City’s greens shine as state bowls roll

IT was a big weekend of bowls for Ballarat, with the State Region Sides Championships under the control of Bowls Victoria being hosted in Ballarat.

The venues used for the 16-team competition were Ballarat Memorial Sport, Sebastopol, Victoria and Webbcona bowling clubs, with the finals on Sunday being played at Sebastopol.

The Men’s and Women’s Ballarat Highlands Region bowls sides competed well in the competition round matches played on Friday afternoon and Saturday, but unfortunately were unsuccessful in their quest to go through to the Sunday finals.

Competing in the Silver section of the competition, the men’s team won its first match on Friday afternoon against Geelong in a closely fought battle – 60 shots to 55 – which was played at Victoria Bowling Club.

The team’s Saturday matches were played at BMS where it had a comprehensive win over West Coast in the morning, 67 shots to 41.

This set the scene for the last round match played in the afternoon against the Strzelecki Region side, which was a thrilling match watched by a large and enthusiastic crowd, and which was an absolute nail-biter.

It came down to the last end of the rink of Luke Spargo, Ben Morris, Anthony Mathison and John O’Donnell to finish.

They had everyone on tenterhooks, with two shots down on their rink and needing a draw or a single-shot win on the end to get the team through to the final.

Skipper John O’Donnell went to the mat and with his first drive managed to remove one of the two opposing shot bowls. Unfortunately, his second and last drive was unable to connect to the head, leaving the Geelong team that finished the game with a strong win over West Coast – all those looking on knowing it would play through on the Sunday in the final.

The Geelong side had sufficient points to go through to play in the Sunday final against Eastern Ranges, which it lost.

In the Gold section of the competition, Metro West took out the State Championship title.

Throughout the three rounds of the men’s competition, the enthusiastic mannerisms of Kyneton bowler John O’Donnell kept the crowds engaged in the play.

The women’s Ballarat Highland Region side competed well throughout the competition and, while winning the second-round match against Eastern Ranges by three shots, the side was unsuccessful in its first match – losing to the Sandbelt Region side (eventual Section winner) by 10 shots and also to Bendigo Campaspe Goldfields by 12 shots on the Saturday afternoon.

The Sunday final saw the Gold section of the women’s Region Championship won by Metro West and the Silver section won by Sandbelt regions.

With the finals played at Sebastopol on Sunday, the games were extended due to the stormy conditions which interrupted play midway through the final due to thunder and lightning. Even the two games played under the dome had to be stopped. Australia Day

The Clunes and Victoria bowling clubs will have the usual annual celebratory Australia games on Sunday 26 January.

Clunes tournament organiser Peter Brough said there continues to be strong interest in the clubs Open 4s competition, which starts at 10am.

The Victoria club will hold its Australia Day Open Fours tournament on the afternoon of the holiday.

The event is always a fun afternoon for the players, with an Australia Day theme and attire.

The two-game competition will conclude with an afternoon tea and an Australia Day quiz.

Entries for the tournament can be made through tournament director Peter Elshaug on 0418 566 163.

Pennant bowls competition starts this week.