New Best Friends Win The Inaugural State Mixed Pairs
Played Friday 11th and Saturday 12th May The Inaugural Western Australian State Mixed Pairs was held at the Stirling Bowling Club on Friday 11th and Saturday 12th May. With 80 enthusiastic teams taking part and all competitors playing in great spirit on and off the green, the event can be considered a resounding success.
Not originally in the 2017-2018 Bowls WA Event Calendar, the event was first mooted on the Bowls WA Facebook Page and after gaining plenty of momentum it made it a formality that it should be added to the calendar as soon as possible.
With a packed calendar and no full weekends available, it was decided Mothers Day weekend would be the only time this year’s event could possibly go ahead. With no historical records to indicate how many teams were likely to enter, but in an effort to avoid Mothers Day itself, a decision was made to have multiple starting times with play beginning on Friday evening and concluding on Saturday evening.
With the final count of 80 teams entered at the time of the event closing, it became obvious that teams making the final were going to have to work very hard throughout Saturday to get a conclusion in the evening.
Played as a knockout competition over two sets of seven ends each with a one end tiebreak, the format provided many exciting finishes with 30 games going down to a one end tiebreak shootout.
After a Friday Evening and Saturday of amazing performances it came down to the last two teams standing with the two finalists paths to the final completely different.
In the top half of the draw it was the consistent Glenn Pauling (South Perth) who was coming into the competition with a recent State Triples to his name and his partner Bowls WA Hall of Fame member Lee Poletti (Geraldton).
Glenn and Lee surprisingly only met each other for the first time on the Saturday morning of the event after Helen Morss negotiated a match made in heaven on the bowling green.
When Lee rang Helen before the recent Side Series to wish her luck she mentioned that her original partner was unable to play and did Helen know of anybody looking for a game. It just so happened that Glenn had also mentioned he was looking for a partner and the rest as they say is history.
Coming into the final Glenn and Lee had not dropped a set even though they had come across tough opposition the whole way throughout the tournament. In the Semi Final they took care of the formidable combination of Kristina and Joe Krstic in straight sets after previously defeating Cody Packer and Hailey Adams in the Quarter Finals in similar style.
The bottom half of the draw saw a pair come through in completely different circumstances than their opponents with pressure bowls required all the way through. Certainly a more predictable pairing than Glenn and Lee, the Goldfields pair of Sarah Trow (Kalgoorlie) and Louie Trow (Boulder) had to survive four tiebreak ends in a row to take their place in the inaugural final.
The Quarter Final saw Sarah and Louie take care of renowned pairing Clive Adams and Lisa Featherby by initially claiming the first set before Clive and Lisa hit back by taking the second set. However it was Sarah and Louie holding their nerve to fight back and take the tiebreak to move on in the competition.
The Semi Final against Darren Wilkinson and Maree MacGregor was the opposite to the quarter final game with the Trows dropping the first set before producing a superb second set to force the tiebreak. With Darren and Maree taking control of the end with 11 of the 12 bowls being played, it took Sarah Trows best to produce a stunning running shot with her last bowl to put the jack in the ditch and claim the Semi Final.
The Western Australian Mixed Pairs Final began at the Stirling Bowling Clubs Indoor Green at 8.30pm on Saturday Evening with Glenn Pauling/Lee Poletti and Sarah Trow/Louie Trow already having played a minimum of 70 ends each during the day with the Trows having played a few more with the number of tiebreaks they required.
The first set was a tight affair with Sarah and Louie leading 3-2 after 4 ends. However a pair of two’s from Glenn and Lee put them up 6-3 going into the final end of the set. With Lee getting close early in the end it was up to Glenn to just make sure that no scores of three or more was possible to protect the lead. Try as they might Sarah and Louie could not generate a multiple number and although Sarah played a terrific last bowl, she could only generate a single leaving Glenn and Lee to take the first set 6-4.
The second set started slowly for the Goldfield’s pair and dropping consecutive two’s at the start of the set saw the new best of friends pairing of Glenn and Lee take control 4-0 after 2 ends. The Trows produced a number of great ends in a row only to see Glenn at the top of his game firstly drawing second shot on the third end to limit the damage and then producing a great shot on the fourth end to keep the gap between the teams 5-1. Another double on the sixth end put the game in Glenn and Lee’s keeping and they ran out second set winners 8-1 and therefore taking the Western Australian State Mixed Pairs without dropping a set and after playing 84 ends in the day.
Congratulations on all competitors for making the event such a success and we begin the hunt for a more complete weekend to hold the second State Mixed Pairs next season.
All State Mixed Pairs Results
