East Defeats the Best in the West
The Men’s Champion of Champion Singles finally concluded at the Yokine Bowling Club on Sunday. After the lights went out the previous week, Jerome Clayton (North Beach) and Jack East (Osborne Park) were greeted with a glorious morning and a sizeable crowd to finish the blue-ribbon event off.
In the first Semi Final last week, Jack East took on noted singles player and the 2023 State Singles Runner Up Blake Butler (Manning). Butler was in form early and jumped out to a 5-2 lead before East warmed up. Five consecutive winning ends, including a three and a two, saw East turn a small deficit into a five-shot lead at 10-5. A three to Butler was followed with a two, four and single to East to put him in a commanding 17-8 scoreline. A couple of ends to Butler saw the margin reduce to six but East was having none of it and won the last four ends to quickly put the game to bed and book a spot in the final with a 25-11 win.
Jerome Clayton came up against Victoria Park Carlisle’s Louie Berteaux in the second Semi Final. Clayton started well with a 3-0 lead before Berteaux got back to 3-3. A single to Clayton was followed by run of three ends to Berteaux, including a full count of four shots on one end to jump out to a 10-4 lead. The ends went back and forth with the score favoring Berteaux 14-10, when Clayton made his move. In an eight-end period, Clayton put on 11 shots to jump out to a 21-14 lead. A two to Berteaux was answered by a two to Clayton, leaving Clayton on 23 and within sight of a final. A three to Berteaux followed by a single found him on 20 and closing in but Clayton steadied by grabbing a two on the 27th end and a place in the final with a 25-20 win.
The final started in the late afternoon with the lights already on as they would be required to finish the game.East took a single on the first end, but Clayton followed with his own single and then a three and another single to lead 5-1. East then grabbed his own three to bring the score back to 4-5. Unbeknown to the players and the crowd watching, while play was taking place on the green, the lights had gone out not only at the Yokine BC but also in surrounding suburbs. Investigations found it was a long-term outage and unlikely to come back on before the lights would be required to complete the game. Rather than wait until the lights were needed and the scores much more advance, the players were consulted and it was decided to come back the following Sunday at 10.00am to resume play.
So, on a magnificent day a week later, play resumed at Yokine on the same rink, with Clayton leading 5-4. For the early part it was all Clayton as East struggled to find a consistent weight. A couple of two’s to Clayton saw the lead swell to 9-4. East hit back with a couple of singles but then Clayton won seven of the next nine ends to stretch the score out to 17-8 and a handy nine shot lead. Although Clayton was continually scoring, he was only getting singles, so while the lead climbed, East was still keeping himself in the contest, and waiting until he found the consistency required.
Then suddenly it happened, a single to East was followed by a two and after five winning ends to East it was 17-17. Clayton continued to play at a high level but now East matched him and his confidence was climbing as his shot play expanded. A three to Clayton took him to 20 and dampened the East assault, and when Clayton again held three the next end, it looked like Clayton had weathered the storm. But a drive by East saw the bowl hit the jack right in the middle and put it in the ditch, Clayton drew second shot within two feet of the ditch, but East was now super confident and drew a second shot within the Clayton bowl. Another single to East locked the scores up at 20-20 as now both players went bowl for bowl.
The very healthy crowd were on the edge of their seats as both players searched for their first major singles title. Again, Clayton took the lead with a single and then East took a two and for the first time, after 28 ends, took the lead 22-21. Clayton was not going to lie down and regained the lead at 23-22 with a single and a two. A single to East then leveled the scores up again at 23-23. On what was to be the last end, Clayton had three bowls within one and a half feet, but unfortunately for Clayton, East had two bowls within a foot. With the last Clayton bowl unable to change things, despite rocking the pack of bowls with a little weight, East grabbed the two shots required to be crowned the 2023 Men’s Champion of Champion Singles winner after a magnificent game of bowls.
