Seasons greetings fromBallarat Highlands Bowls Region

MOUNT Xavier are having a good season with the club’s Division 5 and 7 sides both positioned in second place in their respective Saturday pennant competitions.

“We have been fortunate to have attracted a number of new bowlers into the club in the past couple of years and this has helped us enormously,” club president Mal Sargent said.

“The greater depth we have with our bowling numbers helps us fill in for when a bowler is unavailable; that always happens from time to time.

“Our Saturday Division 5 and 7 sides are benefiting from this as the teams are going quite well and the composition of the rinks are fairly settled with the availability of players we now have.

“Our Division 1 side have improved from last season and we are getting there, having introduced some younger bowlers into the team.

“This coming match against Ballarat East at East is a must-win game for us.

“We have played the top two sides twice already so the run home after Christmas favours us as long as we are on our game every week and do the best we can with the opportunities that come our way.

“We are two games out of the four so we will need things to fall our way if we are to play finals this season. Saturday’s (14 December) game was tough as Victoria are always a good side when playing on their own deck and so far have remained undefeated.”

The Division 7 side had a good win playing away at BMS with the club’s rink skippered by Bill Lambert scoring a solid 25-shot win to help the team come home with 16 points, with the rinks of Robert Jones and John Edmiston also up.

Jenny Meade of BMS skippered her rink to a 15-shot win to enable the home side take two points from the game. On Saturday, the side is on the road again and will travel to Midlands where a win will consolidate their position on the ladder where they share equal points with Victoria but are separated by percentage.

The club’s Division 5 side on Saturday (14 December) played host to Buninyong and in a close battle went on to win by eight shots thanks to a strong performance in Frank Duggan’s rink, supported by Neil Dart’s and Norman Hughes’s rinks.

They hosted Webbcona just prior to the Christmas break.

Mount Xavier has teams participating in the midweek bowls competition in both Division 2 and 4 and although not in the top half of the ladder the teams have managed to have four and three wins respectively.

Ballarat Highlands Bowls Region’s chair Lloyd Sims wishes everyone a great festive season.

“Season’s greetings to all our bowlers, family and friends. May you all enjoy the festive season, have a happy and health holiday period and a safe and prosperous 2025,” he said.