MURRAY DOWNS
SOCIAL bowls last week was won by Norm Smith (Racecourse), Greg Robertson and Bev McCartney, well done to all.
The jackpot is once again climbing and worth winning.
Duties members next Thursday are Marg Jewson and Sharon Giddings.
We had another four members who recently scored an eight on their rink during Tuesday pennant.
Congratulations to Di Scown, Ken O’Bree, Dawn Deighton and David Timmins, a fabulous achievement and not easy to do, well done.
Barefoot bowls was on again this week with 20 teams taking part. A fun night was enjoyed by all.
Last Saturday’s second semi-finals results finished with two out of our four teams making it through to the grand final.
Well done to Division 1 who had an impressive win over Racecourse and also Division 2 Team 2 who also won against Racecourse.
The first semi-final results were from Division 2 Team 3 who went down by the narrowest margin of one shot.
It was a very close game all day, but Balranald just managed to get over the line.
Division 3 Team 4 also had a very close encounter with Racecourse with the latter winning by five shots, another very close match.
Midweek Pennant results on Tuesday had Division 1 Team 1 defeating Division 1 Team 2.
Team 1 will advance to the grand final and Team 2 play in the preliminary final next Tuesday against Racecourse 2.
Team 3 also had an excellent win over Lake Boga, they will play Racecourse 3 in the preliminary final on Tuesday.
The preliminary finals will all be played at Racecourse. Good luck to both teams.
The Champion of Champions was completed last Sunday at Swan Hill Bowls Club.
Our two Murray Downs champions, Lisa Critten and Josh Thornton, were victorious in their matches.
Congratulations to both Lisa and Josh from all at Murray Downs. A wonderful achievement.
Midweek Pennant – Tuesday teams
Division 1: Murray Downs 2 v Racecourse 2 away – T.Furnell (manager), D.Fisher, N.Weir, P.Furnell; C.McCaig, H.Whitford, D.Griffin, D.Holland.
Division 2: Murray Downs 3 v Racecourse 3 away – D.Angus, D.Barry, C.Parry, K.Burrage; D.Scown, K.O’Bree, D.Deighton (manager), D.Timmins.
Emergencies: Vicki O’Bree, Carl Fox.
RACECOURSE
CONGRATULATIONS to our winning pennant teams, both Saturday and Midweek.
Teams 4 and 5 of Saturday pennant go straight into the grand finals in Divisions 3 and 4.Well done to both.
Division 2, Team 4 of Midweek pennant also goes straight into the granny. Terrific!
Saturday, three teams take up their double chance, when they play in the Saturday pennant preliminary finals.
Good luck Teams 1, 2 and 3.
On Tuesday, Team 2 and Team 3 try to continue their season by another week. Good luck.
Our Wednesday jackpot bowls was played in ideal conditions.
The winners, with two wins and + 18 shots, were Robert Rust, and Sue White and Graeme Morris (Manangatang).
Runners-up, with one win and + 5 shots, were Helen Frame, Michael Grace and Peter Hooper.
Play starts at 9.30am. Names need to be in by 8.45am.
Night bowls continued, with its third round for this season on Wednesday at 7pm.
The winners were Kevin Glen, Scott Treweek and Maya Treweek.
There is still plenty of room for more teams or more single entries.
It’s a fun night, with cheese and biscuit supper after, so players can review the matches and have lots of laughs.
There are lots of other club events which must be played ASAP.
Weekend Pennant – Saturday teams
Division 1: Racecourse 1 v Moulamein 1 at home – G.McKissack, R.Hayes, P.Loughran, Nev Smith; M.Holyoak, D.J.Weaver, S.Domaille, G.Bennett; N.Smith (manager), G.McIntosh, K.Gardner, R.Wolfe. Emergency: F.Devereux.
Division 2: Racecourse 2 v Balranald Ex Services 1 at home – B.Bice, N.Roberts, A.Lindsay, J.Beard; T.Wiseman, R.Doran, A.Threadgold, J.Ford; B.Horsburgh (manager), G.Bailey, K.Vivian, D.McCarron. Emergency: J.Wilcox.
Division 3: Racecourse 3 v Lake Boga 2 at home – L.Taylor, R.Wardle, C.Power, T.Evans; E.Russell, G.Schack, I.Lawry, R.Jones; I.Lockhart, R.Rust (manager), K.Duthie, P Hooper.
Midweek Pennant – Tuesday teams
Division 1: Racecourse 2 v Murray Downs 2 at home – C.Smith (manager), G.Bennett, H.Frame, J.Ford; F.Devereux, Nev Smith, G.McIntosh, V Lindsay. Emergencies: N.Smith, R.Schack.
Division 2: Racecourse 3 v Murray Downs 3 at home – L.Loats (manager), K.Vivian, J.Threadgold, C.Power; E.Lawry, P.Loughran, I.Lockhart, M.Smith. Emergencies: K.Bailey, T.Evans.
SWAN HILL
SWAN Hill Bowls Club has been a hive of activity the past week.
Last Saturday, the MVPA Division 1 first and second semi-finals were hosted by Swan Hill on our magnificently prepared greens.
Moulamein and Lake Boga played out a very close game, with the result unknown until the last ends were played.
Moulamein went home smiling, while Boga were left wondering what went wrong.
Murray Downs 1 and Racecourse 1 finished the season as first and second on the ladder, with Murray Downs making sure they were still No.1.
Murray Downs won all three rinks convincingly and will go straight to the grand final.
Racecourse 1 and Moulamein 1 will both be out to prove a point on Saturday when they meet at Racecourse.
On Sunday, the finals of the Champion of Champions were played at Swan Hill with some excellent bowls being played.
