Monday finals underway

BY MARG WILKINS

FIRST round of finals in the Ballarat District Bowls Division Monday Pennant rolled into action with matches at venues across the region.

Division 2 was played at Webbcona, and the top two teams from the regular season, Linton and Smeaton, found themselves tied at the bottom of the 74th end.

With one to go the pressure was on and it wasn’t until the last bowl that Smeaton emerged as two-shot winners, 69-67, rewarded with a grand final berth. Not all was lost for Linton as they now meet Learmonth who defeated Central Wendouree by 10 shots in the preliminary final.

That second game was also tightly fought. At lunch Central’s rink skippered by Bill Wilkins had a lead of 13 over Brendan Pym’s outfit. Learmonth’s Chris Powell was on top over Carleen Bowers by 11 shots and it was a similar story for the Lakers on the remaining rink.

As so often happens after a break, Carleen Bowers rink scored a four on the first end and her side edged closer to Learmonth. By the 30th end the Bears held a six-shot lead over Learmonth. Yet Learmonth dug deep and by end 60 they lead by six. With only five ends per rink to go the tension was building. Learmonth proved a little more consistent and came home the winners by 10 shots, 80-70.

Other Results saw Buninyong lose to BMS, 71-73 and City Oval defeat Midlands 73-65 in Premier, Victoria beat Webbcona 64-58 and go straight through, while Beaufort 82 won over Smeaton, 82-52 in Division 1.

In Division 3 Webbcona 76 lost to Creswick, 78-76, and Central Wendouree went down by an even tighter margin to Victoria, 70-69. Finally, in Division 4 Ballarat North were beaten Bungaree, 44-49, but get the second chance and Beaufort are out, following a loss to Creswick 51-47.