Dover claims early ladder lead
A report for The Mercury by Peter Kirby
The opening round of Bowls South’s Divergence Built Premier Division was played under trying conditions but all matches were completed, nonetheless. Dover came out fired up on their home green and went to an early lead which they held throughout the match despite a late comeback from Claremont. The Claremont rinks of Chris Chalker and Michael Taylor had the opportunity to win their matches on the final end of their games, but great bowls from their opponents thwarted their attempts, Chalker losing to Roger Dale, 17-21, and Taylor, 16-22, to Ricky Ormerod. Dover’s Cam Norris, through excellent bowls, built a big lead over Justin Plummer but a big fightback saw the lead dwindle to just 6 shots at the end of the match, ending 24-18 to Norris. Dover’s Chris Norris and Chris Chalker, Claremont, played out a thrilling draw, 21-all. The 13-1 point win to Dover places them at the top of the ladder.
Newcomers to Premier Division, Howrah, took on a new look Sandy Bay side in perfect conditions (indoors! –ed) for bowls. The green ran a perfect 16 seconds and the only moisture came from some mild perspiration on the players’ brows throughout the match. Sandy Bay won the close encounter 10 – 4 by 6 shots, 79-73, but were headed most of the way in the fortress that is the ‘Howrah-dome!’
Howrah took up an early lead across all rinks. Glen Frame, ably assisted by his dynamite lead Rosie Geeves, had a ding-dong battle with BTS newcomer Kyron Daly. Daly led throughout most of the game only to be mown down by conversion specialist Chris Chivers in the latter ends. Frame up by 5 after 21, 24-19.
The stream rink (rink 1) saw Howrah’s Adam Butler take on young star Lucas Howell. Howell dropped a 5 on the first and struggled to get back the ascendency and in a fairly even match, went down by 4 shots, 15-19. Butler’s front end, Robert Stadler and Janet Rutherford, were solid throughout.
The human metronome, Stephen Graf, was a star for Sandy Bay skip, Ryan McCoull, in his match against ‘the judge’, Peter Jenkins. In a ding-dong battle, it was McCoull’s conversion shots, after he finally hydrated, that proved the difference. McCoull finally getting the chocolates by 8 shots, 24-16. The final rink, where Sandy Bay’s Josh Lording took on Danny Neal, was also close throughout. With Lording’s front end of Andy Carswell and Chris Bye playing well, Lording was able to show his class in the end, getting up by 7 shots, 21-14, and sealing an overall 6 shot 10-4 win for the Seagulls.
Reigning premiers, Kingborough, showed little mercy to their opponents, Cremorne, winning on 3 rinks by 48 shots over their hosts, 103-55. Kingborough’s big winning margin came via Jason Fowler’s 24 shot lead over Ashley Banks, 30-6, and Nic Courto’s 27 shot deference against Peter Marshall, 35-8. Ryan Guy contributed the third rink win for the visitors, 21-16, against Cremorne’s Pat Hoffman. Brad Knight gained a rink win for Cremorne, defeating Will Coad, 25-17.
Glenorchy Rodman travelled to New Norfolk and came away with an 8 shot, split rinks victory, 80-72. Jacob Sheerin-Wall commenced his skipping duties for Rodman in style, defeating Wayne Lampkin by 9 shots, 23-12, with Anthony Clifford contributing the other rink win, 12 shots to the better of New Norfolk’s Mitch Banks, 29-17. Lauren Banks had a good win over Rodman’s Jack Ellis, 22-16. Kerry Hill picked up the other rink win for New Norfolk, defeating Cam Tegg, 21-12.
Brighton opened their season win a split rinks, 19 shot win against their hosts, Buckingham, 90-71. Grant Wakefield set up the win for Brighton with his massive 25 shot win against Kevin Raby, 35-14. He was ably supported by Michael Daniels’ victory against Bucks’ Todd Oakley, 26-13. Grant Chamberlain used his experience to outplay Brighton’s debuting skip, Riley Davie, winning by 13 shots, 24-11. Craig Owen provided the other rink win for his side, defeating Brighton’s Matt Breward by 6, 20-14.