IN very warm conditions, the Far Western Bowls Association Midweek Pennant semi-finals were contested and Portland defeated Grangeburn, 83-34, in a one-sided contest.

Shirley Rogers 24 to Alison East 13, Kerrie Alexander 36 to Jan Hicks 10 and Heather Burgess 23 to Robyn Thomassen 11.

Portland goes through to the grand final, while Grangeburn goes to the preliminary final  for another chance at winning through to the decider.

To see who the ‘burn plays, members had to watch out for the results of the Hamilton v Memorial clash.

Hamilton was in third spot and won through, 64-45; Elma Astbury 13 to Leonie Buchanan 16. Jenny Pole 28 to June Leahy 17 and Heather McIntyre with 23 to Jan Woolley 12.

DIVISION two had the battle of the top two, Balmoral v Penshurst, after both finished on the same ladder points and 16 shots between them. 

Chick Trotman 25 defeated Ann Rentsch 14 and Brenda Uebergang was allowed 17 while Trish Brody rounded up 19, sending Balmoral to the decider and Penshurst to play Coleraine after the latter won its semi-final.

Therese Nolte 26 to Jean Schroeder 14 and to make it one win each, Chris Rigby 13 to Bev Bourke 17, giving Coleraine a 39-31 win.

DIVISION three saw Portland defeat Dartmoor with individual scores unavailable at time of print, while Dartmoor fill face Macarthur next week after it defeated Grangeburn Red.

Grangeburn Red v Macarthur scores included Lesley Moller 17 lost to Di Cowland 22, and Nettie Ryan 10 lost to Carole Dunn 28.

Weekend Pennant

SATURDAY pennant’s home and away season concluded with a couple of so-called surprising finishes in division one.

Hamilton travelled to Heywood and it was Heywood on the second bottom rung and Hamilton second from the top with 24 points and 157 shots difference.

John Angelino 29 defeated Richard Martin 13, Lance Price 16 lost to Neil Griffin 22, and Mick Swan drew with Norm Pech, 22-22, giving Heywood a 67-57 win.

Heywood moved up one spot and Hamilton remained on the same rung.

Portland had a visit from Balmoral and determination defied defeat, as far as the visitors were concerned.

John Rappard 16 to Nev Trotman 21, Baz Jennings another 16 to Tom Simons 21 and Peter Cottier stopped the haemorrhage, defeating Peter Merryfull, 24-18, as Portland fell just short, 56-60.

Balmoral jumped from fifth to third and Portland holds fourth.

The Portland position was in danger if Grangeburn at home defeated Memorial Blue, but the visitors wracked up 10 more shots than the ‘burners, 66 to 56. 

For Grangeburn, Bert Partington was kept to 15 by Gerry Watt with 30, the highest division one score.

Phil Allen 22 defeated Ted Leahy 15; 22 was the most common score this round.

Robyn Thomassen 19 to Steve Turner 21, as both sides finished outside the four.

Penshurst trekked to Memorial and sadly for them missed out on any points.

Memorials Des Pitts 21 to Brett Linke 12, Johnny Wallis 22 to David Cook 17 and Ken Evan 26 defeated Mick Ross 16.

The ladder reads Memorial Red 97 +174 shots, Hamilton 64 +39, Balmoral 58 -18, Portland 53 +41, Grangeburn 47 -46, Heywood 47 -9, Memorial Blue 44 -79 and Penshurst 38 -13.

DIVISION two had no changes to ladder positions.

Portland in first position defeated third-placed Hamilton, 82-41.

Tom Alexander 32 held off Maurice Jolly’s nine. T. Hogan 37 to John Forsyth 13, and Heather Burgess scoring 14 to Trevor Schultz 19.

The Alexander team has won five of seven games and scored 180 shots, four of them 32 plus. 

Casterton retained second spot when Andy Alderton 24 defeated Jean Schroeder 20, Neil Shannon 22 accounted for Clifton Tonissen 17, and Styx Russell was back on track with 23 to Ken Handreck’s 11.

Macarthur finished fourth, having scored 48.

The ladder is Portland 76 +110, Casterton 71 +12, Hamilton 56 -12 and Macarthur 21 -110.

