IN the Far Western Bowls Association Midweek Pennant division one decider, excitement and nerves reigned supreme as the last ends were played with Hamilton unable to overcome Portland in Tuesday’s grand final at Portland RSL Memorial.

Portland had finished on top of the ladder and Hamilton had fought through from third.

In this game Shirley Rogers with Lindsay Gruar, Shirley Millard and Dianne Huppatz scored 25 to the team skipped by Elma Astbury with Des Rout, Geraldine McDonald and Carolyn Schurmann’s 11.

Kerrie Alexander, Tony Hogan, Jenny Garner and Barry Huppatz rolled up 15 to Jenny Pole, Norm Pech, Kay Satchell and Ken Hatherall’s 25, making the difference four overall.

When the final score card came in showing Heather Burgess, Richard Speers, John Barker and Coral Barbary with 18 and on the other side Heather McIntyre with Dianne Brody, Neville Linke and Bill Satchell on 19, the cheers went up with Portland claiming a three-shot victory.

Congratulations to Portland and well done to Hamilton on a great effort. Portland will now represent our playing area at region level later in the season.

DIVISION two pitted Balmoral, which finished on top of the ladder, and fourth-placed Coleraine in the season finale.

Balmoral had a great day with scores in the mid to high 20s.

Coleraine battled hard, but the rub of the green went to Balmoral in the end.

Trish Brody, Jennie Mutch, Kathy Simons and David Hubble scored 29 to Chris Rigby, Lyn Boxer, Bev Fry and Louis Cooper with 17.

Chick Trotman, what else can she be part of winning next, Nettie Tinning, Alan Perry and Pauline Koenders collected 24 to Therese Nolte, Lesley Beaton, Aleen McKendery and Elizabeth Millard’s 14 to seal the win.

Congratulations to Balmoral and also to Coleraine for getting to the grand final.

DIVISION three and Portland had defeated Dartmoor in the semi-final to get straight to the last game.

Dartmoor won the preliminary final and was this a close game.

Carmel McKenzie, Gary Milich and Rod Barrett clicked up 22, while Elaine Jones, Sue Tregellis and Tricia Brown had a win with 27.

Margaret Milich, Reg Cottier and Lynette Alexander combined for 24 to hold off Gwen McMillan, Kaye Lanyon and Julie McIness, who were kept to 14, giving Portland a second grand final win for the day.

Tough luck to Dartmoor, which had been on song almost all the season.

Presentation of pennant badges were made by Ann Rentsch and Heather Gough.

Thanks to Ken Woolley for the greens preparation work and to Memorial for hosting the games.

Balmoral wins through to final

IN a hard-fought preliminary final at Penshurst, Balmoral was able to continue it’s success of recent games to defeat Portland, the second time in three weeks.

The last bout at Portland saw a four-shot difference and a two-rink win.

Saturday’s game was won by eight shots, again on two rinks.

Tom Simons 21 defeated Peter Cottier 16 and Peter Merryfull rolled up 27 to easily account for Baz Jennings’ team, which scored eight.

Neville Trotman with 10 was defeated by John Rappard on 26, but the dye was cast.

Balmoral finished with 58 to Portland’s 50 to progress through to the grand final against Memorial at Hamilton.

DIVISION two’s penultimate game was again played at Penshurst, between Casterton, which had finished second on the ladder, and third-placed Hamilton.

Two games were scheduled in the draw for the home and away season between the two teams, but the first one wasn’t played due to COVID.

In the round five game at Casterton, the home side won on two rinks by a total of five shots.

This time the Cats won again on two rinks and 11 shots overall.

Neil Shannon drew with John Forsyth, 22-22, Andy Alderton drew Trevor Schultz in the managers draw for the second time in the two games and won again by a few more than last time, finishing 20-10 on Saturday.

Styx Russell defeated Maurice Jolly by one, 22-21, leading to a 64 to 53 final score.

Casterton will play Portland at Heywood in Saturday’s grand final.

DIVISION three saw Hamilton Green and Memorial face off, with Green looking to repeat its earlier success after a four-shot win in the home and away match-up.

This time the outcome was the same, but the margin was quite a bit bigger.

The individual results included Geoff Woods 26 to Ian Benbow 13, Cliff Brinkman 27 defeated Bert Roos 18, and Maxi Spiller recorded 22 to Ronnie Robinson 15.

Adding the totals up, it led to a 75-46 victory for Hamilton Green, setting up an intriguing match-up against Hamilton Gold in the season decider, coincidently on their home green.

DIVISION four saw Dartmoor return to the winners list after it accounted for Penshurst, 52-25.

Redeye Kerr 26 defeated Denis Olle 14, and not to be outdone was Peter Holmes, who rolled up another 26 to John Page 11. 

The win means Dartmoor will play Hamilton at Heywood to conclude the season.