Great Mates Claim WA Women’s State Pairs Title

by Pieter Harris on December 18, 2020

Mosman Park’s Lisa Featherby and Linda Warburton have taken out their first WA Dyenamic Women’s State Pairs at the Bassendean Bowling Club.

In the morning Semi-Finals Featherby and Warburton led for all but the first end in their match against Shaan Saunders and Amanda Masters (Osborne Park). After a single on the first end to Saunders, Featherby responded with a four and a two to take a six to one lead. That lead was then stretched to 11-3 at the halfway stage of the 18-end game. Featherby and Saunders would swap ends in the second half the Featherby and Warburton combination continuing to an 18-7 win.

The other Semi-Final saw Kathy Gobbart (Gingin) and Judy Allen (Mosman Park) taking on Kristina Krstic and Helen Heal (Manning). Gobbart and Allen previously won the title together in the 2009-10 season and surprisingly Krstic, who has dominated the other state events over recent years, has not won the Women’s State Pairs since 2011-12.

The match started with Gobbart winning the first three ends, including a three on the third end to lead 5-0. Three consecutive singles to Krstic and then a three on the eighth end saw the two teams locked together at six all. A two to Gobbart followed by two singles saw the teams again locked together at eight all. It was then that the Gobbart and Allen combination went on a run to the finish line by winning six of the last seven ends, although they were all singles. A total of fifteen singles over the eighteen ends showed how tight the game was with Gobbart and Allen finally prevailing 14-9.

The afternoon Final was played in blustery conditions on a typical 16-17 second Bassendean green, with Featherby and Warburton jumping out quickly. Three singles and then a three saw Featherby with a strong 6-0 lead. Gobbart and Allen followed up with a run of three ends themselves to reduce the margin to 6-4 after seven ends. However, with Featherby especially at the top of her game, the lead again extended to be 10-4 at the halfway stage of the 18-end final.

A single each kept the lead at six before Featherby and Warburton went on a match-defining run. First a four to go up 15-5, then a two and finally a single put them in a commanding 18-5 lead with four ends to play. A nice three to Gobbart showed that she was not going to go quietly and then when the next end was also set up with opportunities for Gobbart, it seemed like things might be getting interesting. It was then that Lisa Featherby stepped up as she had done the whole game, to put the game beyond doubt. Down two but with an opportunity to trail the jack, Featherby made light work of the pressure with perfect grass and perfect weight to trail the jack and make four shots. A single on the second last t\end to Featherby saw the two teams shaking hands and giving Lisa Featherby and Linda Warburton their first WA Women’s State Pairs Title.