LAWN BOWLS
WGBD
Trafalgar was given a bowls lesson by Yallourn at home on Saturday in the form of a 44 shot drubbing.
In fine conditions for bowls and on a beautifully prepared green Yallourn collected maximum points with a 105-61 victory.
Heads were scattered all over the place as bowlers found the wind and the pace of the greens hard to handle, however Steve Lodge’s Trafalgar rink adjusted quickly to win four of the first five ends to go 7-1 up.
Yallourn fought back with some consistent bowling and hit the lead with a four on the 14th end to run away with the rink.
Young bowler Alex Houston played some superb shots for Yallourn, while Lodge showed sublime skill in a losing side.
George Lambos and Steve Dawson had a great contest, with the honours even at the end of the day.
Charlie Ward showed his experience against Mal Clymo with some fine bowls and Geoff Wetzell and Martin Kenny had a good tussle.
Yallourn singles champion Ken Capper was given an armchair ride with his side of Peter Phillips, John Backman and Nosha Michaels far too good for Paul Dawson, Frank Farrugia, Terry Comber and Colin Carmichael, who were unable to handle the fast greens.
The Yallourn combination won by 16 shots, 29-13.
Darren Kane’s rink won just four of the opening 15 ends, but post-afternoon tea started to peg Yallourn back.
The head start was too much to recoup as Trafalgar lost 13-23.
Barry Daley put in some fine shots for Yallourn and enjoyed a sterling tussle with Tony Dawson.
Greg Lewis was much more consistent than Tim Fraser and Michael Ralls and Darren Kane found the going tough against Neil Houston and Alan Grubb.
Kevin Lovett and his side bowled with more determination and consistency than Bruce Marino’s rink to win out 28-15.
Jim Lawrence showed his experience with some good calls to his skip, John Hannant and his big red bowls were the standout of the day with his superb draw bowling and Max Grubb held his own against the Trafalgar singles champion John Cornish.
Scott Jones and Graham Hill found the going tough but never gave up.
The big win kept Yallourn in touch with ladder leader Traralgon with just five points the difference at the top of the table.
Drouin had two rinks up and two down in defeating Warragul 94-83, Morwell Club won comfortably against Moe 108-92 and Traralgon thumped Traralgon RSL 122-75 with all rinks up.
WGBD State Mixed Pairs
Dennis Throup and Denise Hamilton from the Drouin Bowls Club tasted West Gippsland Bowls Division state pairs success after winning a close final against Peter and Dannielle Philips from the Yallourn Bowls Club.
The semi-finals and final were played at the Traralgon Bowls Club on Friday where the greens were running at 13-14 seconds.
Close games in the semis were the order of the day with Nosha and Jo-Anne Michaels just going down 14-16 to team Philips, while Ian and Mary Smethurst lost 15-19 to Throup and Hamilton.
The final was another close game with just one shot the difference, 13-12 in favour of the Drouin pairing.
Strzelecki under 25 singles
Traralgon Bowls Club dominated proceedings at the Strzelecki under 25 singles event at Meeniyan Bowls Club earlier this month.
Vin McIlwain eventually trumped Traralgon clubmate Scott Cottrell 25-23 in a hard fought final, after emerging from a field of seven on the day to contest the decider.
Three colts from the Traralgon Bowls Club made it to the semi-finals to see Will McIlwain knocked out by Cottrell, before Vin avenged his sibling in the final.
West Gippsland Bowls Division Saturday Pennant Round 11
DIVISION 1: Yallourn 20pts 105 shotsTrafalgar 0pts 61 shots, Drouin 16 94 Warragul 4 83, Morwell Club 17 108 Moe 3 92, Traralgon 20 122 Traralgon RSL 0 75.
DIVISION 2 Pts Shots Pts Shots, Traralgon (3) 17 100 Longwarry 3 86, Morwell 18 105 Garfield 2 81, Neerim District 18 92 Moe (2) 2 83, Yallourn (2) 17 111 Traralgon (2) 3 100.
DIVISION 3 Pts Shots Pts Shots, Yinnar 19 99 Warragul (2) 1 73, Trafalgar (2) 16 109 Traralgon RSL (2) 4 74, Yallourn (3) 15 94 Drouin (2) 5 93, Thorpdale 16 95 Traralgon (4) 4 86.
DIVISION 4 Pts Shots Pts Shots, Morwell (2) 18 116 Morwell Club (2) 2 67, Boolarra 17 111 Garfield (2) 3 89, Neerim District (2) 16 97 Warragul (3) 4 81, Yarragon 11 87 Yallourn North 9 87.
DIVISION 5 Pts Shots Pts Shots, Drouin (3) 16 118 Moe (3) 0 51, Trafalgar (3) 16 79 Traralgon RSL (3) 0 47, Morwell (3) 14 82 Yinnar (2) 2 55, Yallourn (4) 15 82 Traralgon (5) 1 63.
DIVISION 6 Pts Shots Pts Shots, Traralgon (6) 10 54 Warragul (5) 0 40, Morwell Club (3) 10 75 Garfield (3) 0 24, Yallourn North (2) 10 52 Longwarry (2) 0 45, Warragul (4) 8 56 Traralgon RSL (4) 2 44, Yallourn (5) 8 56 Morwell (4) 2 51.
West Gippsland Bowls Division Tuesday Pennant Round 10, DIVISION 1: Traralgon 14pts 82 shotsMorwell Club 2pts 67 shots, Traralgon RSL 16 79 Trafalgar 0 55, Yinnar 16 71 Drouin 0 57, Yallourn 15 87 Warragul 1 66.
DIVISION 2 Pts Shots Pts Shots, Morwell 14 72 Yallourn (2) 2 64, Neerim District 16 103 Morwell Club (2) 0 39, Traralgon (2) 15 69 Garfield 1 60, Moe 14 75 Drouin (2) 2 55.
DIVISION 3 Pts Shots Pts Shots, Warragul (2) 14 91 Morwell (2) 2 65, Moe (2) 14 70 Yarragon 2 63, Traralgon (3) 14 82 Trafalgar (2) 2 63, Traralgon RSL (2) 16 87 Yallourn North 0 53.
DIVISION 4 Pts Shots Pts Shots, Drouin (4) 10 45 Moe (3) 0 30, Longwarry 10 56 Trafalgar Park 0 42, Traralgon (5) 10 59 Drouin (3) 0 34, Morwell (3) 10 56 Yinnar (2) 0 41, Traralgon (4) 8 53 Yallourn (3) 2 43.
