Seymour VRI Bowls Report 13th February

SEYMOUR VRI BOWLS REPORT
Saturday 13ᵗʰ February 2021

Whilst rain falling on the past two Fridays has not been able to halt our Saturday Pennant the COVID-19 Lock Down has ensured that both Saturday 13ᵗʰ and Tuesday 16ᵗʰ Pennant were forced to cancel those matches. With just two rounds remaining for both the CBD Saturday and Midweek Pennant competitions our Seymour VRI sides find themselves sitting in their respective top fours and with excellent chances of taking part in the coming finals action, whilst GVBD Division 6 will finish the home and away season with a bye next week but have already secured their position on top of their division ladder.

CBD Division 1’s will be at home for their final home and away clash against 6ᵗʰ placed Alexandra with the knowledge that they are safely in 3ʳᵈ place and unable to fall out of the four. They will need to win on all rinks and hope that 5ᵗʰ placed Eildon at home can either defeat or at least win a couple of rinks against 2ⁿᵈ placed Broadford for Seymour VRI to move up to 2ⁿᵈ place and get that precious double chance.

CBD Division 2 remain in 2ⁿᵈ place and travel to meet 6ᵗʰ placed Alexandra for their final home and away game where a win will guarantee they remain in that cherished double chance position whilst a loss could feasibly see them fall to 3ʳᵈ although with 3ʳᵈ placed Kilmore meeting top side Wallan anything could happen by the end of the round.

Our Midweek side with their impressive win over 6ᵗʰ placed Broadford last week and courtesy of the cancelled round yesterday find themselves sitting comfortably in fourth place, 14 points clear of 5ᵗʰ placed Eildon, who will need to collect all the points available against top side Kilmore to have a chance of removing VRI from fourth whilst VRI at home will have an excellent chance of finishing the home and away rounds with a win against 7ᵗʰ placed Alexandra.

With many thanks to the greens people in preparing the greens following Friday’s unsettled weather the inaugural Women’s Club Pairs Championship was able to be played on Friday evening, watched by an appreciative number of members. In what was a close up and down match of excellent bowls the eventual winners were Joyanne Cashill and Jane Wilson (s) over CBD State Pairs winners Carol Harrop and Helen Flint (s).

The match began with Helen and Carol asserting their authority early winning 6 of the first 8 ends and scoring 10 shots to Jane and Joy with their 2 ends won giving them just singles and leaving them trailing 10 to 2 with 10 ends remaining. As is the way with bowls the next 5 ends
were all won by Jane and Joy scoring 2 singles and 3 two’s for a total of 8 shots to leave the match tied at 10 shots all after 13 ends. The remaining 5 ends would decide the championship with the 14ᵗʰ end going to Helen and Carol with their 2 shots giving them that advantage whilst on the 15ᵗʰ end it was a single to Jane and Joy reducing the margin to a single shot with 3 ends to go 12 to 11. Whilst scoring a 3 on the 16ᵗʰ end gave Helen and Carol a 4-shot lead and a fingertip on the title with just 2 ends to play you the old saying never count your eggs until they hatch came to mind. The excitement built to a crescendo amongst the viewing crowd when on the 17ᵗʰ end it was Jane and Joy securing 4 shots to draw level at 15 all with the final and 18ᵗʰ end to play for the title. Jane and Joy maintained their momentum in securing 2 shots on that final 18ᵗʰ end to win the inaugural Women’s Pairs title after a great match-up. Jane and Joy will now go on to represent the club at the CBD Champion of Champion Pairs later this season. Great bowls and camaraderie were on show by all four ladies who enjoyed a well earnt drink on the presidents card following the match.

Runners-up Carol Harrop and Helen Flint (s) – Winners Joyanne Cashill and Jane Wilson (s)

CBD MIDWEEK 3ʳᵈ February
SEYMOUR VRI 99 (16) def Broadford 40 (0)

At home Seymour VRI’s Midweek side were too strong for 7ᵗʰ placed Broadford winning by comfortable margins on all rinks. Establishing a substantial 27 shot lead at the lunch break after 42 ends, VRI continued to dominate the match over the remaining 33 ends to run away with a mighty 59 shot win.

Ian Cashill’s rink of Jim Tuckwell, Jim Furletti and with Bill Dawe moved up to play 3ʳᵈ appeared to be dominated their match up with Daryl Kelly’s rink right from the start winning the first 5 ends and jumping out to a 10-shot lead. Kelly’s rink fought back winning 3 of the next
4 ends adding 4 shots to their tally but with Cashill’s rink adding 2 shots on their one end won still trailed by 8 shots after 9 ends. In winning the next 5 ends and scoring a further 7 shots it was Cashill’s rink establishing a 14-shot lead at the completion of the 14ᵗʰ end break 19 to 5.
Cashill’s rinks dominance of the scoring continued following the break winning the next 7 ends to build an insurmountable 31 shot lead after the 21ˢᵗ end 37 to 5. Kelly’s rink finally secured an end win with a 4 on the 22ⁿᵈ end however it was Cashill’s rink returning fire by scoring a 5 on the 23ʳᵈ end that put the match to bed. Kelly’s rink won the final 2 ends however it was Cashill’s rink in dominating the match by winning 18 ends, that ran out very comfortable winners by 30 shots 42 to 12.

Joe Purcell’s rink of Kevin Cain, Peter Delzotto and Mario Furletti who also jumped from the blocks winning the first 7 ends to establish 13 shot lead 13 to 0 against Noel Oliver’s rink. In fighting back over the following 5 ends Noel’s rink scored 6 shots whilst holding Joe’s rink to a single shot and reducing Joe’s lead to 8 shots at the completion of the 12ᵗʰ end. Unfortunately, that was to be the end of Noel’s fightback as Joe’s rink added a further 5 shots on the next 2 ends to establish a 13-shot lead after the 14ᵗʰ end and go to the lunch break up 19 to 6. After the break ends were to be split reasonably evenly with Joe’s rink winning 6 whilst adding a further 11 shots and Noel’s rink adding a lowly 6 shots from their 5 end wins. The final margin of 18 shots allowed Joe’s rink to record a solid win 30 to 12.

Greg Jones, rink of Geoff Dixon, Paul Rolfe and Jane Wilson were unable to exert the early dominance of the other rinks and found themselves trailing 1 to 8 after allowing Ailsa Kel’s rink to win 5 of the first 6 ends. In fighting back over the next 8 ends Greg’s rink lost just one end in allowing Ailsa’s rink a single shot, they managed to establish a narrow 3 shot lead at the completion of the 14ᵗʰ end 12 to 9. Following the break and in winning 6 of the remaining 11 ends which added a further 15 shots to their tally, including a pair of 5’s and holding Ailsa to just 7 shots from her 5 end wins, it was Greg’s rink who stormed away with the match-up to record a respectable 11 shot win 27 to 16.

Until next week.
The Oracle