Saturday morning saw the first round of the Championship Pairs Post Section play.
The Cotula green, saw Audrey Sciascia and Joan Hayward playing Hazel Rose and Lodzia Wnek. With only four ends to go, Audrey was leading15-10 but Hazel then scored a 4, then a 2 and then a 1, thus entering the final end with the lead of 2. Back came Audrey with a two so the game was a draw at 17 all. An extra end was played and Hazel scored a 2 to take the match. It had been a really tight game.
Hazel now had to play Susan Boxall and Dianne Short in the semi-final round and found that she and Lodzia were not scoring often enough and ended going down 12 – 18.
The other semi-final was by the two other teams that had had a bye, Ra Walker(s) and Margaret Griffin and Hildi Ewart (s) and Jan Dawson. After 11 ends, the score was level at 10 all, but Ra’s team, by scoring a 5 and later a 3 and then a 1, ended up winning the game 19-16. Even so, it must have been a thrill for Jan, a first year player, to get to a semi-final in a championship.
I didn’t see the final but have been told that the win went to Ra and Margaret, playing Susan and Dianne, the final score 15 – 12.
Ra Walker and Margaret Griffin – Pairs Champions
Two games started at 9.00 in the Men’s Pairs Post-section, Dave Scrivener (s) and Paul Gardner playing Ken Hayward and Trevor Tuatara and the other game was between Neville Turnbull (s) and Brian Coe and Ian Wenham (s) and Jack Willis.
Another game ended in a draw, this time between Dave and Ken. For most of the game, Dave and Paul were in the lead and at the 13th end, were in front 13-8. But with only one end to go, their lead was down to only 1 point. This point, Ken and Trevor got and so they had a draw at 14 all. The extra end went to Dave and Paul with1 point.
My game against Neville was notable by the great leading from Jack and with 3 ends still to go, Neville called the game off with the score at 24-9 to us.
This meant that Dave and I faced off in the next round and the scoring was close for most of the game – after 13 ends it was 9 all. The fifteenth end saw us with a two point lead but then came disaster. At the change of ends, we were down on the head and I felt a drive was necessary, my first for the day. My bowl went into the head but when things settled down it was only to find our closest two bowls were the only ones that had departed and we were five down.
We picked up 2 on the next end leaving us just one point behind. Into the last end we went, they held the shot, we got it back, they regained it and though we nearly regained it, we had gone down and lost the game. It was quite a match,
And for the third time, a game ended up with a tie, this time between Shoota Ballinger(s) and Dave Walker and Fred Adams (s) and Omeka, their game ending at 15 all. Things had been going well for Shoota and after 10 ends they were leading 12-6, but they only scored one more point while Fred scored on all but one of the remaining ends ( nearly all 1’s) and the game was tied. The extra end saw Fred and Omeka pick up a further 2 point for the win 17-15.
So the men’s final was between Fred and Dave and from the score, it was another tight game, the winning going to Fred and Omeka 15-14.
Fred Adams and Omeka Feaunati – Pairs Champions
It certainly had been a most interesting day with some very good bowls having been played.