Men’s Country Week Finals
Played Friday, 6th March at Melville Bowling Club Melville Bowling Club played host to three exciting Men’s Country Week finals, with heavy scoring ends a feature in the Fours but particularly in the Pairs and Singles.
Merredin’s Matthew France got off to a dream start with a full count on the first end; however, it didn’t take long for Donald Thomson (Tammin) to settle as he picked up a couple of shots and then a single on the next two ends. France, who defeated Matthew Pennington (Busselton) yesterday, watched Thomson get the better of his former WA Under 18 teammate Justin Smith (York) 21-17 and was certainly expecting another tight affair.
A three to Thomson made it 6-all after five ends but that was as close as the Tammin bowler would get to France in the final. A second full count made 14-6 three ends later and although Thomson fought valiantly to win the next four ends and close the gap to two, France kept peppering the jack to lead 18-12 after just 14 ends to be within touching distance of the trophy.
France did not disappoint. He picked up the three shots required to win the blue-ribbon Men’s Country Week Singles title with the final lasting less than an hour. Merredin also collected the P.S. Bignell Perpetual Memorial for the third time, after winning the Champion Country Club award in 2011 and 2013. France paid tribute to the Pairs combination of Brian Gearing and Adrian Chesson, whose run to the semi finals contributed to the overall points tally.
They were beaten 19-10 by Dalwallinu’s Glen Jones and Dan Jolly who absolutely dominated the final against Graham Needs and Brian Jones (Dudley Park). Earlier in the day Needs had got the better of Pennington 15-12 but there was no stopping Dalwallinu after they picked up a seven on the first end of the final. They extended their lead to 12-1 after just three ends and 19-1 after seven. Down 20 shots with Dalwallinu holding a further seven, Needs bravely cut the count to two; however, he and Jones had seen enough and conceded defeat with only ten of the 14-end final played.
The Fours final seemed to be heading in a similarly one-side fashion with Corrigin racing to a 9-0 lead after six ends. Wonthella responded with a four to finally get on the scoreboard while the next seven ends were all singles. Then a two to Wonthella meant they only trailed by two with two ends to play. Skip Mark Szczecinski drew shot with the last bowl on the penultimate end and then again on the last end; his last bowl a toucher that not only gave his side three shots but made it very difficult for the Wonthella skip Colin O’Brien to convert anything into the three shots his team required to force an extra end. With that, Szczecinski and the same Corrigin team comprising Steve Sloan, Clifton Crombie and Harry Gayfer that last lifted the trophy 2011 were once again named Country Fours Champions.
Fours – Mark Szczecinski, Clifton Crombie, Harry Gayfer, Steve Sloan (Corrigin) def. Colin O’Brien, Richard Cobley, Ian Hamilton, Henry Slawinski (Wonthella) 16-10 (17)
Pairs – Glen Jones, Dan Jolly (Dalwallinu) def. Graham Needs, Brian Jones (Dudley Park) 24-2 (10)
Singles – Matthew France (Merredin) def. Donald Thomson (Tammin) 21-12
