Ettalong wins Zone Fours

An Ettalong combination has steamrolled its way to a convincing 26-10 win over Terrigal to claim the first Zone 15 Fours title for 2011.

A good spectator crowd gathered for the afternoon final and were entertained by the two stand-out teams of the competition with some high class bowling.

With Junior Champion Harley McDonald leading up front with excellent bowls and drawing applause from the gallery, the

Ettalong skip and World Singles champion Aron Sherriff didn't disappoint his followers with precision drawing and accurate on-shots when the situation demanded and was ably backed up by another new recruit to the Club in Lee Trethowan (ex Asquith BC).

In the lead-up to the final, 42 teams had taken to the greens at Ettalong Memorial and Wyong Riverside Bowling Clubs for the sectional rounds of the championship.

The competition was of a high standard with the four section winners moving into the finals.

Section 1 was won by The Greens team of Peter Lyddieth (lead), Peter Redman and Phil Flippence, skipped by David Buttery.

They showed good form to defeat Ettalong 25-12, Halekulani 25-17, Avoca 22-21 and a fellow Greens team 22-8.

The powerhouse team of Ettalong skipped by Aron Sherriff with Harley McDonald, Lee Trethowan and John Roberts were just too strong for the rest of their Section 2 opponents by sweeping aside Bateau Bay 22-14 and Gosford 24-11, although they had a close encounter to win against Everglades 17-16.

Section 3 was another win for The Greens with skipper Tony Scott steering his team of Glen Coleman, Andrew Parsons and Brendan Poidevin to victories over Gosford 17-16, Mingara 33-7 and another Gosford team 21-17.

In Section 4, the strong Terrigal team led by David Neilsen with Alex Cameron, Brendon Myers and David Limbrick showed their class in defeating Avoca 25-15, Toukley RSL 21-11 and Ettalong 19-16.

This then set the scene for the four section winners to contest the finals on the No 1 green at Ettalong Memorial BC on Saturday, January 29.

On Rink 5 in one semi-final, Aron Sherriff's Ettalong team continued their dominance with an all-the-way win disposing of David Buttery's Greens team 22-6 who called it a day on end 19.

Finishing about the same time, David Neilsen's Terrigal team in the other semi-final also posted an all-the-way win (22-11) over the other Greens team skipped by Tony Scott.

This set the scene for the final.

While the top grades were playing their final, the Zone 15 President's Reserve Fours final was played for those players Graded 5 and below, with Umina winning by one shot over Wyong.

The Wyong Riverside's team of Jason Jordan, Alan Morris and Pat Boreham, skipped by Shane Nancarrow, was pitted against the Umina Beach combination of Joe Ednie, Ian Jarratt and Vic Gauci, skipped by Bob Penson.

To reach the final, Shane Nancarrow's Wyong team had recorded solid wins against John Cardy's Avoca Beach team 21-15, Ashley Ayre's team also from Avoca Beach 23-14 and Herb Lach's Halekulani team 25-19 to win their section.

In the other section, Bob Penson's Umina Beach team recorded strong wins over Stephen Thornhill of Ettalong 38-26, a close encounter against Ray Peck of Bateau Bay 28-26, a heart stopper over Leslie Bagnall of Ettalong 14-13, while having a comfortable win over Steven Balsdon also from Ettalong 31-13, to take out the section.

The final was a close fought match between two evenly matched teams with the lead seesawing and the scores level on ends 2, 10 and 18.

With Wyong holding a precarious one-shot lead after 20 ends, their chance of taking out the title slipped out the door with Umina holding a match-winning two shots on the final end with skip Bob Penson electing not to play his last bowl to sew up the title by one shot.

Publication, 14 Mar 2011 Kevin Dring, Bowls News Central Coast