Successful semi-finalists look to the grand finals

THE semi-finals of the Ballarat Bowls season competition were played on a fine Autumn afternoon last Saturday, with Webbcona, Sebastopol, Victoria, Bungaree, Central Wendouree, Smeaton, Ballarat and Buninyong clubs all hosting games.

Smeaton hosted the Division 5 semi-finals with Mount Xavier playing off against Sebastopol for the right to go straight through to play in the grand final in a fortnight’s time, while City Oval competed against Bungaree with the winner staying on to play in the preliminary final.

Mount Xavier’s David Alsop leads off for Colin Thompson’s rink.

Both matches were close, with members supporting their players and watching a thrilling battle for finals success.

Sebastopol won the right to go into the grand final with an overall eight-shot victory over Mount Xavier, made possible by a strong performance on Peter Shaw’s rink, which recorded 16 shots up.

Mount Xavier’s Stephen Jones and Colin Thompson assess the head and discuss the skipper’s shot to be played.

Mt Xavier’s rinks of Frank Duggan and Neil Dart both recorded three shots up followed by the rink of Colin Thompson, who managed a couple of shots on the right side of the ledger.

Mount Xavier will now have to front up on Saturday to play off in the preliminary final against Bungaree, which had a very close match against City Oval, coming from behind to take the lead in the latter stages of the game and record an overall four-shot win with each side having two rinks up.

Mount Xavier’s Olivia McKeegan puts her bowl down for Colin Thompson’s rink. Photos: SUPPLIED

The Michael Spratling rink’s nine-shot win was a decisive factor for Bungaree getting through, while the City Oval rink skippered by Paul Dillon had a seven-shot win, keeping the Hawks in the contest until the final stages.

Bungaree will now compete against Mount Xavier this Saturday for the right to play in the grand final the following week.

“It was a close game all day and both sides played good bowls throughout the match,” Bungaree’s Danny Irvin said.

Bungaree’s Fay Toohey sets herself to bowl.

“It certainly was a perfect day for bowls and the greens ran beautifully all afternoon so we compliment the Smeaton club and their greens volunteers for the way they presented the greens for the final.

“We hope to play here again very soon.

“It’s been our current form that we tend to be down earlier in the game and end up finishing our games strongly and this played out again today.”

Reiterating those comments, Mount Xavier’s Rob Storey said the greens played truly all day.

“It was lovely to come out here and enjoy the country hospitality that the Smeaton club provided,” he said.

The Division 1 semi-finals were played on Saturday, which was followed by the preliminary final on Sunday.

Sebastopol had a win in the semi-final on Saturday thanks to Rob Baker’s rink’s 12-shot win and now goes through to play in this Sunday’s Division 1 grand final.

City Oval easily accounted for BMS and went through to Sunday’s preliminary final.

In Sunday’s preliminary final, Victoria had a two-shot lead at the afternoon break and in the final half of the game performed strongly to achieve an overall win of 25 shots, with Barry Clark’s rink bowling very well all afternoon and contributing 20 shots to the Victoria win.

Sebastopol’s Robert Pelchen and George Dailly conferring before Dailly sends his bowl down.

This Saturday the preliminary finals will be:

Div 2 – Ballarat North v Midlands with the winner to play Victoria in the grand final

Div 3 – Beaufort v BMS with the winner to play Invermay in the grand final

Div 4 – BMS v Sebastopol with the winner to play Victoria in the grand final

Div 5 – Mount Xavier v Bungaree with the winner to play Sebastopol in the grand final

Div 6 – Waubra v Sebastopol with the winner to play Ballan in the grand final

Div 7 – Victoria v Sebastopol with the winner to play Mount Xavier in the grand final

Div 8 – Skipton v Central Wendouree with the winner to play Victoria in the grand final

Div 9 – Sebastopol v Ballan with the winner to play Daylesford in the grand final.

Preliminary finals venues to be announced.

Ballarat’s Women’s Champion of Champions

Central Wendouree Bowling Club hosted this season’s BHBR Women’s Champion of Champions final on Sunday, which saw Ballan’s Anne Draffen win in a tight contest over Webbcona’s Sarah Braybrook.

Draffen will go on to represent the region in the state championships to be played at Bendigo in late April.