This weekend some lovely weather greeted the 32 players who lined up for the Mixed Singles champs. The 32 starters created a problem that the Match Committee rarely has to deal with – there was no way they could find 16 markers for the event. The solution was to reduce the games to first to 15 points, and to play half the field on Saturday morning and half in the afternoon. With the 2 out of 3 wins format this meant that six games would need to be played on the day.
Tony had shaved a good deal more leaf off the cotula for the occasion so the green was looking great and running quicker than it has so far this season. So conditions were ideal for good quality bowls – apart from a very brief flurry of rain on Saturday morning. By the end of the day 20 players had qualified for post-section on Sunday. The first round on Sunday morning reduced the field to 16 – Grahame Law, Les Judd, Jimmy Adams, Rob. Cotter, Hazel Rose, Liz Galloway, Bronwyn McMahon, Jim Bagnall, Barnaby Hamid, Ken Hayward, Omeka Feaunati, Diane Short, Les Galloway, Joe Wnek, Peter Brown and Mary Judd – 11 men and and 5 women. After the second game Grahame, Jimmy, Liz, Bronwyn, Ken, Omeka, Les and Mary were out of the race and 8 were left. The next round left the 4 semi-finalists as Rob. Cotter playing Jim Bagnall and Dianne Short playing Peter Brown.
The semis, in contrast to the earlier rounds, produced two very clear-cut winners: Rob. Cotter beating Jim Bagnall 15 – 1 and Dianne Short, ( keeping up a female presence in the contest), accounting for Peter Brown 15-4. The final between Rob. and Dianne was much more closely fought before Rob. Cotter came out the winner by 15 points to 12.
And, remarkably 11 rounds of singles had been played and a winner found by just after 3 pm on Sunday. Maybe this is a blueprint for the future – maybe even first to 11 points ! It could all be decided on one day then.
