Young and old: Saturday’s division five match between Kyabram and Rich River saw what makes lawn bowls such a fantastic sport. Twelve-year-old Liam McInnes led against 92-year-old John Hewlett from Rich River. Only one shot separated their teams at the finish, with Liam’s team just winning 14-13.
Kyabram’s second defeat of the 2022-23 Goulburn Valley playing area division one weekend pennant season has come at a terrible time — a week before it faces top team Shepparton Golf.
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The Kyabram outfit lost the weekend’s match with Tallygaroopna by 25 shots as only Brent Reiner’s rink could manage a win in the 2-16 (73-98) defeat.
It has left the early season flag favourite clinging to second spot on the ladder, 30 pennant points behind Shepparton Golf, only one point ahead of third ranked Tallygaroopna.
The three teams are well clear of fourth ranked Shepparton Park, which looks like making up the final four as only five rounds of home-and-away competition remaining.
In that five-week period, from January 28 to February 25 (final round), Kyabram has the three bottom teams, fifth ranked Stanhope and — this weekend — top of the ladder Shepparton Golf.
Connor Trewren and Geoff Beattie, who were among the top few skips in the competition early in the season, are now ranked ninth and sixth respectively after both losing on the weekend.
David Cartwright, who was back on track in the pre-Christmas rounds, has fallen to the 19th seed in the skipping order after a six-shot loss on Saturday.
Men's club champion: Mal Williams won the Kyabram title on Sunday.
— Mal Williams is the Kyabram Bowls Club men’s champion after claiming a come-from-behind win against Paul McInnes on Saturday.
McInness led 21-16 and was within four shots of victory after 19 ends. He had led from the seventh end and on four occasions collected three shots to build the lead.
It was, however, Williams that produced the highlight of the match when he picked up four shots on the 10th end of the contest.
Williams trailed 23-21 before claiming three shots on the 24th end and he secured the win with a single shot on the final end of the match.
— A fighting six-shot win by Kyabram’s division two team against fifth ranked Tallygaroopna has allowed the team to remain on top of the eight team ladder.
Kyabram won the match 88-82 (14-4) on the back of wins by Christopher Preddy and in form skip John Hausler. Noel Reddrop, who lost by three shots, and Phillip Denham (two-shot loser) stayed close enough to ensure the Kyabram victory.
Hausler is now the third ranked skip in the competition with a 6-2 win/loss record, setting the scene for a challenging two-week period when the division two team tackles third ranked Shepparton Park and then second placed Shepparton Golf.
Before the finals the Kyabram team also has a fixture against the other final four team, Euroa, to make it a tough run to the wire.
— Full details from the midweek and weekend pennant in Kyabram Bowls Club reports on page 20 today.
