Howrah regains top spot after Round 17
A report for The Mercury by Peter Kirby
The volatility of Bowls South’s Thursday Women’s Pennant continuing in Round 17, Howrah replacing Kingborough at the heads of the table and Rosny’s big win dropping Sorell to last.
In a heated battle both on and off the field at Claremont, the match with Howrah showcased some intense matchups. Meekie Salter faced a formidable opponent in Rosie Geeves, resulting in a decisive 8-28 victory for Geeves.
Maree Morgan, alongside her skilled teammates Maree Careless, Rhonda Rider, and Trudy Davis, demonstrated exceptional determination and prowess, securing a remarkable 25-16 win over Denise Tanner.
The highlight of the day was the nail-biting clash between Jan McPherson and Charon Foster, with McPherson emerging victorious by the narrowest of margins with a final score of 16-15.
Despite Claremont’s moments of brilliance, Howrah emerged triumphant in the overall match, with an impressive 59 shots to Claremont’s 49. While Claremont won on two rinks, they fell short in the final tally. Foster’s valiant effort and Morgan’s stellar performance were among the standout moments in this thrilling showdown on the greens.
Rosny Park, at home to Glenorchy City, took full advantage of City’s poor away form to win on all rinks by 27 shots, 65-38, to reinvigorate their battle for survival in Thursday Division 1 Pennant. Gaylene Ridgeway established Rosny’s dominance over City, defeating Ingrid Makowski by 11 shots, 23-12.
Carolyn Monks continued the misery for the visitors, winning by 9 shots against Leonie Hyland, 22-13, and Judith Sherrin completed the rout with her 7-shot lead over Margaret Poulter, 20-13.
Sandy Bay won on 2 rinks at Kingborough, up by 19 shots, 63-44. It was a disappointing loss for Kingborough, losing top spot on the ladder to Howrah.
Excellent leading by Helen Barnes and consistent bowls by Jan Hobbs, Robyn Leggett and Jac Phillips resulted in a resounding 13-shot win against Kingborough’s Maddie Johnston, 25-12.
Peri Buckley, ably supported by Gail Price, Maxine Munro and Jann Baxter led for the entire game to defeat Kingborough’s Kerri Lane by 9 shot, 21-12.
Leonie Price and Yvonne Buckley played bowl for bowl in a hard-fought contest with Price the victor by 3 shots, 20-17, for Kingborough’s only rink win on the day.
Brighton and Sorell agreed to an early start to get ahead of the forecast 33-degree day. The game started in perfect conditions at Brighton and it wasn’t until later in the morning that the heat started to kick in.
Brighton had a good day with a convincing all-rinks win over Sorell, 83-34. This was a disappointing result for Sorell, who squandered their small lead over Rosny to again find themselves on the bottom of the ladder. Gaining rink points was the aim of the day for Sorell but Brighton didn’t give them a look-in, gaining a big advantage by playing the match on their grass green.
Lyn Triffitt’s team had a good day. In Lyn’s words, she had “an armchair ride”/a great team effort but Lyn wanted to single out Bev Shuker who, at second position, played an outstanding game, putting in a repertoire of textbook shots.
The Brighton team led by skip Tayla Munro had a great 32-14 win against Cheryl Hyland. Tayla remarked on the positivity of her team, which has been consistent in the last few games. With a good rink effort they outplayed Sorell from the commencement of play.
The Brighton rink of Noelene Fehlberg had comfortable 23-10 win against Trish Taylor. Unlike in some previous games where catchup bowls needed to be played, today saw Brighton out of the blocks early with a good lead heading into lunch. Although there was a slight hiccup after the break with Sorell winning a few ends, Brighton regained the upper hand and had a comfortable win.
Players from both teams were relieved by the conclusion of 21 ends with the temperature around 34!
Glenorchy Rodman survived an almighty scare from Buckingham getting over the line by only two shots, 57-55, despite winning on two rinks. The home side’s cause was not helped prior to the game with top skip Joy Voss being very unwell forcing a change to the lineup with Di Peck stepping up to skip and Voss back to number two.
The change had some positive benefits with Voss playing excellent draw bowls and Peck excelling to defeat Christine Thompson by 17 shots, 29-12.
Rodman’s Peta Barnett had Jeanette Lane’s measure for most of the day but dropped 10 shots in the last four ends to put a scare in the home camp. Barnett finally won by 3 shots, 21-18.
With her rink playing well, Buckingham’s Lynette Hall had a day out against Crystal Brooks, winning by 18 shots, 25-7. Brooks secured victory for the home side by winning the final 2 ends of the match, to avoid a devastating loss to the visitors.