Bowls 21/3

MIDLANDS Bowling Club has celebrated last Saturday’s bowls finals by winning through to take the Division 2 premiership.

The club now looks forward to next season, fielding its top side in Ballarat’s Division 1 competition.

“It was a great win on Saturday afternoon and our bowlers certainly appreciated the strong support we had from those watching the game,” club president Barry Wilson said.

“We were well placed earlier in the game when we led out to about a 17-shot lead before Victoria came back at us with a strong challenge. Leigh Yates’s rink played well all day and scored well for the team and their rink’s five shots on the last end helped us end the day with a narrow two-shot win.

“We used Sebastopol’s back green alongside the car park and it bowled well all day.

 

“Our strong performance has created quite a bit of interest in the club so we hope to attract more bowlers into the club next year and beyond. We have a new green going in and this, together with the development of a new clubhouse, should help us attract more bowlers.”

Beaufort Golf Bowling Club managed to recover from a semi-final loss against Invermay by winning the preliminary final against BMS, which brought it back to match up against Invermay for the final, played at the Victoria Bowling Club.

Stephen Topp’s rink played well in both the preliminary and grand finals, which was instrumental in setting the club up to take out the Division 3 premiership.

Club veteran Keith Topp bowled consistently well all day as well as throughout the season in both Tuesday and Saturday pennant competitions.

Victoria’s Division 4 side backed up the club’s Division 1 win the prior Sunday by comfortably accounting for Sebastopol in their game played at Central Wendouree.

 

Noel Verlinden bowled well all afternoon, helping Michael Cunningham’s rink take a 17-shot win, with Frank McGuigan’s rink also scoring a similar win.

This assured Victoria took its second flag for the season in the Saturday pennant competition.

Sebastopol’s Division 5 and 7 sides played off against Mount Xavier at the Webbcona venue and both teams performed well, with the Division 5 side having a strong 36-shot win with all rinks up.

The club also achieved similar success in Division 7 with a 44-shot win, and three of its rinks won on the afternoon.

Ballan finished off a stellar 2024–25 bowls season by taking out the premiership in Division 6, holding Waubra at bay and winning by 15 shots with the rinks skipped by Neville Smith, David McConnell and John Mullane contributing to the win.

The club has enjoyed a terrific year, winning both Tuesday Division 3 and 5 finals, while its remaining two Saturday pennant teams in Divisions 2 and 9 played off in the finals but did not progress to this Saturday’s final.

 

Skipton Golf Bowls Club, in only its second season in the Ballarat competition, took out the Division 8 grand final by upsetting the strong Victoria team with a good win played at Central Wendouree before an enthusiastic supporter base.

Skipper Tim Clarke and his rink bowled excellently all afternoon, winning by 27 shots that helped the team to an overall win of 14 shots at game’s end.

Finally, the Division 9 clash played between Daylesford and Sebastopol on Webbcona’s back green proved a thriller right to the end.

With scores level after both rinks had completed their 21 ends, an extra end had to be played.

The extra end saw Daylesford progress to take out the match by three shots, with the rink of John Anglin up by three shots for the day. Well done Daylesford.