Bowls North claims overall victory in 2024
A report for The Mercury by Peter Kirby
At the conclusion of Bowls Tasmania’s Statewide Challenge series for 2023-24 at New Norfolk Bowls Club on Sunday Bowls North was crowned the overall winner of the series after topping the table in four sections of the competition, the Open and Senior Men’s and Women’s events. Bowls North-West won the Junior (Under 18) section.
Bowls South did not enjoy much success in the Open Men’s or Open Women’s competitions on Sunday, losing to Bowls North in the morning round and then suffering further defeats against Bowls North-West in the afternoon.
In the morning round, Bowls South’s Open Men shared rink wins with their Bowls North opponents, and drew the third but lost the match by 9 shots overall, 47-56, with Grant Wakefield’s rink of Riley Davie, Jarrah Allan and Anthony Clifford struggling early against North’s Chris Roach, who sustained a good lead until the 8th end when Wakefield made a surge, picking up 9 shots in 3 ends to lead 13-9 after 10 ends. From there Wakefield maintained his lead to win by 7 shots, 23-16.
Peter Bannister’s rink of Ryan Guy-Rees, Ryan McCoull and Chris Norris played a game in 2 parts, with North’s Kane Walker in control early to lead by 8 shots at the halfway mark, then extending his lead to 12 shots after the 11th. From there it was all Bannister’s way, winning every end bar one, picking up 13 shots to Walker’s single gain, for the match to end in a draw, 16-all.
It was a baptism of fire for Nathan Dinning, skipping for the first time in Open Statewide Challenge. Dinning and his rink of Reiley Banks, Brad Carver and Ash Banks started well with 2 singles but then dropped 5 ends in succession to be 7 behind their Northern opponent, the formidable Aaron Page. Dinning was up against it as Page won 12 of the 18 ends played to take out the match by 16 shots, 24-8.
In the other match of the morning round for Open Men, the Tasmanian side won on 2 rinks against Bowls North-West to finish 16 shots up, 56-40.
In the afternoon round against Bowls North-West’s Open Men, Bowls South won on 2 rinks but lost the match overall by 4 shots, 46-50. In a close game throughout between Bannister and North-West’s Anthony Johns, Bannister led early but a mid-game fightback by Johns had him 5 shots in front after 12 ends. From there Bannister finished the stronger, losing just 1 of the last 6 ends to win by 2 shots, 16-14.
Dinning conceded 10 of the 18 ends played against North-West’s Tim Douce but never dropped more than a 3 while picking up several 3’s and a 5 himself to record his first win as an Open Statewide Challenge skip, 18-17.
In another close game early, North-West’s Michael Sims broke away after picking up a 4 on the 5th end, moving to be 8 up after 13 ends against Wakefield. Wakefield won 4 of the last 5 ends but his shot gains were not enough to get close to Sims, losing by 7 shots, 12-19.
In the other match of the final round of the Open Men’s competition, the Tasmanian side had an almighty struggle against a committed Bowls North side, with the overall result not decided until the last bowl of the match, Tasmania finally getting up by a shot, 48-47.
North’s Christopher Roach had a big victory over State skip, Robert McMullen, winning by 12 shots, 24-12, but it was McMullen’s success on the final end that got the State side over the line.
South’s Open Women lost their morning match against Bowls North by 14 shots, 35-49, winning on 1 rink through the efforts of Maddie Johnston and her team of Lyn Crosswell, Barb Liddington and Michelle Moate, who started the better against the North’s Sophie Fletcher to lead by 5 after 10 ends. Fletcher made steady inroads into Johnston’s lead over the final 8 ends to peg back Johnston, who held on to win by 3 shots, 15-12.
North’s Diane Byard was in control of her match with Kerrie Lane and her team of Carolyn Banks, Teena Bennett and Lynette Hall from the second end, to lead by as much as 7 shots. Winning 3 ends in succession from the 11th to 13th ends brought Lane back to within 2 shots of Byard, who then steadied to take out the match by 6 shots, 15-9.
After a good start by Bowls South’s Janet Rutherford, supported by Helen Barnes, Jenny Martyn and Wendy Gray, to lead 4-0 after 2 ends, and still leading by a shot after 5 ends, Rutherford lost 11 ends in succession to her Bowls North opponent, Heather Thompson, dropping 18 shots in the process. A final flurry over the last 3 ends by Rutherford was rewarded with a 6-shot gain, but the damage had been done by Byard, who won by 11 shots, 22-11.
In the other match of the morning round, Tasmania won on 2 rinks, by 11 shots against Bowls North-West, 59-48.
Bowls South’s Open Women played their last match of the competition in the afternoon against Bowls North-West’s Open Women, losing by the same 14-shot margin as in the morning, 50-64. Maddie Johnston made it 2 wins for the day, this time too good for North-West’s Rae Simpson, getting home by 4 shots, 20-16, for the South’s only rink win.
North-West’s Erin Moore was too strong for Lane, winning by 9 shots, 27-18, and Jill Silvey inflicted a similar losing margin on Rutherford, 21-12. Tasmania had a comfortable 17-shot, 58-41, 2-rink win against Bowls North in the other match of the afternoon round of the Open Women’s competition.