Phil Cable and Graham Smith won six matches over two days to clinch the Zone 16 President’s Reserve Pairs in an all-Windang final on their home green.
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Cable and Smith won four games by a double-figure margin and beat clubmates Graham Taylor and Rob Driscoll 19-13 in last Sunday’s 21-end final.
Cable has six years in the sport and won the Zone 16 Rookies Singles in 2011.
Cable and Smith were members of the Windang Grade 6 team which were runners-up in the State Pennants in 2014.
‘’It’s always good to have success and play in a final,’’ said Cable, after his team’s 22-15 semi-final victory over Oak Flats’ Mario Marsh and Richard Sheather.
The champions finished with a massive +78 shot differential in their six victories.
Meanwhile, Graham Smith clinched his first Zone 16 title and admitted the occasion was special with two Windang teams in the decider and played in front of home supporters.
‘’Any win is a good win but to have two Windang sides playing off is great for the club,’’ Smith said.’’
Rob Driscoll has been bowling for 40 years and was playing in his second Reserve Pairs final, after also making it with clubmate Doug Allen.
Driscoll said his combination with Taylor was crucial to their four wins, including a tight 19-17 semi-final victory over Peter Hodgson and Stephen Davies (Wiseman Park).
‘’We know each other’s game well and that helped us all weekend,’’ Driscoll said.
And Taylor revealed that although it was their first tournament together the pair play Wednesday social bowls at Windang.
The President’s Reserve Pairs was open to bowlers in grades five to seven and featured 48 teams. Cable and Smith will now represent Zone 16 at the State Championships in October.
Meanwhile, most of Illawarra’s top bowlers will gather at Towradgi BC this Sunday for the annual Phil Bushby Shield featuring Zone 16’s Open team against the Senior (over 60s) team over five rinks.
The event honours Phil Bushby who was one of Illawarra’s finest bowlers and a pioneer bowls journalist and commentator.
Illawarra selectors use the day as an opportunity to monitor our representative players ahead of the upcoming rep season.
Several bowlers will want to lock in a rep spot for the Open or Senior NSW Inter-Zone Championships, with Dapto Citizens BC hosting the state Over 60s Championships in mid-May. Five rinks of Open and 0ver 60s bowlers will face off on Sunday, with the Senior team to be skipped by John Ferguson (Dapto Citizens), Rick Malley (Dapto Citz), Bob Wilson (Figgy Bowlo), Brian Harriott (Dapto Citz) and Kiama’s Mick Weir.
The Open skips are Matt Miles (Dapto Citizens), Jesse Noronha (Warilla), Harley McDonald (Warilla), John Hills (Figgy Bowlo) and Dean Aitken (Kiama).
The event is always very competitive with the senior team looking for their first win since the format was changed from an Illawarra North vs South a few years ago.
