Trend for ladder changes continues
A report for The Mercury by Peter Kirby
The first round of Bowls South’s Thursday Women’s Pennant for 2024 continued the trend for changes at the head of the table, with Howrah gaining revenge for an early season away loss to their visitors, Kingborough, and reclaiming top position on the leader board with a close 2 shot win, 54-52.
Leonie Price did her best for the visitors through her 7 shot defeat of Sally Ridgeway, but Howrah countered through wins from Denise Tanner’s 5 shot advantage over Maddie Johnston and Charon Foster’s 4 shot defeat of Kerrie Lane, 19-15.
Claremont travelled to Sandy Bay and in perfect conditions for bowls made their intentions clear from the commencement of the match, winning the first end on each rink. The Bay’s Peri Buckley was quick to overcome the early setback, taking the lead against her opponent, Maree Morgan, on the third end, which she maintained for the remainder of the game to win by 3 shots, 16-13.
Claremont’s Meekie Salter started strongly against Jac Phillips, picking up a 4 on the first end, and building to a 9 shot lead by the fourth. From there on the match became a tight contest, with the scores level on four occasions. Salter appeared to gain a winning advantage on the penultimate end, scoring a 2 to lead by 2, but conceded a 2 to Phillips on the last end for the match to end in an 18-all draw.
In an outstanding performance, Jan McPherson claimed the overall result in Claremont’s favour, winning by a massive 18 shots against Robyn Leggett, 25-7, restricting her opponent to 5 winning ends for the match. Claremont won the overall by 15 shots, 56-41, with Sandy Bay slipping from first to fourth on the ladder.
Glenorchy Rodman survived a danger game on Glenorchy city’s tricky synthetic surface, winning on 2 rinks for a valuable 5 shot victory overall, 64-59. Crystal Brooks’ 7 shot defeat of Leonie Hyland, 26-29, and Joy Voss’ 21-16 win against Margaret Poulter were sufficient to offset Peta Barnett’s loss to City’s Ingrid Makowski, 17-24.
Sorell was looking for some much needed points hosting Buckingham in perfect conditions.
After 5 ends all was looking good for the home side, however a medical issue saw play suspended on all all rink and an early lunch taken.
Trish Taylor’s rink lost Kaye Upchurch to a suspected broken ankle and resumed playing with one short. They battled on gamely but went down to Lynette Hall’s rink by 18 shots, 10-28.
Cheryl Holland’s rink came back from 1-9 down at lunch to Buck’s Christine Thompson, and revitalised after the break, with Gwen Scott again leading well, powered home to win by 2 shots, 24-22.
Vicki Philp had a close encounter all day with Buck’s June Guy, with her lead, Claire Doran, posing problems, and Ailsa Milburn bowling some great bowls for the away team. Philp eventually won for Sorell, 23-20. Sorell’s 2 rink wins were not enough to secure overall victory for the home side with Buckingham winning by 13 shots, 70-57.
Rosny Park ensured that it maintained its 7 point advantage over last-placed Sorell, winning on 2 rinks against visiting side Brighton, but losing the match by 16 shots overall, 53-69, due to Brighton’s Lyn Triffitt claiming a huge 20 shot win against Gaylene Ridgeway, 29-9. Unfortunately, Rosny’s 4 shot from its 2 victorious skips, Judith Sherrin defeating Noelene Fehlberg, 21-19, and Carolyn Monks beating Tayla Munro, 23-21, fell far short of reducing the deficit.