How they will finish
1. Stirling
2. Bedford
3. Bayswater
4. Yokine
5. Safety Bay
6. Sorrento
7. Midland
8. Nth Beach
9. Warwick
10. Hollywood
November 2, 2009
BEDFORD 85(7) d NORTH BEACH 65(1)
Mort, Winship, P.Hunter, Paul Hunter..........27
Gregson, Bartle, D.Crosthwaite, Vitale..........15
Colley,Johnson,Watson,Radford.....................9
Crosthwaite, Stribling, Devenish, Coles..........25
Hearn, Street, Healy, Graybrook....................20
Flegg, Retallack, Jones, Schrauf.....................19
Carlson, Mayer, Burke, Packer........................29
Young, Gmeiner, Dempsey, Hill.......................6
One of the most testing opening days of Pennant bowls in years,weather wise, last Saturday was made even more memorable by the outstanding performances of two young First Division Blue North bowlers.
Cody Packer, of Bedford, and Aaron Staples, from the Midland-Morrison club, gave notice that they would both be future forces on the West Australian bowls scene in games played at North Beach and Bayswater respectively.
Australian Junior Representative Packer skippered his rink with the aplomb of a veteran to play a big part in the Bulls' win over the Blues, in a 29 to 6 count against the Greg Hill- led combination.
Packer guided his side to a comfortable victory over Greg Hill's team, setting up success for Bedford.
He was ably assisted by John Carlsen who handled the wind well as lead, with Adi Mayer making a welcome return to the Bulls, and old hand, Kevin Burke, in good touch. John Coles's boys tried to square the ledger with a sixteen shot margin after being one behind on eleven ends in their clash with the Radford-led rink.
After scores were tied on eight-all, the Coles team of Gavin Crosthwaite, Geoff Devenish, and the promising young Stribling, romped to a 25-9 win, but Paul Hunter and Cliff Graybrook had too many guns for the Blues, and it was a good result for a Bedford outfit looking to regroup
Bedford's young Skipper Cody Packer all concentration as he gets his bowl away
MIDLAND-MORRISON 81(6) d BAYSWATER 63(2)
Normandale,Sutcliffe,Snell, Staples...............16
Johnson, Beaman, Beaglehole, Simonetti........15
Barron, Midadino, Coffey, Marino...................16
Davies, Edwards, Matt Ryan, Falconer............22
Erceg, Willis, Walter, Rollnik..........................17
Mick Ryan, Hall, Kelly, Gray............................19
Crawford,Hutchinson,Southern,Natalotto......32
Nemo Ryan, Sykes, Walmsley, Cox.....................7
Staples made light work of the tricky conditions in a contribution lauded by teammates and opposition alike against Phil Simonette's strong Bayswater side, converting repeatedly to take the honours and help Midland-Morrison to score an upset away win over the fancied Bayswater.
Simonette's men held shot repeatedly, but had no answer to the young Sportsmens greenkeeper.
An emphatic twenty five shot margin to Tony Nattalotto, ably backed by Dan Crawford, Ron Hutchinson, and Alan Sutherland, over the Cox-skippered rink put paid to the Wolves, and ensured a positive start to the new arrivals in First Blue.
YOKINE 90(8) d HOLLYWOOD-SUBIACO 55(0)
Manners,Donovan,Dawson,Busing..............31
Appleton, D.Edgar, Byrne, Stepini..............11
Germano,McEwen,McGrath, Fulcher...........17
Lindsay, Ford, Arrowsmith, Saunders.........16
Tollotti, Hammond, Taylor, Kay..................23
I.Edgar, Hall, Morey, Campbell....................12
Griffiths, Piercy, Gallop, Cooper..................19
Mazzolanti, Middleton, Chalmers, Jones.....16
The first full hand of the season went to Yokine, on the back of a strong performance by the Chris Busing rink. The veteran Busing was reportedly in great form, and his side's twenty shot margin set the trend for the proceedings, in a contest that, albeit the eight points result, was a tight tussle to the half way mark.
A point seemed to be in the grasp of Hollywood for most of the afternoon, per favour of the Martin Saunders rink, but it was a spirited comeback from Terry Fulcher's four that enabled the Doggies to take the full count;
SAFETY BAY 77(7) d WARWICK 62(1)
Harrison, Gundy, Matthews, Vantuyl.......31
Hinkley, Humfrey, Bates, Perks.................16
Tyler, Heath, Powell, Mulhall............25
G.Smith, J.Smith, Gates, Freind..........9
Taylor, Smith, Read, Scott..................18
Gregory, Dowson, Post, Guiffre...........17
Branley, Stanley, Clark, White...........19
Morris, Bowler, Hornby, Gerdtz..........20
The Warwick combination struck big trouble in downtown Safety Bay, with Brian Freind tearing out the little bit of hair he has left in his side's battle with John Mulhall, who finished with a sixteen shot margin.
Mulhall's men held the lead for the Bays all day, while the other three encounters were absorbing battles for the duration, a seven on the second last end blowing the Vantuyl rink's advantage out in the final analysis, and was a cruel result for the Ken Perks-skippered side, who had been ultra competitive for nineteen ends.
Both clubs had players pull out pre-game, with Safety Bay losing John Mavor due to sickness, while Warwick skipper John Mather was also a late withdrawal.
STIRLING 84(6) d SORRENTO 69(2)
Vujcich,Katich,Sarich,Yaksich.....................14
Murray, Bone, Cramond, Brown....................19
Ursich,Princi,Buktenica,Erceg.....................25
Heard, Lucas, Collins, Hammond.................12
Radalj,Martinovich,Iljich,Flamengo............26
Hutchinson, Martin, Linford. Kuziela..........18
Grover,Astone,Yaksich,Martinovich..............19
Welch, Olive, Anderson, Crow........................ 20
Stirling gave notice of their intentions in this Division with their six points against Sorrento.
The thirteen shot margin by Stirling's Mick Erceg, and his team of John Buktenica, Vince Princi, and John Ursich over John Hammond's rink put the visitors in the box seat, and with the other three tussles being hard fought, it was enough to get them home.
John Brown, Geoff Murray, Richard Bone, and Col Cramond won a hard fought encounter with the Yaksich rink by five shots, while Peter Crow was also a winner for Sorrento in his first outing as skipper, with Allan Anderson providing great support and guidance as his third. It was interesting to see Anderson playing as third, rather than his usual role of calling the shots.
Playing his first game with Sorrento, leading bowler Ron Kuziela didn't have a happy day at the office. His side was slow out of the blocks, then scored twelve shots in three ends to get themselves back in contention, only to drop the next eight ends to the Flamengo rink, who always had the answers after that to win by eight.
NEXT WEEK
In a revealing set of fixtures next week, Midland-Morrison will be looking to continue their great start to the season with a win at home over a North Beach combination intent on atoning.
The clash between neighbours Warwick and Sorrento will be anything but a social get together, as they both strive to open their account.
The Yokine-Bays clash at Yokine may give an indication of the strength of both clubs,
Bayswater will be tested in attempting to make amends at Stirling, and the Bulls will provide Hollywood-Subiaco with a tough task at Bedford.
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