DIVISION three saw Grangeburn at home and defeated Portland by one shot.

Lesley Moller 18 to Gary Milich 20. Jan Hicks 19 to Peter Longstaff 24, but Nettie Ryan wasn’t having any of this and won 25 to Andy Smail 17.

Hamilton Gold defeated Memorial, 67-55, as the scores included Ken Fort 22 to Ronnie Robinson 21, Clappo 28 to Bert Roos 15 and Neville Blackmore lost, 17-19.

The final game was between Hamilton Green and Coleraine.

The visitors took the chocolates with a 61-52 win after Green’s Geoff Woods 14 to Alan McIntosh 25, Cliff Brinkman 17 lost to Vern Spencer 20, Maxi Spiller got to 21 and Steve Cooper 16. 

The ladder shows Hamilton Gold 82 +126, Hamilton Green 72 +43, Memorial 64 +68, Portland 59 -23, Coleraine 37 -95 and Grangeburn 22 -119.

DIVISION four section one results saw Heywood receive a forfeit from Hamilton Green.

Penshurst 57 defeated Macarthur 30; Dennis Olle 37 defeated Carole Dunn 14, Jody Page 20 held off Di Cowland 16.

Casterton 14 lost to Dartmoor 84; Mary Anne Allen could only manage four and lost to R. Kerr 49, the highest score and margin of all games for the season, Berniece Sullivan 10 lost to Peter Holmes 35.

The ladder is Dartmoor 77 +106, Penshurst 75 +61, Hamilton Green 48 -23, Heywood 44 -23, Casterton 29 -73 and Macarthur 23.

DIVISION four section two saw Grangeburn sit out the games with a bye and received the calculated points and shots, based on winners and losers of the other games.

Dunkeld 62 defeated Coleraine 24; Geoff Montgomery 26 defeated Arthur Guy 16 and Gary Wall 36 to Lyn Boxer’s eight.

Balmoral 58 beat Hamilton Gold 28; Nettie Tinning 31 to Kevin Buck 13, Wendell Timms 27 defeated Barry Dowling 15.

Hamilton Gold still sits in top spot with 68 +71, ahead of Balmoral 68 +61, Dunkeld 56 +33, Coleraine 54 +6 and Grangeburn 44 - 36.  

Other news

THE women’s playing area sectional games were played at Macarthur on Monday.

There were only nine entries, so each of three sections had a bye.

Winning through to play in the knockout were the teams skipped by Jenny Pole, Alison East both with two wins.

The third section was an interesting one, as Carole Dunn had a win and loss and was four shots in the positive, Chick Trotman the same win and loss plus nine shots and Ann Rentsch the same one and one with 14 shots to take the section.

The finals will be played at Macarthur today.

The men’s section championship of club singles champions early rounds were conducted at Hamilton on Sunday.

In this event the winners of a club singles, honour board recorded, represent their club at this level.

So getting to the event in the first place is no mean feat.

Six games were played to get the draw to four finalists.

Those missing out although disappointed can be proud of their efforts.

The target score is 25 and we had two who lost with 15, one at 19 and the other three were all scores in the 20s. 

Nerves must have had an effect, as Clifton Tonissen defeated Stewart Campbell with a three on what was the last end, having been down 12 to 21.

Mick Swan defeated David Cook in a super tight game again with the winner being behind 20 to 24; they played 32 ends.

The titanic battle was between Nev Trotman and Phillip Jones. as the former flew out of the blocks to be 14-4 after 10 ends.

The game took three and a quarter hours to complete and again it went for 32 ends.

Jones clawed his way back to 15, then 16 at end 20 and the humidity was trying for both players.

The game continued for an hour after all the others had finished with the score 19-19, then 21-21, before the Dartmoor representative eventually won, 25-21.

It was enthralling to watch, and the appreciative watchers gave loud applause to both players at the finish.

I must say the interaction between these two and the other players was gratifying to see and hear.

The final two rounds are scheduled for Sunday, weather permitting, and will feature Richard Martin (Hamilton) v Phillip Jones (Dartmoor) and Mick Swan (Heywood) v Chris Elford (Memorial).