With eight bowlers left in the competition, the quarterfinals started in perfect conditions at the Stawell Bowling Club.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
In the first match, Stawell bowler Neil Coates took on the highly rated Mal Curnow from Bolac. It was a very close match with the scores level on six occasions but it was a late pick up of 4 shots that got Neil through to the next round winning 25-20.
Brad Smith from Bolac and Mick Dowling from Aradale went head to head in the next match and in another close result Brad came from behind, 14-18 down, to win 25-22 to set up a semi against Neil Coates.
In the other half of the draw, Brian Adamson got better as the match went on and recorded a comfortable win over Mick Franklin 25-10.
Stawell’s Andrew Sharp competed against Landsborough champion Bobbo Hodgetts. Andrew got off to a great start to lead 8-0 before Bobbo got on the board, but no matter how close he got, Andrew had the answers and won 25-11.
In the semi-final, Neil Coates got a couple of early maximum 4s to jump out to an 11-6 lead and with Brad trying to unsettle the Stawell bowler with some power play Neil was able to keep his early margin advantage to run out the winner, 25-19, to move into his first state men’s final.
With both Andrew Sharp and Brian Adamson both in great form, the gallery was hoping for a great contest and they were not disappointed with a 31 end match. After 8 ends the score was at 5 all, and Sharp made a move to open up a 15-6 lead. Adamson was far from throwing in the towel and picked up the margin in no time to hit the front 20-18, with the match getting tight and with shots changing often it went down to the wire at 24 all. Brian went long and put his first bowl next to the kitty. Andrew was able to sneak in and get a toucher with his opening bowl and the match swung his way. Brian played a magnificent drive to remove the toucher from the head to regain the ascendancy of the match but with his eye in and his line spot on, Sharp drew a front resting toucher, which remained for the rest of the end to move him into the final.
With the two Stawell bowlers in the final, it was a great result for the club regardless of the outcome. Andrew started well and managed to move to a 14-4 lead after 12 ends, Neil was drawing shot on numerous occasions but was unable to keep the Stawell champion out of the head and Andrew went on to win 25-6.
