Gail Rowland, Pete Smith, Ben Reichel & Bronwyn Naughton.
It’s championship season again, and with the fours being completed prior to the pennants season, the club championships continue, with the Mixed Pairs starting with a bang. With 13 entries this year, all 5 first round matches, with 3 teams receiving a bye have been completed along with 2 quarter final matches.
In match #1 (May 7th) of the 1st round, Pete Smith and Gail Rowland stayed compose to fend off a determined Henry Crowe and Di Brennan, with a 4-shot victory (24 – 20). Henry and Di flew out of the blocks to lead 9 – 1 after 4 ends. By the 10th end Pete and Gail had found their rhythm and got in the groove to trail by 3 shots ( 9 – 12). Henry and Di kept applying steady pressure and by the 14th end held a 4-shot lead (16 – 12). But then the wheels came off as for the next 5 ends they were kept scoreless while Pete and Gail, piled on 8-shots to lead for the first time in the match (20 – 16).
For the last 6 ends of the match both pairs added 4 shots each to their tally, which was enough for Pete and Gail to maintain that 4-shot buffer and secure the win.
In match #2 (May 8th) of the 1st round, the deadly duo of Mick Houstein and Carol Dowell were just too good for Graham Luff (good to see him back after a lengthy absence away from the game) and Judy Kryger, with Mick and Carol scoring 29 shots to their opponents 13. It was virtually one-way traffic for the first 6 ends as Mick and Carol scored 10 shots, to Graham and Judy’s 1. Then 5 shots added over 2 ends and Luff and Kryger were only trailing by 4. By the 10th ends both pairs scored 3 each and the margin was still 4 shots, but then Houstein and Dowell stuck it in Angel gear and rapidly raced down the hill on a scoring spree. From ends 11 to 17, the pair piled on 8 shots to Luff and Kryger’s 1, then from ends 19 to 21 added 7 more shots while Graham and Judy could only manage another single. On the 23rd end, they called it quits as Mick and Carol had too great a margin to chase down with the final score of the match (29 – 13).
In Match #3 (May 9th) of the 1st round, Jasper Smith and Lesley Attwood, from all reports played magnificently for their 11-shot victory (30 – 19) over Eric Weston and Jann Brooke. it really was a toe-to-toe slugfest for the first 10 ends with tied scores on the 4th (3-all), 8th (10-all) and 10th end (11-all). But from the 12th to the 17th, Jasper and Lesley were able to breakaway and hold a 7-shot lead (20 – 13). From this point on, the two of them maintained control over proceedings, by winning 5 out of the last 8 ends, compiling 10 shots in the process to move out to a total of 30.
While Eric and Jann just couldn’t quite break the cycle long enough to turn the tide and added 6 to their tally, taking their score to 19.
In match #4 (May 9th) of the 1st round, the married “Till bias Do Us Part,” pairing of Sharon and Neil Armstrong, dined out on a smorgas-bowl’d buffet as they decisively won by 28 shots (37 – 9) against “In the Ditch” Mitch Goodsall and Mary McCormick, with Goodsall returning from injury after his ill-fated attempt at emulating Max Verstappen on the Gundagai Golf course went awry a little while back, and he literally went in the ditch, But I can assure all readers that no driving was done on the green, players conducted themselves with the utmost safety. Anyway, Goodsall and McCormick won the first end with a single shot, while Armstrong & Armstrong sprang into action and compiled 17 unanswered shots to careen to a 16-shot lead (17 – 1) by the 11th end. Goodsall remarked to a fellow bowler that he worked out where he and Mary went wrong, “they won the first end”.
The next 7 ends saw Mitch and Mary produce their best passage of play as they won the exchange 7 shots to 5, but the scoreboard read (22 – 8) in their opponents favour. From then on, Sharon and Neil continued to pile on the pain as they racked up another cluster of 13 shots to finish with 37, while Mitch and Mary could only muster 1 more for their total.
