Tasmanian Open Championships Day 5 – Pairs Continued
The Men’s Pairs will see 15 teams reduced to 2 with three rounds of games being played at the Buckingham Bowls Club today. If you’ve been following my selections, only 5 of the 15 I made in the Pairs came true, meaning one of two things. Either lots of unexpected teams played very well and knocked out some fancied opponents or I know nothing about the teams that are playing! With my prediction of the fours yesterday being right on the money, I’m prepared to have another crack.
The top half of the section has really opened up and most teams will believe they can be in for a decent run to get to the final.
The favourites would have to be Michael Sims and David Genford who have so far had a good week of bowls, including a State Fours title for Sims, and both are still going in the singles. Their first match up sees Michael leading against his brother Lochie, with Josh Appleyard skipping. Josh will be keen to prove those suggesting him and Lochie are playing in the incorrect order wrong and defeat their fancied opponents.
The Invermay pairing of Shane Boden and Mark Illingworth would be very pleased to get out of their section and come up against Ben Fiddler who played very well in his section. I’d expect Fiddler to be able to take the victory to set up a match up against Genford.
Steve “Bugsy” Midson has been having a good week and comes up against Peter Thow. This should be a very even match up. The leads could prove the difference with Shawn Leitch coming up against Warren Groves. Leitch is a player of the future but Groves is coming off a successful singles run and will be full of confidence. I’ll just give the nod to Midson.
The final match-up of the top half sees St Johns Park’s Michael Behrend take on Latrobe’s Graham Hay. Hay’s lead Phillip Moore has been a very good player for a while now and should prove the difference between these two teams.
Lee Schraner and Cameron Tegg will be keen to build on their momentum from yesterday’s State Fours win and they will take on Jack Ellis from Claremont. Jack will be very keen to play well in the skips position as he hasn’t been given the opportunity to do so in pennant this year. Jack’s dad Brett will be leading for him but the favourites should prove to be too good.
Schraner’s next match will come from the winner of what is probably the match of the 4th round. Luke Richardson, who has only returned to Tasmania this season will play Josh Mabb, one of only five male bowlers to qualify for the second day’s play in all three competitions. Jarryd Brown will lead for Richardson, Chris Roach for Mabb in what is a great chance for 4 players to show the State selectors what they’re made of. Richardson was always close to the State side before he went to WA and should prove too good for Mabb, setting up a very exciting quarter final.
The last match of the round of 16 will decide who plays Dale Maundrill in the quarter finals, the only team to be given a bye. Scott Summers is playing with Corey Bowerman after Brad Gibson had to withdraw due to work commitments before the event started. Josh Tyrell and Grant Chamberlain will have the home ground advantage, Grant has been leading very well in pennant and should provide valuable assistance to Tyrell. Tyrell will need to bowl better than he catches if the most recent 20/20 match is anything to go by. I think Summers will have the guile to get the victory and then go on to defeat Maundrill in the quarter finals. Dale, from Howrah, will be playing with his Dad Michael, from Trevallyn, neither players play in the Premier League and will be relishing the opportunity to play together and go further in the tournament.
I’ll tip a Genford vs Schraner final with Schraner taking out the title and making it two from two. Dark horse is Luke Richardson.
By David Genford.
In the women’s pairs there is only one round of 16 match scheduled for this morning when the Howrah combination of Charon Foster and Lyn Page who won through a tough section by defeating State players Courtney Hobbs and Deb Lee will take on Dover’s Meg Wilson and Barbara Liddington. The winner of this match will play young guns Hollie Keen and Mikayla Fuller in the first quarter final match. Keen and Fuller will be looking to go one better in this event after finishing runners up in the State Fours Final yesterday.
The second quarter final will see defending champions Bec Van Asch and Erin Sesara play the experienced Southern combination, current Tasmanian Senior representatives Carol Bannister and Robyn Leggett. Both teams came through their sections unscathed and will no doubt be a tough game for both parties.
Quarter Final three sees sisters Yvonne and Perri Buckley pitted against two of yesterdays winning fours team Gaylene Elsworthy and Kim Saunders. Elsworthy and Saunders are previous winners of this event but will be expecting a strong opposition from the Buckley’s who’s fours team made it through to the semi-final of the State championships this week.
While the final quarter final match up will be an all southern affair with another Howrah team with Lyn McDougall and Rosie Geeves taking on Tasmanian squad members Lyn Triffitt and Jackie Knight.
By the end of today we will be down to the grand final which is set to be staged on Friday morning at the Buckingham Bowls Club.
By Rebecca Van Asch
