Sport
16 August, 2024
Indoor bowls grand final action
The grand finals of winter indoor bowls pennant for 2024 were played on Monday night with some exciting conclusions.
In division one, Allansford Tigers 21 (Rita Mungean, Sue Kerr, Barb Draffen and James Ruddle) defeated Allansford Lions 18 (Russell Kerr, Alan MacCulloch, Doug Byron and Rob McCrabb).
The Lions got off to a great start winning five on the first end.
With Russell and Alan dominating as lead and second, the Lions built up some great heads and had opened up a 16-5 lead at the halfway point of the match.
The next three ends saw Tigers skipper James Ruddle play three magnificent conversion shots.
On each occasion he was three down before his final bowl but played precision shots to gain 10 shots over those three ends.
The momentum change was palpable with James’ teammates lifting, and the Tigers able to surge to victory.
In division two, Port Fairy Seagulls 22 (Des Phillips, Colin Wilson, Maurice Mahoney and Gill Phillips) defeated Allansford Leopards 21 (Colin Ruddle, Andrew Lackie, Julie Shiels and Brad Murphy).
Allansford had the early running, getting out to a 10-3 lead after seven ends, before Port Fairy fought back to lead 18-11 after 12 ends.
The Leopards showed why they had been the top team for most of the year by forcing the match to a tie after 18 ends.
On the extra end, Colin Ruddle and Andrew Lackie had very close bowls before Port Fairy third Maurice Mahoney trailed the kitty to a Port Fairy bowl.
This would prove to be the winning shot.
In division three, Grangeburn 19 (Nettie Ryan, Carol Dunn, Jules Pollock and Rylan Pech) defeated Wannon Park Barkers 7 (Kim Brauer, Brian Justin, Brian Fish and Dennis Brooks).
The grand final was a replay of the second semi-final where Wannon Park came within a shot of inflicting Grangeburn’s first loss of the season.
The top team had no intention of making the grand final a close one, and despite some very closely fought ends were able
