South Tamworth’s Ben Golledge delivers at the State Pairs at South Tamworth on the weekend. He and South Tamworth clubmate Terry Cummings are through to the State CNDBA Pairs Final against club mates Nathan Wise and Scott Thorning. Photo: Barry Smith 020313BSH06
SOUTH Tamworth Bowling Club hosted the CNDBA State Pairs and State Seniors (Over 60s) on the weekend while the State Reserve Pairs were contested at Kootingal.
West Tamworth teams figured prominently in the State Reserve Pairs at Kooty, the club entering 13 pairs. Glenn Sharman and David Shorten beat West Tamworth clubmates Peter McLean and Bob Ballantine 20-18 in the final after an extra end.
Sharman and Shorten now play in the Zone playoffs at South Tamworth on July 20/21.
At South the home club dominated despite heavy rain Saturday morning forcing the first round to be postponed into the afternoon and pushing back the final from a decision yesterday to a day and venue to be decided.
However, those finals will be an all South Tamworth affair after teams from the host club prevailed in the four semi finals yesterday afternoon.
South Tamworth Bowling Club president was ecstatic with the CNDBA State Pairs weekend.
“We’ve had a brilliant weekend here,” he said Sunday despite intermittent showers.
At that stage the State Pairs and State Seniors had reached semi-final stage with South Tamworth pairs in each of the four semi-finals.
In the State Pairs South’s Nathan Wise and Scott Thorning were playing West Tamworth’ Jamie Gardner and Damon Sullivan while Ben Golledge and Terry Cummings were playing the Kootingal duo of Bryon Cullen and Jayson Pinnock.
In the State Seniors South Tamworth’s Gordon Patterson and Gordon Cheney were battling it out with West Tamworth’s Buck Rogers and Ron Gill while South’s Kerry McCarthy and Paul Whitton were tackling Tamworth City’s Greg Roese.
McCarthy and Whitton won their Seniors Semi Final 21-15, while Patterson and Cheney beat Buck Rogers and Ron Gill 17-16.
Rogers and Gill led by three shots going into the final end but the two South Tamworth Gordons scored a four!
In the State Pairs Nathan Wise and Scott Thorning beat West Tamworth’s Damon Sullivan and Jamie Gardner 20-18 in a tight game whilst clubmates Ben Golledge and Terry Cummings were even closer to losing.
Down 17-12 Golledge and Cummings held a couple of shots on an end when a brief shower forced the abandonment of that end and a quick break under cover.
On resumption the South pair were down 17-14 on the last end. Needing a four to win, they snared five!
Scott Sweeney said the pleasing results were part of a big weekend.
The increased numbers of players in the State Pairs were a benefit to his club as well.
“Any club would have liked to have had the people we’ve had here over the weekend,” Sweeney said.
“The increased numbers of entries in all three meant we could only hold the State and State Senior pairs while Kootingal got to host the State Reserve Pairs.
“We were washed out Saturday morning too but Kooty didn’t get the rain we had in here and got through.”
Entries were up in all three divisions, he said.
He’s also hoping the State Pairs Finals will be played at South Tamworth after the CNDBA decided to hold the State Triples Final at Werris Creek (between two South Tamworth teams) after the preliminary games were played at the carpeted Werris Creek greens, although both he and CNDBA publicity officer, Brian Ward, said hosting a Finals day to promote the game could be an exciting prospect.
This weekend the CNDBA State Singles will be played at three different venues – West Tamworth (Open Singles), Tamworth City ( Senior Over 60) and North Tamworth (Presidents Reserve).
Total entries for the three State Singles competitions are up from last year – 54 to 79.
The State Singles are up eight from 14 to 22, Seniors up six from 22 to 28 and Presidents Reserve up 11 from 18 to 29.
o Draws for the State Singles in Sport Details.