s Charon Foster, who led 14-0 after 6 ends, to whittle away at the deficit to be 8-14 at the lunch break. Johnston, with her team of Pauline Connell, Colleen Dance and Leonie Price all bowling well, continued to make inroads into Foster’s advantage restricting the Howrah rink to just five more shots over the final fifteen ends, not taking the lead until the completion of the final end, picking up three shots to close out the match in Kingborough’s favour, 20-19.
Kingborough’s Sue Clark, with lead Liz Rickards setting up each end, and Kerrie Lane and Nadine Seabourne chiming in with scoring bowls, withstood a strong challenge from Rosie Geeves to win by the slimmest of margins, 21-21. Sonia Martyn’s rink of Sue Mann, leading superbly, Greta Murray playing weighted bowls into the head to advantage, and Vicki Bannister drawing to the jack beautifully, had the better of Denise Tanner’s rink for most of the match to win by seven shots, 26-19.
Sandy Bay proceeds to the Division 1 Preliminary Final at Howrah next week after a convincing 37 shot all rinks win over Buckingham in their Division 1 Elimination Semi-Final at Sandy Bay proceed to the preliminary final next week. In a magnificent whole team effort, Robyn Leggett ably supported by Chris Dowl, Sally Knott and Gail Price, took complete control from the outset against Jeanette Lane, leading 12-0 after four ends, then maintaining constant pressure and momentum to seal a big 21 shot victory, 32-11.
The match between Sandy Bay’s rink of Jac Phillips, with Carol Bannister as her three, Maxine Munro and Helen Barnes, and Bucks’ Lynette Hall was close until the fifteenth end when Phillips picked up three shots to move to 17-12. A seven shot haul on nineteenth end put the match beyond doubt for Phillips, who went on to win, 28-16.
Peri Buckley, Yvonne Buckley, Dianne Salt and Adrienne Calnan had a far closer contest with Bucks’ Christine Thompson, but were never headed during the match, with a three on the thirteenth end creating a comfortable buffer for Buckley, enabling her to move out to a 14-10 lead. Continuing to play steady bowls, Buckley’s rink went on to close out the match, 21-17.
In other divisions, Brighton defeated Sandy Bay, 56-41, in the Division 2 Qualifying Semi Final, while Cremorne won the right to meet Sandy Bay in the Preliminary Final after defeating Kingborough, 64-39. In Division 3, Brighton won through to their Grand Final by defeating Beltana, 80-33, with Beltana’s Preliminary Final opponent being North Hobart, which defeated Kingborough, 72-51. In Division 4, Glenorchy Rodman is into the Grand Final, defeating Claremont, 51-42, and Royal Hobart will meet Claremont in the Preliminary Final, after their victory over Brighton, 63.46.