By Casey OÇonnor
A thrilling 10-shots on the final three ends saw Warwick East’s Mixed Pairs team Margaret Wright and Peter Collis come from behind to take out the Southern Downs District finals booking a place in the Zone playoffs in Miles in late July.
Wright and Collis played Tenterfield duo Judy and Neville Richardson at the Summit Bowls Club with the Richardsons’ holding a narrow lead for most of the game.
At the 18th end, their opponents levelled the scores to 15-all and in a thrilling finish the team from Warwick East was able to lift their game, scoring 10 shots on the final three ends to claim the title with a 25-15 win.
The also booking their place at Miles was the Summit Men’s Pairs team of Steve Martin and Mark Spiller, beating club-mates Frank Taylor and Dale Callaghan 33-13 on the home green.
Both teams took their time to find the run of the green early in the game.
After four ends Taylor and Callaghan held a six – five lead.
From this point the game changed dramatically as Spiller and Martin changed to shorter ends. The experienced team picked up 19 shots in six ends taking a 24 – 7 lead.
Although their opponents never gave up the damage had been done.
Taylor and Callaghan were able to restrict their opponents scoring late in the game however it was too little too late and Spiller and Martin scored a 33-13 win to take the 2023 District title giving them back-to-back wins in the event.
It was a big day at the Summit, in addition to these District final games, the final of the Club’s Mens Pairs was also decided on Saturday.
Rod Crome and Darren Stanley played Barry Murphy and Tony Schubert in the decider.
Crome and Stanley played excellent bowls and proved too strong for their opponents winning the final and the title by a big margin. The score 28-6.
In spite of the blow out scoreline, the game was actually closer than the result indicated. The winners playing the shots that counted when they counted.
