Dover’s chance blown away by Matt Breward
A report for The Mercury by Peter Kirby
The match of the round of Bowls South’s Divergence Built Premier Division was played on a tricky green effected by wind at Brighton, with Dover handling the conditions better than the home side, winning on three of the four rinks, but a big win by Brighton’s Matt Breward, with his team of Tayla Munro, Lyn Triffitt and Grant White all bowling very well, defeated Dover’s Ricky Ormerod by 22 shots, 34-12, enabling the home team to prevail by 6 shots, 85-79.
Dover’s Roger Dale, well supported by Shane “Skeeter” Garth, traded blows with young gun Riley Davie, with the match all even going into the last end where Dover picked up 2 shots to win, 18-16. Cameron Norris, with his lead John Tapp playing exceptionally well, won 24-19 over Brighton’s Grant Wakefield. Dover’s third rink win came via Chris Nogga Norris’ 9 shot win over Mick Daniels, 25-16. Nogga’s rink all bowled very well, with a great display of draw bowling from his two, Glenn Jager, who handled the wide hand better than anyone on the rink.
On a perfectly presented grass green at Sandy Bay, the Bay secured a split rinks 10 shot victory over Buckingham, 88-78, the early presence of former Bay skip Bryce ‘Bondi’ Guy, was an obvious inspiration to his recently rejected team. The Seagulls jumped out to an early lead with a large winning margin looking likely as Sandy Bay’s Lucas Howell and Josh Lording established big leads over their respective Bucks opponents, Lindsay McTye and Craig Owens.
Josh Lording, supported by Andy Carswell, Christopher ‘Ned’ Bye and Matty Grace shot out to a big 14 shot lead early against Craig Owen only to be pegged back, losing 7 ends in a row. Lording, sporting his ‘Magnum P.I.’ moustache, rallied his troops to win the rink by 12, 30-18. New Sandy Bay young gun skip, Lucas Howell, not to be out done in the facial hair region, also lead well early, jumping out to a 15 shot lead over Lindsay McTye after 8. He was never headed and eventually won by 11, 30-19.
The Bay dominance wasn’t so evident on the other two rinks, with Ryan McCoull going down to Buck’s Todd Oakley by 7, 21-14. Paul Evans, Dave Dyer and Jeanette Lane were solid for Oakley who led from the start never to be headed. McCoull’s early over-hydration a possible factor. Grant Chamberlain, Phillip Wheatley and Peter Gangell were solid throughout the game, earning a hard fought win over Sandy Bay’s Kyron Daly in the final contest. Chamberlain led early but Daly rallied to end up 14 with one end to play. The Bay rink crumbled on the last, conceding 6 shots with Chamberlain picking up a 6 for Buck’s second win, 20-14.
Kingborough continued its near-perfect start to the season with an all-rinks, 60 shot margin over visits, New Norfolk, on Kingborough’s indoor surface, 109-49. New Norfolk’s Kerry Hill was in fine form early against Ryan Guy, leading 7-0 after 5 ends. At this point Guy’s three, Jarod Long, decided that something special was needed to spark his team into action, delivering a near perfectly weighted bowl on a wide line that kept getting wider, finishing two rinks away! It did have an effect, though, with the team knuckling down to the task to win 10 of the final 14 ends played to finish 10 shots up, 27-17.
Will Coad, with his father and son front end, Jordon and Clinton Seabourne providing great starts each end, and his three Brent Forsyth delivering telling conversion shots, was far too good for New Norfolk’s Wayne Lampkin, cruising to a 29 shot win, 36-7. Kingborough skip, Jason Fowler, enjoyed excellent support from all of his team, with lead Tony Rowe giving good starts, followed by perfectly weighted draw shots from Brad Carver, and his three, Darren Reeve, delivering the shots required by his skip, to have a comfortable win over Barry Bone, 28-10.
In the closest match of the day, it was a great skip’s contest between Nic Courto and New Norfolk’s Lauren Banks, with the scores level after 17 ends, 14-all. Nic managed to gain a three shot buffer with two ends to play, which Lauren countered by picking up a single on the penultimate end to guarantee a thrilling finish. When the skips went to the mat for the final four bowls of the match Banks was holding shot and the possibility of claiming either a win or a draw for her side, but Courto’s last bowl ended all hope for the visitors to claim a 3 shot victory, 18-15.
After a slow start the home side, Glenorchy Rodman, asserted its authority over Howrah, winning by 32 shots, 99-67, and picking up 13 points. Jack Ellis received great support from his rink of Kelvin Lynema, Joy Voss and Rod Turner to lead throughout against Howrah’s Glenn Frame, winning by 14 shots, 28-14. After being 3-9 down after eight ends, Rodman’s Anthony Clifford won the mat and changed the length to his advantage, bringing his players into the game. Clifford eventually defeated Adam Butler by 13 shots, 26-13. With Peta Barnett leading well, Cam Tegg picked up six shots on the last end to defeat Howrah’s Danny Neal by 5, 27-22. A magnificent battle between the two leads, Rodman’s Greg Hartshorn for Glenorchy Rodman and Howrah’s Tony Wiley, was the highlight of a great tussle between Jacob Sheerin-Wall and Peter Jenkins with nothing separating the two sides at the end of the match, tying 18 shots all, and Jenkins securing a point for Howrah.
Claremont prevailed 12-2, 3 shot win, 79-76, over a plucky Cremorne outfit in windy, trying conditions at Claremont. Justin Plummer’s rink stormed home, with Adam Taylor leading well, to defeat Cremorne’s Ashley Banks by 7 shots, 21-13. With all members of his rink playing well, Claremont’s Chris Chalker strived to overcome Peter Marshall, only for Marshall grab a crucial 3 shots on the last end to close to within 4 shots of Chalker, 19-23, and tighten up the overall score.
Alex “Hollywood” McCoull’s rink, with Paul “Cardiac” Hart placing some crucial bowls, held off a very good Brad Knight outfit to secure a 1 shot victory for the Mont, 22-21. The Cremorne rink of Pat Hoffman had all the answers for Mick Taylor’s rink, winning by 10 shots, 23-13. Hoffman played some massive bowls to stop Taylor’s rink from scoring heavily. Next Friday night Claremont travels to the Tiger’s Den in Margate for an interesting clash for the Mont.