The stage is set for bowls grand finals

BALLARAT bowls grand finals are tomorrow – Saturday 15 March – following the preliminary finals played last weekend.

The Division 6 grand final is poised to be a thriller between Waubra and Ballan. When the teams last met in the semi-final, Ballan had a narrow three-shot win over Waubra with each team sharing two rinks up. Playing in last Saturday’s preliminary final, Waubra had a comfortable 21-shot win over Sebastopol to set up the meeting with Ballan.

“We expect our match shall be very close and they will be tough enough to beat,” Waubra’s Peter Goldsmith said.

 

“Ballan have always been a good crew to bowl against and when we played them at Waubra in round 16 we won by just a single shot and both sides had two rinks up.”

Ballan, who have had a stellar season with all their three Saturday Pennant sides making the finals, will be swinging the whole club’s support behind their one remaining side in this tomorrow’s final.

Invermay and Beaufort are two other country clubs that will meet in the final to play off for the Division 3 premiership.

Both teams have played consistently well throughout the season, with Invermay the leading team in the division.

 

In last Saturday’s preliminary final it came down to a strong performance of Stephen Topp’s rink taking out a 20-shot win that got the side into the final with BMS, winning the other three rinks but without a sufficient margin to take out the match.

The current consistent form of Keith Topp (Stephen’s dad) is one to watch as Beaufort try to win the final over the in-form Invermay team.

In their second season in the Ballarat competition, the Skipton Golf and Bowls Club have made it through to the grand final and will meet the strong Victoria Division 8 side who managed a comfortable win over their team in the preliminary final played a fortnight ago.

 

While Victoria will enter the game as favourites, if all three of the Skipton rinks can perform strongly they can give themselves a chance to take out the premiership and consolidate their position in the Ballarat bowls competition.

The Victoria Bowling Club will appear predominant on the grand final afternoon schedule, with the club fielding finalist teams in divisions 2, 4 and 8.

Their division 4 side will play off against Sebastopol.

This comes after the club won the Division 1 flag last Sunday at Central Wendouree bowling club.

 

It was closely fought throughout the afternoon until the final stages, when the performance of Victoria’s leader Barry Clark and his rink kept Scott Roberts in check and Craig Ford’s rink crept away, building a bridge that Sebastopol were unable to cross and placing the club in a winning position against both of Sebastopol’s winning rinks of Will Matthews and Glen Mattei.

The Victoria Club has won the Division 1 flag for the past three years with Sebastopol once again being runners-up.

The Midlands Division 2 side goes into the grand final in good form, having won both its semi-final against Ballan followed by the narrow three-shot win over Ballarat North last Saturday.

 

Victoria will look for strong performances from Robert Chapman and Shaun O’Loughlin, who have bowled consistently throughout the season, together with Peter Elshaugh providing a strong start for Lindsay Annear’s rink.

Sebastopol and Mount Xavier will play off for both the division 5 and 7 premiership flags. Their respective sides have enjoyed consistent good form in recent weeks and these should be good matches.

Daylesford’s Division 9 side has consistently participated in finals for the past few years, and having again performed strongly throughout the season will be expected to prevail over Sebastopol and take a premiership flag back to the Daylesford community.