Women’s Open Pairs Preview
The women’s pairs competition kicks off tomorrow, split between Invermay (Sections 1-4) and Kings Meadows (Sections 5-9) Bowls Clubs.
Section 1 consists of three southern teams with the Howrah’s Denise Tanner and Sandy Bay’s Laura Best pairing up to take on strong favourites in this section Tasmanian representatives Lyn Triffitt and Amelia Bruggy in round one in the morning. The other game of section one will see the Latrobe combination of Kelly Furley and Jill Silvey join forces against Dover duo Barbara Liddington and Sheryl Phillips.
Section 2 pits some strong matchups against each other beginning with stalwarts and reigning Australian Fours bronze medallists Mary Beaumont and Judy Reeve taking on East Launceston’s Marjorie McFarlane and Ulverstone’s Kerry Bebbington. Game two will see Dovers Carol Bannister and long time friend Meg Wilson against State Senior teammates Maxine Monson and Jeanette Lane.
Section 3 will see a battle between former state representatives Judy Hope and Gail Thow taking on Sonia Martyn and Deb Lee who will be hoping to go a little further this year after making it through to the quarter finals last year. Sisters Sandra Krushka and Dianne Nieuwhof are teaming up and will play their first game against Buckingham’s June Guy and Janet Rutherford.
Section 4 has the “game of the round” in it with defending champions Dee Harman and Alison Venn taking on young guns Courtney Hobbs and Lauren Banks. This game will be Live Streamed over the Bowls Tasmania Facebook page from about 10am AEDST. In the remaining game of the section Judy Gurr and Madge Strochnetter will be hoping to replicate their strong performance in today’s fours competition against another Buckingham combination of Miriam Garrett and Kathryn Atkinson.
In Section 5 Erin Sesara is missing her usual teammate of the past decade, Rebecca Van Asch due to work and national commitments, and is teaming up Latrobe clubmate Janenne Thompson and their first round opponents will be Lyn Page and Sally Ridgeway both from Howrah. While newly married Rose’Anne Howard-Smith and her fours teammate Shiron Beavis will fight it out against local duo Barbara Smith and Sue Ross.
The Kingborough pairing of Karlene Beadle and Sue Mann are the only southern combination in Section 6 with all Northern team rounding out the section. Maureen Zoon and Annie Lewis from East Launceston will be Kingborough’s first round opponents. Connie Rowbottom and Marlene Bushby have paired up again after making it through to the quarter finals last year and will play Maxine Viney and Sheril Watts who are riding a high after sneaking into the quarter finals of the women’s fours today.
Sophie Fletcher and Denise Middap are joinging forces against the “two blues” Gaylene Elsworthy and Karen Redman in the first game of section 7. Yvonne and Perri Buckley enjoyed a great day on the greens today progressing through the women’s fours unscathed and will be hoping to keep that form going when they come up against Lyn Barlow and Ann Hinkley.
Half the field in section 8 pits the Invermay girls against each other with Nicole Smith and Vicki Winley taking on Kim Saunders and Candice Hodgetts. While Jorja Maughan and Jenny Tirant continue their new partnership along with Karen Stewart and Heather Thompson both from each Launceston, all four of these women made it through their fours sections today in their respective teams.
The final section of the women’s pairs begins with the Kingborough pairing of Carmel Rainbird and Vicki Bannister against Howrah’s Rosie Geeves and Lyn McDougall. While Jean Claridge and Bronny King will take on Claridge’s fours teammate Rae Simpson and Lyn Quarrell.
A full report from the days play will be found on the Bowls Tasmania website later tomorrow night.
