Bowls finals half done

IT was a soggy end to the Ballarat District Bowls Division’s big double-header weekend of finals, with the semis last Saturday all completed only to see about half the grand finals washed out late on Sunday.

Divisions 2, 5, 7 and 8 managed to overcome the conditions to play through the wet and arrive at an outcome.

Unfortunately, Premier Division along with 1, 3, 4, and 6 were called off early in the game as rains set in.

Ballarat North Bowling Club were able celebrate with their top side in Division 2 coming home with premiership gold after missing out the previous two years.

The side battled through difficult conditions in constant light rains on the Sebastopol green and managed an 11-shot win in the end with the score of 76 over Clunes’ 65.

“We pushed through some drizzle during the game and just completed our match before the heavier rains set in later in the afternoon,” said North club president and skipper Scott Platter.

“It was a pretty tight game overall with all bowlers competing under the prevailing conditions and each team had two rinks up and fortunately we scored the necessary shots to take out the win overall.

Playing at Buninyong, Midlands got home by seven shots over Sebastopol to take the Division 5 premiership.

Club President Brian Croft who observed the game stated, “It was a great effort by both teams to finish the game under the prevailing conditions and speaks admirably for the good sportsmanship displayed by all the participating bowlers.

“Fortunately there were only light showers which did not affect the good bowls being played in what was a tight contest.

“This is the first premiership the club has won since 2015 and we hope we can enjoy the same success in our contest over City Oval in the Division 1 final when the game next resumes.”

BMS’ Division 7 team had a gutsy win against Linton at Victoria bowling club where the green ran well under constant light rain during the afternoon.

Linton went out to a strong lead midway through the game with Graham Turnull’s rink taking a 14-shot lead however in the second half of the game the BMS adjusted to the wet conditions and grafted out a come from behind five-shot overall win.

The BMS rink skippered by Larry Wilson scored on seven of the last eight ends to take out a 10-shot which which offset the 5 shot loss from others.

“It was a tremendous effort for the teams to stay out in the inclement weather and getting a result in the end,” said BMS president Kevin McLean.

The luckiest teams playing for the Premiership on Sunday were the City Oval brown and City Oval gold sides who had the good fortune of playing under the Dome at Sebastopol.

City Oval’s Ian Robinson came down to watch the game after their Division 1 match was called off, said it was played to a high standard.

 

– BY ANTHONY McCABE