Only 6 teams entered this year’s competition and by the end of the qualifying rounds on Saturday,three teams had made it through to post section.
On paper, some teams looked much stronger that others but one never knows how things will go in the game of bowls.
In Rnd 1 Christine Gardner’s team got off to a slow start against Ra Walker’s team and at the halfway mark Ra’s four were leading14 to 3. Christine’s team came to life and scored on all but the last end to lead her opponent by one point, 15-14.
The last end was the turning point when Ra’s team scored again, a big 6 points to win the game.
Dianne Short’s team also got away with a good start against Lodzia Wnek’s team, leading by 12 to 3 by the half way mark. Again we saw the trailing team increase their score and with one end to go, Lodzia’s four were only three points behind. A further one to Dianne ended the game in her favour.
Not so lucky in the other first round game was Margaret Griffin’s team playing against Susan Boxall’s four, finding the opposition too strong.
Dianne’s team maintained their strong play against Susan Boxall’s four in the second round and in a similar fashion, Ra’s team proved to be too strong against Lodzia’s four. The last game in the second round was a real cliff hanger with Margaret Griffin playing Christine and at the end of the last end, the scores were level at 14 all. The extra end saw Christine draw the shot to take the win.
So it came to the 3rd round with Susan and Christine trying to get another win to qualify for post section. All went well for Susan who easily won her game against Lodzia, but Christine’s team failed to beat Dianne.
The end of the day’s play saw three teams qualified. The draw was done for the ‘sudden death’ post section play and resulted in Susan Boxall having to play Ra Walker and Dianne Short taking the bye into the final.
The teams are to organise their own venue and time of play; I understand that the coming Friday morning has been chosen.
We look forward to seeing who comes out the final winner of the Women’s Championship Fours.