BPL Cup WA Qualifiers decided
Perica and Featherby off to the BPL Western Australia’s two BPL Cup qualifiers have finally been decided at the State Finals at South Perth yesterday.
Two sections of four teams played each other with the top of each group securing a spot in the BPL Cup finals to be held at Club Pine Rivers alongside BPL 08.
Section one was taken out by the Cambridge team of Sam Perica, Nick Lewis and Andrew Foster and the second spot went to Lisa Featherby, Paul Walker and Linda Warburton of Mosman Park.
Walker’s spot had originally been held by Renate Coote who had to pull out being on an overseas holiday.
Featherby and Warburton were the only women in the field for the State Finals.
Perica had a poor start to the day with a straight sets loss to the South Perth side led by Justin Opie.
His side recovered after a poor start to get a tie-breaker win over Blake Nairn leaving them a mathematical chance heading into the last game.
Going up against the undefeated Mandurah team of Scott O’Brien, Robbie Tiller, Matt Ayres and James Webster the only team to use four players in competition, Perica had to win in straight sets and needed Opie to lose to qualify.
The Cambridge side won each set by a single shot to hold up their end of the bargain while Nairn defeated his former team mate allowing Perica to qualify.
Featherby had a much better start to proceedings with a straight sets win of John Pole in the first game. She rode out her luck in the second game to defeat Marc Abonnel, getting a good result with her last bowl to win in straight sets again, this time with a drawn set. This left the Mosman crew as the only undefeated team. They also had the most set wins and shots up giving them a commanding position going into the last game against Peter Cole.
They made sure nothing could go wrong with the calculations by winning in straight sets yet again to qualify without losing a set.
Both sides will compete against the winners from the other states and territories at the BPL Cup at Pine Rivers in November. Full scores and all BPL Cup qualifying results can be found on the Bowls Australia Website
Article by Cameron Harris
Photo provided by Ryan Havercroft (South Perth)
