DIVISION one pennant saw all away sides win this round.

This was led by Balmoral travelling to Portland and defeating the water tower locals by eight.

Home side scores are always first; Lindsay Gruar had a one shotter over Derek Brody 17-16, Bob Bowden had a similar result defeating Peter Merryfull, 23-18, but it was not enough margin there though, as Nev Trotman had the better of Peter Cottier, 25-11.

The win pushed Balmoral up the ladder above Portland.

Heywood prepared for Memorial’s visit and the outcome result wise wasn’t the best, 44-69, with the win keeping Memorial in fourth place and moved Heywood back a spot to sixth.

John Angelino lost to Greg Hoggan, 13-25, Ricky Angelino went a couple of shots better at 15 and Des Pitts directed up 24, while Mick Swan got 15 and Ken Evans 20.

Casterton at Island Park got to half a century, but Grangeburn got 13 more.

Neil Shannon collected nine to Robyn Thomassen 21, Styx Russell another 21 which was matched by Bert Partington, and Andy Alderton missed a draw by one shot, 20-21 against Prewey.

The win moved Grangeburn into Heywood’s spot. 

Penshurst didn’t have such a good day figures wise, Cam Wilson had a nine to Norm Pech 24, David Cook 16 to Richard Martin 21, the team has won 80 per cent of games he has skipped, and Trev Landwehr with 19 was tossed by Bill Satchell on 32, the highest score of all teams all divisions.

Ladder: Hamilton 146, Balmoral 121, Portland 116, Memorial 111, Grangeburn 91, Heywood 82, Penshurst 72, and Casterton 29.

Next round of matches include Memorial v Penshurst, Heywood v Grangeburn, Portland v Hamilton, and Balmoral v Casterton.

Division two

ONE home side lost and two won with the highest team score 27, notched up twice with bottom teams jostling for positions.

Hamilton Green couldn’t get into gear and scored 54, while Portland Blue went into overdrive and raced to 68.

Edwin MacLean’s team was best for Green with 20 to Allan Warburton 18, Denis Gay 21 to Andy Smail 26 and Max Spiller 13 to Allan Palmer 24.

Blue stayed put and Green got off the bottom with the MacLean win.

Hamilton Gold was on the same green and had a pretty good day against Memorial.

Maurice Jolly’s team faltered on 10 to Peter Fasoli with one of the 27s, Trev Schultz put up the other 27 to Leonie Buchanan 15, and Allan Crane 26 doubled Gerry Watt’s total.

Then came another colour, Portland Gold 65 to Macarthur 47.

Tom Alexander 21 to Anthony Bourke 11, Barry Huppatz 24 to Clifton Tonissen 21, and John Rappard finished the sweep with 20 to Jean Schroeder 15.

Ladder: Hamilton Gold 155, Portland Gold 152, Portland Blue 108, Memorial 86, Hamilton Green 38, and Macarthur 37.

Upcoming matches will be Memorial v Hamilton Green, Hamilton Gold v Portland Gold and Portland Blue v Macarthur.

Division three

HAMILTON clawed its’ way to an eight-shot win against Grangeburn.

Two team wins to one, as scores were Graeme Wallis 22 to Wendy Kosch 18, Bill Edge 24 to John Colcott 13, and Heather McIntyre and the motley crew somehow got to 23 after a lot of great bowls by the Kevin Bailey team, which bashed and crashed to 30.

Coleraine almost doubled Memorial when Vern Spencer defeated Terry Stanley, 22-8, Steve Cooper added to the winning record when his team defeated David Garnier, 20-11, and Bruce Armstrong strong armed Tink Imbi to the tune of 21-14.

Ladder: Coleraine 114, Hamilton 109, Memorial 83, and Grangeburn 78.

Next round for the fifth time will see Hamilton v Coleraine and Grangeburn v Memorial.

Division four

UNFORTUNATELY, this division had two forfeits due to lack of players.

So, Penshurst and Heywood collected 14 points and a bonus 15 shots, while Casterton and Macarthur had 15 shots deducted from their figures.

Hamilton Green lost to Coleraine, 34-40, Nev Blackmore 13 to Paul Guy 20, and Peter Anson 21 to Arthur Guy 20.

Dartmoor navigated to Balmoral and consolidated second rung with an 11-shot margin.

Paul Raggart 12 to Peter Holmes 27, and Phil Rees 19 to Ross Kerr 15.

Ladder: Coleraine 134, Dartmoor 127, Penshurst 99, Balmoral 98, Heywood 93, Grangeburn 74, Casterton 70, Hamilton Gold 68, Hamilton Green 40, and Macarthur 35.

With rungs 3-5 being so close, the next round will provide some enthralling contests, including Hamilton Gold v Balmoral, Dartmoor v Hamilton Green, Coleraine v Casterton, Penshurst v Heywood and Macarthur v Grangeburn.

Other news

IN a very interesting day in more ways than one, the women’s and men’s section champion of club singles championship finals were played at Penshurst.

There was close to 50 spectators in the morning, many of who sat with rugs over their knees.

The weather was unbelievable, very little wind, but the atmosphere was as moist as you would ever see.

Mount Rouse was able to be seen for about 20 minutes for the whole day, as heavy fog or low cloud was over Penshurst all day.

Anyway, the women’s section preliminary finals were between Chick Trotman and Roby Thomassen, along with Faye Morrow and Sherree Chaudry.

The target score is 25. In the first contest mentioned, 33 ends were played, and at the end of the ninth the scores were 5-5 and at 19 ends it was 12-12, which turned into 20-20 after 27 ends.

Into what was to be the last end, each one had 23 shots on the card.

Thomassen just crept past Trotman to get the two needed and moved to the final.

In the other clash, Casterton’s Faye Morrow played relative new Heywood member, Sherree Chaudry.

After five ends, Morrow led 16-4, before Chaudry got online and by end 26, the lead was narrowed to 20-16.

Chaudry took seven of the last eight ends and won 26-22.

The grand final was played after lunch and Thomassen showed her guile and experience winning in 19 ends.

Chaudry put up a great fight, but inches mattered, and the tight ones went to Thomassen.

Mind you, she has played at state level, and went on to win this one, 25-9.

At the same time as the women’s section games were being played, the men’s were also.

Peter Merryfull had a hearty competition against Richard Martin with again a well-worn phrase ‘great bowls mate’.

Martin had many top bowls, but ‘Pegleg” was able to counter plus some and won 26-12.

Next door Mick Swan and Gary (Styx) Russell played and after eight ends the scores were 10-10.

The tide turned and Swan won nine of the next 12 ends and came off the green as the other finalist with a 25-16 win.

Now to the grand final and no shots were easy here.

The weather was still damp, and it was 7-7 at end 11, 14-14 after 18, and 19-19 at 25 ends.

They then swapped fours and sat on 23-23.

It was a tight finish with four bowls within 100mm, with Merryfull eventually winning, 25-23.

It really was a great exhibition by our players in both sections, congratulations to the winners and non-winners, you did yourselves proud.

Balmoral, Casterton and Heywood had six of the eight finalists in a strong showing.

Thanks to Penshurst, markers, scoreboard attendants, bun supplier and the club in general.