Natalie Anderson from Geraldton Bowling Club ends in third in 2022 State novice singles championships

Geraldton Bowling Club’s Natalie Anderson showed her class at the 2022 State novice singles championships, finishing the series in equal third placing. The rising star lost a nail-biting semifinal 19/21 to Safety Bay’s Faye Capewell. The State title went to Ann Lloyd from the Cockburn club ahead of Capewell, with the title match again a cracker with just two shots (21/19) separating the two players. The men’s championships saw Paul Johnson from Wonthella make his way through to quarter final stage of the two-day championships, following several quality performances. The outstanding run came to an end at the hands of Ian Konig from Sorrento with a scoreline of 17/7. The title was taken out by Rhys Cummings from the Bassendean club over Konig 21/14 in a high quality final. The Batavia Bowling League’s 2022 ladies and men’s champion of champion triples conducted last weekend at the Mullewa Bowling Club has seen the Denison Bowling Club emerge victors in both events. The champions event for the ladies saw Pat Belcher (skip), Marie Eaton and Gloria Nelson claim both matches of the series, which unfortunately was reduced to just three teams due to the unexpected withdrawal of the Northampton team. The city venues representation at the event were Norma Follington, Sue Smith (sub for Pam Batten), Gail Clarkson from Geraldton and Marilyn Cope, Pat Rowell and Angie Stagg of Wonthella. The men’s event saw all five teams participate although substitute players where required by both the victors Denison, runners-up Northampton and Geraldton due to players’ unavailability. Paul Hitchcock (skip), Roy Brown (sub for Joel Leeson) and Ian Payne remained undefeated stars throughout the lengthy day with the trio victorious in all five matches. Second with three wins were the Northampton team of Ross Johnson, Dennis Simpson and Alan Carson (sub for Neville Simmons). The issue of substitution players for several sides in this 2021/22 season’s BBL pairs, fours and triples has had several suggesting that the current format of seasonal club winners only being able to complete should be replaced with a masters tournament that is more inclusive and open to the entire association. The reasoning being that the playing fields would be greatly increased from the maximum four entries for the ladies’ events and five for the men. The ability for respective venues to make these days profitable is near impossible. Opening up of the event would most certainly increase the nominations and in turn make the events more appealing to clubs to run. Singles, pairs, triples and fours are all on the Batavia league’s rotational system, with all venues required to conduct champion of champions events. Each requires much planning and organisation — a singles event under the current system attracts a maximum nine participants, while a fours round robin, the biggest in the current format, brings in 36 players to the venue. The need to change is not one that is universally agreed within the league, however, it is in my view certainly worthy of a lengthy discussion.