IN round two of Division 1 Weekend Pennant, the Casterton side got into the top four with the highest score of the round and also collected the highest team score.

The highest team score of all divisions was in Division 2, and that also included the highest winning margin.

After two rounds, Balmoral, Heywood and Casterton are the top three sides.

How did the Casterton win occur playing Penshurst? 

Garry Russell 21 defeated Trevor Landwehr 15, Neil Shannon 35 defeated David Cook 17, and Charlie Palmer 25 defeated Mick Ross 20.

An all-team win gives a side 16 ladder points. Casterton 81 d Penshurst 52:

Balmoral joined the success arena and defeated Hamilton, 68-48.

Tom Simons and Norm Pech played out a 19-19 draw.

Pegleg 25 defeated Richard Martin, 25-16, and joining the happy group was Nev Trotman, who collected a 24-13 win against Bill Satchell.

Apparently Trotty couldn’t miss with power shots.

The drama continued, as Heywood travelled to Portland and to be realistic, one would have said Portland at home would be the favourites.

Well predictions are often wrong; John Rappard 20 lost to Johnny Angelino 21, Bob Bowden rolled up 15 but Mick Swan grabbed an extra 12, so when Peter Cottier defeated Rick Angelino, the difference was still 10 shots in Heywood’s favour, 67-57.

Grangeburn wasn’t all that far away from Memorial at the end of play - if 10 shots isn’t far.

Champion, Robyn Thomassen and Greg Hoggan played another 19-19 draw. Leah McCabe scored 11 to Ken Evans 19, and Prewey got 14 to Des Pitts 18.

The ladder shows last season’s winner on top - Balmoral 30, Heywood 28, Casterton 18, Hamilton 17, Memorial 17, Portland 16, while Grangeburn and Penshurst make up the bottom two with one point each.

Division 2

THIS division had the highest team score of all games, and there was no stopping Tom Alexander with his teammates getting there, finishing with 36.

That was part of the game at Hamilton where the visiting Portland Blue side got up by five shots, 68-63.

Home players listed first as always, as Jim Brody 23 defeated Gary Millich 13, Denis Gay 10 to Tom Alexander 36, Max Spiller 30 defeated Reg Alexander 19.  

On the same green, Hamilton Gold 58 defeated Memorial 52 - Maurice Jolly 15 lost to Leonie Buchanan 18, Trevor Schultz 19 defeated Gerry Watt 12, and Alan Crane with 24 got the better of Peter Fasoli by two.

Portland Gold 74 defeated Macarthur 45 - Tony Hogan with 26 to Jean Schroeder 15, Lionel Shelton had a draw with Clifton Tonissen, another 19-19 result, and Richard Speers helped seal the deal, defeating Anthony Bourke, 29-11.

The ladder is Portland Gold 29, Hamilton Gold 27, Portland Blue 15, Macarthur 13, Hamilton Green eight and Memorial has four points.

Division 3

THE high score here was 75 and highest team score was 33, leading to pretty consistent top scores.

Coleraine 75 beat Grangeburn 42 - Bruce Armstrong 27 to John Colcott 8, Alan Templeton 28 to Nettie Ryan 18, Steve Cooper 20 to F. Hardy 16.

Memorial at home collected 55, but fell short of the visiting Hamilton score of 73.

Meredith Fredericks 19 lost to Bill Edge 33, the highest team score, with other results including Kathryn Beauglehole 11 to Duncan McCrae 19, Imbi Tinkumsep 25 defeated Peter Anson 21.

The season rankings shows Hamilton 28, Coleraine 18, Grangeburn 16, and Memorial with two points.

Division 4

DESPITE the good luck with play going uninterrupted in the top three divisions, there was a washout at Heywood with solid rain and lightning impacting the clash with Macarthur, as the players waited until 4.15pm before the managers called it off, as conditions were still unplayable. 

Hamilton Green 47 defeated Casterton 36 - Peter Clapham 27 to Theresa Sealey 11, Heather McIntyre 20 lost to Ann Kearns 25. 

Penshurst 44 defeated Hamilton Gold 35 - Ian McLean 17 lost to Kevin Buck 25, Basil Eales 27 defeated Miriam Tonissen 10.

Grangeburn 28 lost to Dartmoor 54 - Peter Moore 13 lost to Peter Holmes 28. L. Foley 15 lost to Ross Kerr 26.

Balmoral 53 defeated Coleraine 31 - Trish Brody 35, the highest team score, to Arthur Guy 8, Nettie Tinning 18 lost Robin Salamon 23.

The Division 4 ladder shows Dartmoor 28, Balmoral 26, Heywood 21, Hamilton Gold 14, Coleraine 14, Hamilton Green 12, Penshurst 12, Macarthur 9, Grangeburn two and Casterton also with two.

Other news

ON Monday at Hamilton, the knockout games of the Men’s section Triples were played and the grand final of the Mixed Pairs championship.

In good conditions for play and the green running beautifully, some excellent bowls were played.

In the triples, Peter Graham with Rob Baker and Russell Sherren played John Wallis and Nev Trotman led a composite team playing Peter Merryfull.

In the first mentioned game after eight ends, the scores were 6-6.

The difference crept away in the Wallis team’s favour, and although Graham scored four in the latter ends, Wallis ended up the winner by six shots.

Over to the next rink and Trotty with Mick Hogan and Darrel Moore flew away to an 11-2 start.

That got the Pegleg team up and running; a bit hard to show negativity for one team in a game report but Pegleg didn’t change the tide, the team ran a tsunami, and the final result was 21-13.

So, after lunch the Merryfull, Tom Simons and Paul Stanisloski trio played off against John Wallis, Dean Beckman and Simon Hein.

In brief at 15 of 18 ends, the scores were 11-11 and some great bowls had been played.

One shot separated the two in 11 of the ends. And after the 15th end, Wallis won the next three and the final score was 17-11. 

In the mixed pairs, Greg Hoggan with Kim Overall played a composite pair of Mick Swan and Nettie Tinning.

It was again a great game but one of the teams, no matter whether holding shots or trying to gain them, nothing seemed to work.

On the other side, no matter what happened it was successful, beautiful bowls or shots gained from opposition bad luck.

At end eight, the scoreboard showed 11-0 and to add to the woes and spectator ooohs and ahhs, a six was scored making it 17-1.

A comeback did happen but ends ran out and the final scores after 18 ends were Greg Hoggan 20 to Mick Swan 10.

As a footnote, this is the fourth time Kim Overall has been part of the mixed pairs championship winning team.

Thanks to Hamilton for hosting the day, eliminated players for keeping the scoreboards up to date, and Michael Pech and Jack Waldron for umpiring.

The women’s 60 and over finals are being played as this is being composed, so results will be in the next report.

Men’s section Championship Pairs and women’s section State Singles are next on the program.