IN a magnificent day for pennant the Balmoral side had the highest score of the round.

Division one

THE only ladder positions to change in division one were at the bottom.

In the Balmoral v Casterton game, the home side took 14 points and held onto fifth spot, while Casterton dropped back to eighth.

Troy Gore succumbed to Neil Shannon 18 to 21, Peter Merryfull rolled in 21 to Andy Alderton 10, and Neville Trotman had the equal high score of 29 to Mick Kearns 18.

The 71 to 49 scores almost got Balmoral back into positive shots territory.

Game two saw Grangeburn make the most of its opportunities to again gather 14 points against Hamilton.

Bert Partington with 24 to Bill Satchell 11, Grant Gibson 22 to Dennis Merryfull 11, and Owey Ross had the close one with 17 to Norm Pech 19.

The 63-41 victory moved Grangeburn from bottom to sixth.

Nothing went well for Heywood, or conversely everything went well for Portland when the visitors scored 68 to Heywood 48.

Mick Swan 14 to Tony Hogan 21, Leonie Buchanan 18 lost to Lindsay Gruar 28, and Lionel Pevitt 16 to Peter Cottier 19.

The win kept the top spot in Portland’s name and the loss let Balmoral get within one point of being equal with Heywood.

Memorial had the Penshurst side arrive by bus so as to not crowd the carpark.

Things went very well for the home side, even though the bulk of the encouragement was by Penshurst players for their mates.

Clayton Holcombe defeated David Cook who was filling in for Phil Allen by a slender margin of three, but that is where the slender finished.

Kelvin Wiffen had a second 29 for the round and Torque Rentsch was only allowed to screw out 12.

Yabby Solly got to the magic 22 and defeated Mick Ross by 12, leading to an overall 69-37 result.

Memorial kept second and Penshurst retained the third ladder rung.

Ladder: Portland 96, Memorial 90, Penshurst 72, Heywood 55, Balmoral 54, Grangeburn 33, Hamilton 24, Casterton 24.

Division two

THIS division ended up with more ladder shuffle by far than division one.

Only Memorial and Macarthur kept the same spots warm, while another 38-38 draw was recorded, along with three 22s and a high team score of 35.

Portland had a visit by Grangeburn and the home side won by 10.

Allan Warburton 22 to Keven Bailey 18, and Andy Smail 22 to John Colcott 16, as Grangeburn dropped from top to third.

Hamilton Green and Macarthur played out the draw and this came via Geoff Woods 18 to Bill Edge 25, and Troy Greed with 20 to Bev Bourke 13; all that work for seven points each.

Green actually moved up to second spot following the result.

Heywood had a second side at home and “a bad day all round” continued. 

John Buchanan 13 to Bruce Armstrong 35, and Johnny Angelino 16 to Super Cooper 23, as Heywood and Coleraine swapped places lower down.

Hamilton Gold hosted Memorial and got roasted by 24 shots.

Jack Waldron 14 to Dean Beckman 22, and Jim Brody racked up 11 to Gerry Watt 27.

Ladder: Portland 79, Hamilton Green 71, Grangeburn 68, Memorial 57, Macarthur 49, Coleraine 34, Heywood 28, Hamilton Gold 6.

Division three

DIVISION three had the highest team score of the round and 27 was the favourite number this week.

Portland made a day for Penshurst a tough outing.

Heather Burgess got 24 to Ian McLean 11, while Ken Place with Maree and John Matters and Reg Alexander amassed 43 to Barry King’s six.

Penshurst dropped from top spot to third, and Portland up one to second.

Balmoral and Hamilton Green did battle, and the home side won by seven.

Trish Brody 13 to Miriam Tonissen 17, and Paul Raggatt got the first 27 to Ray Fary 16, as Balmoral got off the bottom and Green stayed put.

Hamilton Gold 30 fell short of Memorial 45 after Max Spiller 14 to Peter Fasoli 27, and Heather McIntyre 16 lost to Kevin Husson 18.

Gold went down, while Memorial moved up to the top.

Dartmoor made the most of being at home when Grangeburn visited, winning 54 to 31.

This was via Peter Holmes with 27 to Raylene Roberts 14, and Redeye 27 to Rosemary Spencer 17.

Dartmoor moved up to fourth after being last three weeks ago.

Ladder: Memorial 67, Portland 64, Penshurst 54, Hamilton Green 51, Dartmoor 49, Hamilton Gold 39, Balmoral 38, Grangeburn 30.

Division four

THIS division had several changes to the ladder and a one-shot win, which apart from the draw was the closest margin of all games.

Hamilton Gold moved to the top of the ladder after a solid win playing at Memorial.

The green was great, the fun was great, and the next-door game was entertaining; more people should play bowls.

Rob Hamblin played wrong Bias Barry and the home team lost, 23 to 26, while Jan Hamblin came up against Jimmy Nichol and the scores finished at 8-31, ending proceedings at 31-57 and sees Gold move to the top of the ladder.

Grangeburn with 34 kept Portland to 33, which also made the above movement possible.

Peter Moore 20 to Les Baker 17, and Phil Forsyth with 14 to Gary Milich 16, giving Portland two points and equalled Gold on 70.

There is only one-shot difference in the second column of the ladder figures.

Hamilton Green with 32 lost to Memorial Red 36.

Alan Crane 16 to Jude Fasoli 18, and Mal Brinkman 16 to Ronda Bramley 18.

That type of repetition doesn’t stop there either.

Macarthur played Heywood and the scores were Carole Dunn 22 to Des Stuchbery 19 and Mary Millard 22 to R. Pevitt 19; to see overall scores finish at 44 to 38. 

Coleraine at home finished ahead, 47-29 to Penshurst.

Robin Salamon 20 to N. Manning 22, and R. Woolley 27 to Don Adamson’s seven.

Ladder: Hamilton Gold 70, Portland 70, Memorial Red 65, Coleraine 58, Memorial Blue 56, Heywood 44, Macarthur 44, Hamilton Green 38, Grangeburn 37, Penshurst 8.

Other news

THE first stages of the Men’s Championship Pairs knockout were played at Grangeburn on Sunday.

Again, great conditions, with the green running beaut and the competition of high standard as well as full of fun.

The first game was in the morning and Memorial’s Ted Leahy with Peter Sierat met the Balmoral and Heywood composite team of Nev Trotman with Ricky Angelino.

The Leahy team got out to a 9-2 lead, before the Trotman team had two big ends and from there ended up scoring 19 to 10.

The game was 18 ends and finished at 12.45pm.

The next two games started at 1.15pm and Graeme Solly with Kelvin Wiffen played Norm and Michael Pech.

Everything went the way of the Memorial pair and the result ended up at 31-9.

Across the green, the Chris Fleming and Ian Grayson combo played Trotman and Angelino.

It was a great contest which ended up being won by the Memorial pair.

As the time was approaching 4pm and another 18 ends had to be played, it was agreed the two finalists will play at Memorial at a time to be advised.

Thanks to Grangeburn for hosting the day, as stated before it was great.