Best of Country on show at Denison
The best Men’s Country Bowlers from across Western Australia will do battle this weekend in the Men’s Inter Zone Round Robin Fours. Denison Bowling Club will host this event for the first time and have made big preparations to welcome all those attending.
Each of the four WA Country Zones (South Western, Eastern, Northern and Southern) will be represented by five rinks of fours in a round robin format. The twenty players from each Zone have been selected from the respected Inter League Round Robin events held in the first weekend of January.
With a forecast of 39 degrees on Saturday at the picturesque seaside town around four hours due north of Perth whatever side comes up trumps will have duly earnt the victory.
Courtesy of CBH Group the first two rounds of play will be broadcast Live on Streamer. Bowls WA Competition Manager Pieter Harris will be joined in commentary by Bowls WA President Doug Kelly to call the feature rink action.
Saturday 4th February Round 1 at 9am will feature the Eastern rink of Geoff Main (skip), Anthony Ryan, Don Thomson and Kerran Furniss up against the host Zone Northern with Steve Fewster (skip), Chad Eva, Richie Morcombe and Kent McConnell.
The link for coverage is https://streamer.com.au/club/bowls_wa/match/794
Later after that, at 1pm, Round 2 coverage will be Eastern v Southern. The Eastern rink of Chris Schell (skip), Phil Jones, Murray Siergert and Shaun Crees matched up against Warren Holt (skip), Mark Wunnernberg, Barry Ashton and Jon Flavel.
The Northern side spearheaded by the recent Men’s State Pairs champions probably got in as favourites for this one.
The link for coverage is https://streamer.com.au/league/bowls-wa/match/795
The final round will take place on Sunday 5th February at 9am with the Championship winner decided by wins followed by rink wins and shots up if needed.
Here is a quick preview of all four Zones.
South Western
The most successful Zone having won this event 15 times including four on the trot from 2012-2020 they are always competitive and very hard to beat. On paper they are not looking as strong as recent years but do still have some very talented players such as Mark Simpson, Ben Garret, Gary Keep and Darren Wilkinson
Eastern
Last years champions this team has a good mix of younger players with some very experienced campaigners with the bulk of their lineup intact. Country Week champion Matty France will be a tough nut to crack and he will have good support from his other skips which include Peter Fleay and Ash Sharp in addition to the rinks already mentioned on the live stream.
Northern
With eight titles this is the least successful zone but they are probably the favourites being the hosts. They have won the last two series held in their zone and the hot conditions certainly wont be a worry for them. Shane Guidice-Nairn and Michael Ford from Geraldton who back end a rink will be hard to beat along with rinks skippered by Brad King, Steve Fewster and Steve Beckwith. Also keep an eye on Tom Brooks who at 16 years old is the youngest player at the championships, he will lead in a rink skippered by Bruce Manning.
Southern
Southern have won this event 11 times but not since 2015 so I’m sure they will be keen to break the drought. As already mentioned the back end duo of Warren Holt and Mark Wunnenberg who are in good form and should spearhead their chances. Like the other zones they also have a nice mix of up and coming players with some older heads. Callum Williams epitomizes the commitment of country bowlers with a nearly 11 hour trip from his home town of Esperance to play. There other skips are Tim O’Meehan, John Davidson and Kevin MacGregor.
All results will be available on the Bowls Link Portal
