Saturday pennant gets underway

IT WAS a cold start that greeted bowlers onto the greens on Saturday for their first game of Saturday Pennant in the Ballarat Highlands Bowls Region.

City Oval enjoyed a solid start to the season with the club’s top five sides having wins and only their Division 9 squad, who were affected by the limited number of available players on the day, going down to Victoria.

“As a Club we were very happy with Saturday’s results, particularly taking into consideration that our Division 1 and 2 sides were promoted this year,” said City Oval’s Ian Robinson.

“The Division 2 side started the season well with their narrow one shot victory over Smeaton who we recognise as a strong team the Division 2 competition.

“Everything was very positive back in the clubhouse after the game and we were all in good spirits.”

The strong wins recorded by City Oval’s Division 1 and 8 sides sees the Hawks head the ladder at this early stage.

BMS also started the season strongly with four of the five Saturday Pennant sides recording wins.

“We are looking for all our teams to finish at least one position better this season, and that means we are aiming to at least see our Division 1 take out the flag this season,” said BMS president Craig Hurdsfield.

BMS’ campaign started well with the Division 1 side securing an eight-shot win and taking 15 points over last year’s premiers Victoria with the game played at the Big V’s home Green and Phil Clamp’s rink playing a decisive role in the result.

The BMS Division 3 side had a tight contest at home against Daylesford before finishing off game winning rolls in the final ends to take a six-shot win with 14 points just placing them in fourth position on the ladder.

Strong wins by the BMS Division 6 and 7 sides sees the club head the ladder in both those competitions.

– ANTHONY McCABE