In match #5 (May 10th) of the 1st round, Matt Armstrong and Lynne French combined well to score a 14-shot win (27 – 13) over Pam Watling and Geoff Scanes. It is an often-said statement in sport that the score never truly reflects the game, but in this case, it was true as both Pam and Geoff played some magnificent bowls, often without that extra element of luck. The first 6 ends saw both pairs getting the feel of the green with Armstrong and French holding a 2-shot lead (6 – 4). Pam and Geoff hung in there, but could only move up in singles, but by the 17th end, Armstrong and French had steadily built a nice buffer and were holding a 13-shot lead (19 – 6). The two scored 5 shots on the 19th end to kick their lead out further, while Watling and Scanes continued to hang in there and by the 21st end had reached double-figures but still trailing by 14 (24 – 10). The last 4 ends of the match saw both pairs add 3 each to their scores with the margin remaining 14 shots and the final score (27 – 13).
In the 1st Quarter Final match (May 10th) Tom French and Wendy Nicholson staved off a last-minute surge from Sharon and Neil Armstrong, winning by 1 shot (23 – 22) in an absolute nail-biter. French and Nicholson stamped early authority with a 6-nil lead after 4 ends. The two Armstrong’s slowly and steadily clawed their way back and regained ground when by the 14th end after scoring 4 shots on that end, were trailing Tom and Wendy by 1 shot (12 – 13). But then disaster struck as they dropped 6 shots on the next end, but the setback was only temporary as they rallied and scored 7 shots by the 19th end, and both pairs were level at 19-all.
The last 6 ends made it worthwhile for spectators as the first pair to blink could potentially lose the match. They both won 6 ends each, but Tom and Wendy scored 4, to Sharon and Neil’s 3, with Tom managing to have one of his bowls sit for second shot on the final end, denying Sharon and Neil the chance to level the scores and force another end.
In the 2nd Quarter Final match (May 10th) the Son-in-law and Mother-in-Law combination of Ben Reichel and Bronwyn Naughton performed like a well-oiled machine and produced consistent bowls to score a spectacular 17-shot (30 – 13) win over Pete Smith and Gail Rowland. For the first 12 ends watching the scoreboard, spectators saw a fierce struggle occur as both pairs never gave an inch. By the end of the 12th, both pairs were deadlocked on the scoreboard at 11-all.
The remaining 12 ends they played as the 25th end was not required, read vastly different as Ben and Bronwyn scored 16 shots to Pete and Gail’s 2 shots. The pair just took complete control and produced consistent draw shots, that their opponents just couldn’t quite match resulting in a fine victory indeed.
2025-26 Open Pennant Final Saturday 16th May
A reminder that all players, reserves and the team manager are required to be at the Wagga Rules Club by 12pm this Saturday, Skips to arrange transport for the players in their team. The selected teams are as follows:
Team 1: Skip – Bob Smart, 3rd – Tom French, 2nd – Gail Rowland & Lead – Matt Armstrong
Team 2: Skip – Mick Houstein, 3rd – Grant Duncan, 2nd – Bronwyn Naughton & Lead – Joe Bond
Team 3: Skip – Wayne Carthew, 3rd – Sharon Armstrong, 2nd – Graeme Tickner & Lead – Helen Lott
Team Manager – Lynne French, Reserves: Sharon Gaha & Neil Armstrong
Keith Turner Memorial
The Gundagai Services Bowling is saddened to hear of the passing of Keith Turner, a long-time member of the bowling club, with many years of appreciated service and contributions throughout. Keith sadly passed away at the Gundagai Hospital on Wednesday 6th May at the age of 88. Keith’s family are holding a service for those wishing to attend at the Gundagai District Services Club on this Friday 15th May, commencing at 2:30pm. Our thoughts and condolences go out to Keith’s family at this time.
In Social Bowls
On Tuesday 5th May Di Brennan and Joan Dunn defeated Lesley Attwood and Pip Fitzpatrick 21 – 16. Terri Craig, Judy Moore & Wendy Nicholson defeated Cecily Luff, Leonie Maynard & Mary McCormick 17 – 4. On Thursday 7th May, Tom French, Matt Armstrong, Joe Bond & Pat Caffery defeated Wayne Carthew, Grant Duncan, Lynne French & Col Harris 20 – 11.
What’s Coming up for Bowls:
Weekly Social bowling days are: • Tuesday – 10am for 10:30am start, names in by 10:15am
• Thursday – 12:30 pm for 1:00pm start, names in by 12:45pm
• Saturday – 12:30 pm for 1:00pm start, names in by 12:45pm
