Bowls WA State Fours Finals Wrap
The Bowls WA State Fours champions have been decided with the finals taking place at Sorrento Bowling Club on Sunday afternoon. In a first for bowls in WA the finals were also live streamed via the Bowls WA Facebook page.
In the men’s event Daniel Brown (Kardinya) and Daniel Trewhella (Osborne Park) won yet another state championship together, joined by Kevin McKay (Armadale) and Shane Loftus (Sorrento). They survived a late scare to beat heavy underdogs Peter Wachmer, Matthew Ngui, Keith Bowden and John Chessell by a single shot 17-16. The Fremantle side who all play pennants in second division, which is the clubs highest team, almost pulling off a remarkable last end victory.
Manning’s Helen Morss, Therese Hastings and Robyn O’Brien went back to back with new team member Laura Merz in the women’s competition, defeating Shaan Saunders, Amanda Masters, Brooke Newstead (all Osborne Park) and Kim Simms (Dudley Park) 24-6.
After a come from behind victory in the semi-final Morss’ Manning side seemed determined to get off to a better start in the final as they shot to an early lead. Third Therese Hastings was dominant in the early part of the game before her teammates got in a similar rhythm to win the first 10 ends of the match.
With a 19-0 lead the game as a contest was as good as over with Morss never looking like collapsing. A four to get off the mark for Saunders may have brought back some optimism but they were only allowed to win two more ends as Morss ran away to commanding 24-6 win.
The men’s final held a lot more tension as any fears that the Freo boys may buckle under the pressure of a final were dispelled early. After five ends Wachmer’s side led their more fancied opponents 4-6 having just picked up a four.
Brown immediately responded with eight shots in three ends as they threatened to blow the game apart. However, the Freo boys were able to limit the damage from there to mainly singles to hang in at 17-8 with five ends to play.
Wachmer scored on the next four ends to have a sniff going into the last but an inability to pick up more than one in an end meant they still had work to do at 17-12 down.
A positive start to the end set the scene with Fremantle holding four until Brown drew close enough to cut it down significantly. Instead of being able to draw for game Wachmer drove, getting the Brown bowl clean but still coming up agonisingly close to one of the greatest upsets in a West Australian state championship.
Kevin McKay’s consistency at second was pivotal to the Brown sides’ success, particularly through the middle part of the game.
The weekend saw yet more success for two great pairings. Brown and Trewhella combined for a state title for the seventh time while Morss and Hastings claimed their ninth championship together and their third out of four team events since the beginning of last season.
All the results from the Bowls WA State Fours Championships can be found via this link Mens and Womens State Fours Results.
More photos and live streaming replays of the finals are available on the Bowls WA Facebook page.
