Kyabram Bowls Club stalwart closes in on milestone

By Gus Underwood

Jan 25, 2022

Legend: Kyabram Bowls Club stalwart Greg Shilling claimed his 13th club men’s singles championship.

Greg Shilling is closing in on a Kyabram Bowls Club milestone after claiming his 13th club men’s singles championship last week.

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The club’s best bowler of the modern era now needs only one more title to equal legendary Des Nuttall’s 14 club championships.

In the final, Shilling accounted for Joe Greco, 25-9, after surviving a marathon clash with Graeme King, 25-24, in their semi-final in the morning.

Greco progressed to the final with a 25-21 semi-final win over Paul McInnes.

Champion: Greg Shilling defeated Joe Greco in the final.

While Shilling’s titles have come over a 22-year period — he won his first title in 1999 — Nuttall’s record haul was achieved over a 30-year time span from 1928 to 1955. Alan Hunt with six has the third most titles.

Shilling said after his latest win he’d like to at least equal Nuttall’s club record.

‘‘It’s not my driving force but it would be nice.

‘‘I could do a Mark Taylor and equal the record and then retire,’’ he said, chuckling.

Former Australian cricket captain and opening batsman Taylor famously made 334 against Pakistan in Pakistan in 1998 and then retired, paying respect to Australian legend Sir Don Bradman’s benchmark Australian test score.

Shilling said he was fortunate to get out of his semi-final clash with King a winner.

‘‘It went down to the last shot and I was lucky enough to get it but it could have gone either way,’’ Shilling said, reflecting.

Shilling’s win climaxed a memorable 12 months in which he was inducted into the Goulburn Valley Bowls Association Hall of Fame. Along with Peter Lomas he was also a recipient of a Life Membership of the Kyabram Bowls Club last year.

Shilling joins Herb Prior (2017) and the late Joan Coldwell (2018) as the only Kyabram Bowls Club members to gain Goulburn Valley Bowls Association Hall of Fame honours.