Clubs eye a lead on the ladder, and the new year

SMEATON Bowling Club are consolidating their position in both the Saturday and Tuesday pennant competitions this season.

Fielding sides in divisions 2, 5 and 6 on Saturdays the club has managed to secure places in the top sections of the respective competition ladders. The country club’s division 6 side heads the ladder well ahead of Sebastopol, Webbcona and Learmonth.

This coming Saturday the club will be hosting both Ballan and City Oval in their Division 5 and 6 matches respectively and looks set to retain its strong grip of the leadership position in Division 6 as it heads into their match with City Oval.

In what could be expected to be a close contest with Ballan, a home win for their Division 5 side would see the club challenge Webbcona for the ladder leader position although Webbcona would be expected to retain the position for the time being as it heads into its match with Bungaree where it is expected to win.

Smeaton’s top side competing in the Division 2 competition will travel to Victoria on Saturday and a win would position the club to challenge both Buninyong and North Ballarat in the coming weeks for the top position on the ladder.

“We are travelling well and having a consistent year throughout the competition,” said club president Greg May.”You can’t take anything for granted in Saturday’s division 2 and whilst last year we lost games by small margins this season we have enjoyed winning games by similarly small margins.

“I put our club’s overall success down to a group of loyal and committed players who support our club strongly.

“Hopefully the good weather we are having this week will continue and we can start playing more of our games on the club’s grass green.”

Smeaton’s Tuesday pennant sides are well represented in the division 1, 3 and 4 competitions and are likely to have every chance of playing finals if they continue their good form in the second part of the season’s competition.

Ballarat Memorial Sport (BMS) bowling club are also enjoying a sound season across both the Saturday and Tuesday competitions. It’s Saturday teams in divisions 1, 3, 4, 7 and 8 have a chance to be part of the finals action as seasons end if the club finish within strong form in the second half of this season’s matches.

BMS is performing well in the Ballarat Tuesday pennant competition fielding four sides across the six divisions with its third side competing in Division 5 has performed strongly in the first half of the season and maintains a leadership position.

BMS’ Kevin McLean takes a positive position to the club’s future stating.

“The club is going well. It’s been a successful and harmonious year within the club and I think this has contributed to our overall success,” he said.

“We are looking to the new year and what lies ahead in anticipation that a strong performance across all our teams may result in the club being well presented in this season’s finals.

“This Saturday our Division 3 will be hosting Invermay who performed well last week and narrowly lost their match to Victoria so we expect this will be a terrific match.”