Brighton takes advantage as Kingborough wobbles
A report for The Mercury by Peter Kirby
Kingborough’s post-festive season slump continued in Saturday’s round of Bowls South’s Divergence Built Premier Division, losing to visitors, Brighton, on 3 rinks by 37 shots, 62-99, finally surrendering the competition lead to Glenorchy Rodman.
Neither skip was able to gain more than a 3-shot advantage in the first half of the match between Brighton’s Matt Breward and Ryn Guy-Rees. Picking up a 6 on the 13th end proved to be the winning edge for Breward as he powered away from Guy-Rees, winning all but one of the final 9 ends for a 19-shot trouncing of Guy-Rees, 29-10.
In another match that was evenly balanced until Grant Wakefield picked up a 3 on the 13th end, Kingborough’s Jason Fowler added just 3 more shots to his tally over the last 8 ends, with Wakefield adding to the misery was a 7-shot gain on the last end to win by 13 shots, 26-13.
Kingborough’s Nic Courto fought back from dropping a 6 to Brighton’s Riley Davie on the 2nd end to take the lead after the 5th end, and built on his lead until the 12th, dropping a 4 to Davie, who then added another 14 shots to his tally over the final ends to Courto’s 5 to win by 10 shots, 27-17.
After conceding the first end of his match to Brighton’s Mick Daniels, Will Coad was never headed, and although a late rally from Daniels brought him to within a shot of the lead on the 19th end, Coad steadied to win the final 2 ends, and the match by 5 shots, 22-17, to stop a Brighton whitewash.
Glenorchy Rodman’s trip to Dover was fruitful, not only claiming a split rinks decision by 10 shots, 80-70, but also taking the ladder lead. Cam Tegg did the majority of the damage for Rodman, defeating Roger Dale by 17 shots, 27-10, backed up by Grant Allford’s 11-shot win against Cam Norris.
Brad Carver, 10 shots up on Jack Ellis, 25-15, and Chris Norris’ 8-shot win against Anthony Clifford, 22-14, evened the rink wins but were not enough to for Dover to cover Rodman’s shot advantage.
Sandy Bay flexed their muscles, the Seagulls feasting on the Scallops to run out 89–55 victors, winning on 3 rinks away to Cremorne. The Bay started strongly, jumping out to a 20-shot lead after a handful of ends and were never challenged for the rest of the game.
Competition leading skip, Josh Lording, put on a masterclass performance against Brad Knight, playing some amazing shots resulting in a strong 25–14 victory.
Ryan McCoull and his team were never troubled with a comfortable 28–15 win against Leigh Munnings.
Andrew Norris found himself 10 shots ahead early against Ash Banks, and with solid contributions from his whole rink, remained in control for the remainder of the day, ahead by 11 shots, 22-11.
Peter Marshall gained 2 points for the home side. Playing with a new look team of Ian Webster, Dave Watkins and Pat Hoffman, Tex and Co came from behind for a 1 shot victory against Lucas Howell, 15–14.
Buckingham, at home to Howrah, lifted themselves off the bottom of the ladder with an 18-shot all-rinks victory, 77-59, securing their third victory of the season.
Paul Evans led superbly, setting up Todd Oakley’s 21-13 win over Bill Butler, while Stuey Rees defeated John Sutcliffe, 19-13. The final bowl of the day decided the results on the remaining two rinks, Andrew Chamberlain defeating Glenn Frame, 19-16, and Grant Chamberlain prevailed over Peter Jenkins, 18-17.
Claremont won on 2 rinks at New Norfolk, drew the third, with the hosts claiming a rink win through Samual Winter’s 10-shot win against Paul Hart. Michael Taylor had a resounding win over Wayne Lampkin, 29-16, and Chris Chalker won by a similar 16 shot margin, 27-11, against Barry Bone.
New Norfolk’s Lauren Banks and Claremont’s John McDonald played out a 20-all draw. Claremont up by 22 shots, 89-67, the loss relegating New Norfolk to the bottom of the ladder.
With 5 rounds of the roster season remaining, the top four seems to be settled, although the finishing order remains in doubt. Over the next 2 rounds Kingborough faces Sandy Bay, at Sandy Bay, then Glenorchy Rodman at home. Can the Tigers reverse their recent poor form and win both matches, or will they stumble yet again? Winning either of their next 2 matches should confirm a top two finish. Winning both could return them to top spot, otherwise Sandy Bay could push up to second on the ladder.
The battle to avoid relegation has intensified, and is again a tousle between 3 sides. After Bucks’ all-rinks win over Howrah, New Norfolk now in 10th spot, 8 points behind Buckingham in 9th, and the result of their Round 14 encounter, at Buckingham, may decide which of the two will be relegated.