Stars combine for Fours victory
The Men’s State Fours Semi Finals and Final took place at the Manning Bowling Club on Sunday with great bowls aplenty to entertain the crowd that had gathered.
After a sluggish start, the star-studded team of Daniel Trewhella, Tom Mitchell, Peter Ker and Mark Simpson eased through their semi final 25-10 over last seasons state pairs champions Hadyn Smith and Peter Jones who were joined by Nathan Jones and Peter Fleay.
The other Semi Final was a classic going into an extra end. After being level at 8-8 after seven ends the team of Brad Ball, Chris Lander, Ben Garrett and Russell Bates skipped away to a match winning lead 16-8. However in a great comeback which started with some singles before turning into a couple of twos and finally a three, Nick Reagan, Bill Brandsma, Arren Zis and Ross Dempsey found themselves two in front with one end to play.
The last scheduled end saw Ball slice the jack out of bounds when the Reagan rink had covered all basis making it impossible for Ball to get the three shots to win or two shots to draw.
On the replay the Ball rink was able to grab the two shots to force an extra end and to allow the crowd to enjoy the drama a bit longer. After the dust had settled and the last bowl played, it was Ball that came through to challenge Trewhella in the final of the WA State Fours.
The final began in unusually warm October conditions with the Manning green playing exceptional well especially for this early in the season.
All players were playing there share of good bowls early with the Trewhella team edging away to a five nil lead after four ends before Ball got on board with a single. Another couple of singles and a two saw Trewhella get right on top but the actual play on the green was much closer than the scoreboard suggested.
Three dead ends in a row, two by Ball and one by Trewhella in the middle part of the green showed that neither team was taking anything for granted. The Ball team kept pushing forward but could not get the major break through required to put some scoreboard pressure on Trewhella.
At 15-5 Ball got aggressive looking to change the momentum. Even though twice they put the jack in the ditch early in the end and finishing less than two feet away, it was Mitchell who drew on the edge of the ditch a number of times to either get shot or stop any signs of the Trewhella team dropping a number and letting Ball back in the game.
In the end the consistency of scores on the board with Trewhella winning twelve of the seventeen ends played getting his team over the line and a WA Men’s State Fours Title.
Full Results available at State Fours Results
