THE Murray Valley Bowls Division pennant grand finals were played at Murray Downs on Saturday, with all three grades being won by different clubs.
All the teams that won in the preliminary final went on to win their grand final, making a mockery of the idea that the week off after winning the second semi-final was an advantage.
The three matches were all close. Murray Downs won a back-to-back Division 1 premiership by six shots. Racecourse 3 won Division 2 by six shots, and Swan Hill 3 won its third in a row in Division 3 by one shot.
Racecourse would be disappointed with only one win from three deciders but it was good to see the spoils going to three different clubs.
Division 1
Rink 1 saw Glen Evans, Kevin Rowe, Greg Schack and Blake Vernon (Racecourse) versus John Caldwell, Peter Furnell, Daryl Barry and Mark Wright (Murray Downs).
Racecourse started well, leading 5-2 after five ends. Blake Vernon was in great form on the mat, and set up Racecourse to lead 10-4 at the 10th end.
After 15 ends the lead blew out to 16-6. The Racecourse boys were well on top, never let Murray Downs into the match, and went on to win 27-14.
Rink 2 had Racecourse’s Lindsay Ryan, Mick McCallum, David Condy and Norm Smith up against Buc Lehmann, Les McPhee, Mick McLean and John Alderuccio from Murray Downs.
Racecourse started badly, dropping five shots on the first end, but by the fifth end the scores were level on 6-6.
Murray Downs edged ahead to lead 13-9 by the 10th end. With the lead out to 18-11 by the 15th end, Murray Downs looked in great shape, but over the next five ends Racecourse fought back to level at 19-19.
The last five ends were highlighted by Buc Lehmann’s brilliant play. His last bowl on the 22nd end turned two down to three up, and on the 24th end he produced a similar effort, turning two down to two up. That won the rink 26-22 for Murray Downs.
Tom Vernon, Ray Halligan, Rob Hayes and John Beard from Racecourse came up against Murray Downs’ Graeme Cox, Spruker Cahoon, John Manser and Ray Lambert on Rink 3.
This was the match winning rink for Murray Downs, starting with a 6-3 lead after five ends. By the 10th end the lead was out to 11-6 and the score continued to blow out, going to 18-9 after 15 ends.
Over the next five ends Racecourse staged a solid come back, cutting Murray Downs’ advantage to 20-16.
Murray Downs geared up to take all the remaining ends, clinching a great 31-16 win, and sealing its back-to-back premiership.
