CRANBOURNE BOWLS
Mulgrave Country Club 5 was too strong for Cranbourne 4 last weekend, winning the Division 6 grand final by 22 shots (87-65) as the sweltering sun beamed down.
Burden Park was home to the battle and despite a late surge, Cranbourne couldn’t manage to bridge the gap after Mulgrave’s early lead set them up for success.
Mulgrave jumped out to an early lead, and the Cranbourne players knew they were in for a tough day.
Both teams weren’t prepared to give an inch and playing a close quarter’s game, but it was Mulgrave who’d taken a comfortable lead at the break, 49-36.
Cranbourne made a bit of a comeback after the break and despite trying extremely hard; they were ultimately defeated by the better team on the day.
The best rink of the day went to Hans Worsteling (skip), Ron Fenton, Lesley Deal and Bruce Harper (lead), who battled hard and made up 10 shots in the past eight ends, to achieve an honourable draw 23-23.
Cheryl Wright (skip) and her team of Scott De Piazza 3rd, Jo Alsop 2nd, and Jacqui Warner (lead), relinquished an early lead, but fought back again late, to only go down by three shots 14-17.
The team led by Derek Maguire (skip), Steve Bakker 3rd, Neil Fotheringham 2nd and Rod Challis (lead) started off well, but the lack of bowls in the head allowed Mulgrave to push out to a lead of 16-3 at the break.
Following some food and refreshments, the Cranbourne team slowly started pulling the lead back and after 17 ends, they had lessened the margin to 14-18.
Unfortunately, Mulgrave played the better bowls over the next three ends to pick up seven shots – Cranbourne took the last end to go down by 10 shots, 15-25.
The last rink was led by Harry Van Soest (skip), Bill Sherriff 3rd, David McMaster 2nd and Frank Verco (lead) and Cranbourne had a handy two-shot lead at the break.
However, upon returning to the game and over the next nine ends, Mulgrave CC5 were the better side and got out to an eventual winning margin of nine shots, 13-22.
We congratulate the Mulgrave Country Club on their well-deserved win as they just out bowled us in the end.
To my Cranbourne 4 teammates, each and every one of you can be very proud of your season.
We didn’t win the Section Final, but we played in it. We finished 2nd on the ladder and we made finals, three of them.
We did however achieve what we as a team and the club had hoped for, a promotion to Division 5.
To my Cranbourne 4 team, thank you for supporting me as your Team Manager this year.
I know I can be a little pain in the rear end, but I made sure you had all the information needed each week.
Today ends the club’s finals appearances for the season and Weekend Pennant.
MIDWEEK DIVISION QUARTER FINAL
Both the Division 2 (Section 7 and 8) Grand Final winners met at Burden Park to play off in a quarter final as Narre Warren 1 (Sec 7) defeated Cranbourne 1 (Sec 8) by 14 shots (50-64).
It was a mixed bag on the day, with Narre Warren getting out to an early lead, before Cranbourne pegged them back.
At the lunch break Narre Warren had a 10-shot lead after 27 ends, 30-20 before a Cranbourne comeback threatened to steal the result.
But Narre Warren still led after 44 ends, despite Cranbourne reducing their lead to 42-36.
After 50 ends, the score was only one shot the difference in favour of Narre Warren (47-46), but in the final 13 ends, Narre Warren extended their lead to win by 14 shots.
The best rink for the day went to Nick Arnold (skip), Spanky Stevens 3rd, Karen Hickson 2nd and Vic Butera (lead) as they won by 12 shots (27-15).
Lyn Quigg (skip), Peter Colthup 3rd, Dennis Tomlin 2nd and Kristi Hickson (lead)) were in the game all day, but just got overrun in the past couple of ends (13-18).
That leaves the team of Peter Elgar (skip), Chris Stevenson 3rd, Stephen Bentley 2nd and Loui Magri (lead) were down 18-0 early and at the break it was 18-3 to Narre Warren.
After the break the team made a concerted effort to pull it back and this they did, but again Narre Warren got away in the last couple of ends to eventually win by 21 shots (10-31) but they battled it out to the end.
Narre Warren now moves onto the Division Semi-Final where they’ll play against Essendon 1 at a
We need to take a moment now to congratulate and thank the Cranbourne 1 team on their magnificent efforts throughout a tough year.
To the selectors, managers and players, you should all take a bow and celebrate what you’ve achieved.
You made finals, you won the Div 2 Section Final (Champions) and to top it off, you gained promotion to Division 1 next season.
On behalf of the club board, members, family and friends, thank you for a wonderful achievement. Go Cranny.
– Derek Maguire