Swan Hill’s Glen Evans lost to Ken Hamill 25-19, with Josh Thornton defeating Hamill in the final.
Lisa Critten won the ladies final, proving too strong for Helen Jobling.
Wednesday this week, 72 bowlers from various parts of Victoria graced the greens to play in Swan Hill’s Classic on The Murray.
After four games, Ron Eckhardt’s Cohuna team is leading the field, being the only team to have won four games.
Three more games were to be contested Thursday.
The weather was rather trying and Thursday’s forecast was even hotter.
The committee changed the conditions of play with the aim of completing the event earlier. Results next week.
Friday Frolic will be on at 3pm, entries to be in by 2.30pm.
The Jackpot was cracked last Friday by a pair of lucky bowlers, Vic Plumridge and Nevan Green.
Both went home with big smiles and $100 richer. It’s back to square one this Friday.
All welcome to join in and partake of activities in the club house after the game.
For those who can’t make it early, Barefoot Bowling Banter is on at 6.15pm.
This is an opportunity to come and give bowls a try. Bowls are available at the club.
Call Stuart Tompsett for further details, 0429 008 386.
LAKE BOGA
IN last week’s pennant finals, none of our teams were successful.
Division 1 went down by five shots on one rink but the other two had draws. Division 3 and 4 went down by just a few shots.
Division 3 get a second chance against Racecourse 3 at Racecourse on Saturday. We need to get along and support our team.
Congratulations to Helen Jobling and Ken Hamill in making the playoff for Champion of Champions at Swan Hill last weekend.
Both did the club proud and while they were not successful it was a great achievement.
In March, we have three charity nights for barefoot bowls social nights on Thursdays.
Starting with the annual red cross night, the second is the fire brigade night, which will be followed by the MND charity night.
Ring your names into the club if you would like to join us on those nights. They are all for a good cause and are a great social night.
Good bowling to our Division 3 team.
Weekend Pennant – Saturday teams
Division 3: Lake Boga 2 v Racecourse 3 away – P.Snell, M.Lord, S.Meehan, M.Parsons; G.Davis, L.Kingsbury, J.Hamill, N.Hender; D.Condey, K.Kendell, T.Haw, K.Anderson.
MVPA
LISA Critten (Murray Downs) won the MVPA Ladies Singles last Sunday, defeating Helen Jobling (Lake Boga).
Critten was too experienced and won comfortably from a gallant Jobling.
In the men’s event, the semi-final between Ken Hamill (Lake Boga) and Glen Evans (Swan Hill) was won by Hamill, after a long, hard battle.
Josh Thornton (Murray Downs) defeated Matt Coates (Balranald Ex Services) in the other semi.
In the final, played after lunch, Thornton got away to a good start, and Hamill was forced to play catch-up throughout their encounter.
Thornton finished with an 11-shot margin in his favour.
Saturday brings on the preliminary finals at the Racecourse Bowls Club.
In Division 1, Racecourse 1 and Moulamein 1 face off.
Racecourse had a dirty day last week against a powerful Murray Downs outfit, while Moulamein sneaked over the line from a committed Lake Boga team.
Racecourse has a 3-0 winning record against the NSW team, but will need to work very hard against an in-form Moulamein, riding a two-game winning streak.
After losing narrowly in the second semi last week, Racecourse 2 will also be looking for redemption when it takes on Balranald Ex Services 1 in Division 2.
Balranald has a 2-1 winning record against Racecourse in their three encounters and will be cautiously optimistic on Saturday.
In Division 3, Lake Boga 2 and Racecourse 3 go head to head.
After two draws between these sides in the early rounds, Lake Boga got its act together to score a big win in the final match of the home-and-away games.
Boga went down in its semi-final last week by 13 shots, when Racecourse 4 emerged triumphant, while Racecourse 3 managed a five-shot win over Murray Downs 4.
Manangatang 2 plays Nyah District 2 in the Division 4 preliminary final.
Nyah is the surprise packet of the finals so far, with a seven-shot win over Lake Boga 3.
However, Manangatang finished second on the ladder and should be able to bounce back from its one-shot loss to Racecourse 5 in the semi-final.
Good luck to all the teams participating on Saturday.
All Midweek Pennant preliminary finals will be played at Racecourse Bowls Club.
In Division 1, Racecourse 2 takes on Murray Downs 2 for the right to play Murray Downs 1 in the grand final.
Murray Downs has a 3-0 advantage in the head-to-head encounters, but Racecourse was super-competitive in round 14, going down by a mere two shots.
In Division 2, Racecourse 3 will try to back up after going down to its sister side last week, when it faces Murray Downs 3 on Tuesday.
These teams sit on one win apiece, with Murray Downs winning the last match-up comfortably.
However, finals are a different beast, and this could still turn out a thriller.
RESULTS
Weekend Pennant
Semi-finals
Division 1: Moulamein 1 10/82 d Lake Boga 1 2/77, Murray Downs 1 12/92 d Racecourse 1 0/33.
Division 2: Balranald Ex Services 1 9/67 d Murray Downs 3 3/66, Murray Downs 2 8/77 d Racecourse 2 4/70.
Division 3: Racecourse 3 8/76 d Murray Downs 4 4/71, Racecourse 4 10/76 d Lake Boga 2 2/63.
Division 4: Nyah District 2 8/41 d Lake Boga 3 2/34, Racecourse 5 8/38 d Manangatang 2 2/37.
Midweek Pennant
Semi-finals
Division 1: Racecourse 2 10/50 d Racecourse 1 0/35, Murray Downs 1 10/48 d Murray Downs 2 0/31.
Division 2: Murray Downs 3 10/69 d Lake Boga 2 0/30, Racecourse 4 10/54 d Racecourse 3 0/32.
