A win each for Learmonth and Sebas

LEARMONTH Bowling Club played host to Sebastopol’s Division 4 and 6 sides on the weekend with each club taking a win for the afternoon.

Learmonth’s strong Division 4 team consolidated its position heading up the ladder, taking 17 shots for the afternoon with Sebastopol’s Joe Hayes rink managing to put up a challenge and completing the game with a draw on 17 shots against Ralph Broemmer’s rink.

Strong wins by Paul Beechey and Andrew Powell’s rinks set up a stellar performance by the home side.

The Learmonth Division 4 side goes on to play third-placed Victoria away this Saturday and will need to continue its good form to maintain a leadership position ahead of BMS, and the final home and away match at home against Linton can be expected to be a challenging contest, with the Linton side needing strong wins in the final two matches to have a chance to challenge one of the current incumbent top-four teams for a chance to play finals.

On the top green, Sebastopol’s Division 6 side was able to secure a strong win for the visitors with both Peter Fletcher’s and Max Medwell’s rinks finishing with a combined 41 shots up that helped the team to an overall 39-shot win for the afternoon.

Learmonth’s Kenneth Johnson’s rink was the only home rink managing a win, finishing five shots ahead.

The Sebastopol Division 6 side has two competitive matches ahead and will travel to Ballan this Saturday, where the home team needs to win to head off any challenge for its final four chances.

It will host Smeaton in the last game of the season with the visitors needing strong performances in their final-round matches for an opportunity to gain a finals berth.

During the afternoon’s play, long-time Learmonth bowling member David Powell watched from the bank with great pride the performance of his two great-grandsons, Harry and Jagger, who were leading for the Division 4 rinks of Andrew Powell and Alistair Powell.

“The club has had a good season overall and although we started slowly, since Christmas our team has settled in well and have sustained wins in the last three weeks,” Learmonth’s Beechey said.

“We had many players participate in the Country Week competition this week hosted by Central Wendouree bowling club and this has helped us, with our players taking in their good form they achieved in a week of bowls through to Saturday’s matches.

“Our Division 1 side also had a good win away playing at Webbcona.

“The club is hosting a novice bowler competition on Thursday evenings during the month of February and this initiative has started off successfully with 24 teams taking to the green last Thursday night.

“This is a great community activity which is being well received and we might be able to attract more interest to the game.”