Orford gifted a grand final berth
Midweek Preliminary Finals report by Peter Kirby
Rain and a flooded green gift Orford Midweek Grand Final berth
Bowls South’s Men’s Midweek Preliminary Finals were played in cold, wet conditions on Wednesday, with the Division 1 game between Orford and Glenorchy Rodman, at Orford, abandoned before the commencement of play, gifting Orford a run straight into the Grand Final against Kingborough.
It was particularly disappointing for the Glenorchy Rodman side, who were hoping to progress further into the finals to give two of the club’s stalwarts, in Luke Turner and Paul Cruise, a great farewell before they venture north to the Helensvale Bowls Club on the Queensland Gold Coast.
On Buckingham’s synthetic green, Royal Hobart took some time to warm to the task against Sorell in the Division 2 Preliminary Final, with Sorell’s Ken Gatehouse and Peter Self on top in their matches against Grant Langridge and Peter McCann. Langridge was able to gradually reduce his deficit to Gatehouse over the closing ends, and McCann used his deft driving skills to restrict the shots lost to Self, who was having a great game.
Barrie Cranwell was Royal Hobart’s only skip to contribute a positive shot count for his side, and with his lead, Peter Hyland setting up good heads for his skip, Cranwell led all day against Sorell’s Andre Legosz. With Royal Hobart facing defeat with two ends to play, it was Cranwell who scored the necessary shots to force the match into an extra end.
Sorell looked to have secured victory in the tie breaker end when holding the shot bowl on all three rinks. With his last bowl Langridge, clipped a wide bowl and moved the jack to win the end by a shot. Legosz picked up a shot against Cranwell to level the scores again, only to have McCann move the jack on his rink to win his extra end against Self by two shots, enabling Royal Hobart to scramble together enough shots to win the match, 52-50.
Also at Buckingham, Claremont has come from fourth position to qualify for a Grand Final berth with it four shot win against Brighton in Division 4. Claremont’s four shot victory, 53-49, was set up by Tony Foley’s defeat of Noel Weeding, 15-11, and Bill Miller’s 23-19 win against David Williams. Claremont’s Garry Francis worked hard for to minimise his shot loss to Brighton’s Keith Roberts, losing by four shots, 15-19.
Earing the right to play its Preliminary Final on its home green, Claremont has earnt a place in the Division 3 Grand Final with its nail biting one shot win, 59-58, against Buckingham, thanks to Paul Davie’s twelve shot win, 25-13, against Buckingham’s Lindsay McTye. Buckingham won on the other two rinks, with Ike Smith defeating Robert Batge, 22-16, and Alvin Cooke winning by five shots against Steven Davie, 23-18.
Next Wednesday, Kingborough will play Orford in Division 1, and Claremont in Division 4 at Buckingham, while at North Hobart Bowls Club Royal Hobart versus Glenorchy City in Division 2, and Glenorchy Rodman play Claremont in Division 3.