BERWICK BOWLING CLUB
WEEKEND PENNANT – ROUND 3
It was a case of so close but yet so far away for a clean sweep of victories for Berwick Bowling Club in round three!
The club had seven out of eight winners with the threes just falling short in a fantastic performance against the Mulgrave second side at Mulgrave.
The ones had a ding-dong battle with yardstick Whittlesea to get the points, while the twos were superior against second place Hampton 1.
The fours had a great win over rivals Cardinia Waters, the fives got up in a tight one over Churchill Waverley Golf’s ones, while our sixes got the result over Dandy Club at Burden Park despite only winning one of the four rinks.
The sevens smashed Noble Park 3 at home and the eighth side had a comfortable win against Toorak 2 at Toorak.
The overall results are so pleasing considering most of our teams have either stayed in the same Divisions or gone up and after last year’s success.
This year is shaping as another cracker of a season.
Here are this week’s results:
Side 1 – Berwick 1 def Whittlesea 83 to 74. Ladder Position: 1st
A very high-class standard of bowls was seen as we took on the yardstick and possible favourites for the section in Whittlesea.
Quality bowls across all four rinks and the win now results in our ones sitting on top of the ladder. Steve Ellard’s rink went down against the strong Ben Winther rink, but kept it close, as did Josh McQueen’s rink.
The fact they kept the games close gave us a chance to take the win with Ethan Mills rink getting the two points over the very highly-respected Nick McIntyre by six and the rink of Amity Bickley, John Rich, David Bond and John O’Donnell having a sizeable 12-shot win on their rink.
The ones are up against Brunswick at home next week, who sit third, and a win here will see a small gap in the top-two in the early rounds.
A loss brings them back to the field, possibly dropping to third, fourth or fifth depending on other results.
A win is a must to consolidate the three opening wins.
Side 2 – Berwick 2 def Hampton 1 90 to 69. Ladder Position: 1st
Massive win against undefeated Hampton 1 and playing alongside the Division 1 team it was a great atmosphere across the green with both sides competing strongly.
Success is in the hands of this side now and you’d have to say they are looking like the favourites going in to the rest of the season.
It’s early days yes but as we’ve previously said, this is a very strong side and shows our clubs depth. The rink of Geoff Dawson, Karyn Mackie, David Clarke and Graeme Manifold set the day up with a big 16-shot win.
The twos head to Mordialloc next week and we’re backing them in for a big win.
Side 3 – Berwick 3 def by Mulgrave 2 78 to 84. Ladder Position: 8th
Another heartbreaking loss for the threes.
They’ll be up against it every week this season but so far, they have shown how competitive they have been with a nine-shot loss two weeks ago against one of the favourites Cranbourne 1 and again only six shots on the weekend by the strong Mulgrave Country Club.
They’re close to winning!
If they can reduce that one rink each week that gets done by double digits and get it down to under nine or less, they’ll reap the rewards.
Stay positive threes, you are really stepping up to Division 2 bowls and if you can stay focused and positive throughout your improvement as individuals and as a team will continue to grow.
Side 4 – Berwick 4 def Cardinia Waters 1 101 to 64. Ladder Position: Equal 1st
Big win here against a side last year who were around the mark and in the top four.
As we’ve said with the higher sides, the strength and depth of sides throughout the grades is impressive and this is evident for the fours.
They’ll be right there later in the season we think, they sit equal first with Pakenham 2 who they play this week at Pakky so expect a close one with the fours getting up to win late in the game.
The fours include some of our newer bowlers who have shown a lot of potential and who at this stage are continuing to improve under the tuition of our more experienced skips. The rink of Peter Riordon, Marcus Zammit, David Corrigan and club stalwart Alan Thompson smashed their opposition by 27 shots to set the day up.
Side 5 – Berwick 5 def Churchill W/G 1 75 to 73. Ladder Position: 4th
The fives got over the line in a nailbiter by two shots overall.
Covering one rink loss of 11 shots and still getting up overall means the fives stay in the top four and only six points behind first place Edithvale 2.
The fives host Dandy Club 4 who sit second so a win here next week will set them up in a great position through the early rounds of the season.
Great to see Ted Tratt’s rink get a win after Ted has had a couple of tough weeks on the green with results in the first two rounds.
Keep up the fighting spirit fives; last year was a long season for you so it’s great to see results going your way early on.
Side 6 – Berwick 6 def Dandy Club 5 81 to 75. Ladder Position: 2nd
A game where it shows that if you keep your losses close and not have a blow out on one rink, you’ll generally get the points.
The rink of Robert Jamieson, Martin Gindley, Helen D’Amelio and Tom McDermott smashed their opposition by 21 shots to set it up for the day whilst the rinks of Tony Wynen and Avril Steere lost by two and one respectively.
Ray Findlay went down by 12 but again, the McDermott rink covered the loss and the sixes now see themselves sitting second on the ladder and play the winless Carrum 2 next week at Carrum.
As long as the weather is kind, as we know that playing at Carrum can be atrocious, they’ll get the points and consolidate their ladder position inside the top four.
Side 7 – Berwick 7 def Noble Park 3 85 to 37. Ladder Position: 1st
Wow! Keep in mind our sevens and eights play 12-a-side – three rinks not four – and they have given Noble Park 3 a lesson this week!
A 48-shot win overall is massive and they’ve now put themselves 10 points in front atop the ladder already after three rounds of the season!
Johnny Garland, who wasn’t happy about the late change to the slow grass in the morning, had a 21-shot win.
It’s a strong rink led up by Jimmy Young, Leanne Kleverlaan and third Helen Adair.
Terry Woods rink won by 20 as well and Alf Reina by seven.
The sevens host Dandy Club 6 at home next week and a win here will see them push further in front on top of the ladder. We are picking another big win this week by the sevens.
Side 8 – Berwick 8 def Toorak 2 69 to 48. Ladder Position: 1st
Three rinks up here for the eights as they travelled to Toorak on the weekend.
John Tones played his first game with the club and was partnered with Herb Tinschert, John Stoker (fresh from his Bali holiday) and skip Michael Ferey…and they had a three-shot win.
Ron McGrath’s rink had a four-shot win and the rink of the day in the eights of Alex Bigdelis, Greg Marsh, Janis Pearson and Barry Richards had a big 14-shot win.
The eights play Coatesville 3 this week away so we’ll get a good indication of where they are at in the competition after next week.
No predictions for the eights as we are a little wary of the section they are in and we’ll just wait a couple of more weeks before we start talking them up too much.
-John Rich-
