MOST people realised that Christmas is upon us when greeting Cards start to arrive, however, with bowlers it’s when they are notified that there are ham days set down. This is the case with the Tuross Men’s Bowl’s when they had their Open Ham Day competition on Wednesday, December 4. This day attracted 26 teams of triples from within the region with players coming as far away as Nowra (they must not have ham up there). The day was perfect for bowls and the greens were running smooth, given the amount of rain we have had. The completion consisted of two games of 15 ends with points accrued from wins and draws. The event attracted a number of strong teams which in itself made the opportunity of winning a ham even more difficult. As it was, no Tuross team won any hams; they graced the tables of Tony Goors, Greg Shanahan, Clem Hockins, Peter Hartlam, Bob Luke, Chris Pollock, John Desmet, Barry Thurlow and Greg Wale, all of whom were combination teams from surrounding regional clubs. However, it was good to see those clubs supporting the Tuross Head open ham day with such strength. I was wondering whether any of the non-winners were asked around for a taste of the hams (tongue in cheek).
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The final of the Four’s Championships was played on Saturday, December 7. The two teams appeared to be evenly matched and the game had all of the appearances of being a close. The teams also had the advantage of having good weather, with No 3 green running slick. The two teams consisted of Peter Davies, Alf Winch, Jim Newman and Alan Etheridge playing Bruce Taylor, Stuart Graham, Alan Skelton and Jim Macklan. The Saturday prior (November 23), Bruce Taylor’s side sneaked home by two points. Whereas, Peter Davies‘ team won comfortably, with a margin of 26. Therefore, it was going to be interesting, as to which team was going to take out the championship, as both teams had mixed result in their winning margins in their lead up to the final.
Peter’s side drew first blood and held the lead for the first couple of ends, with some of the players appearing to have trouble with the speed of the green which was causing them length problems. Notwithstanding that, Bruce’s side went to a 7 to 4 lead on the fourth end, then on the ninth end it was 9 to 7. Bruce’s team continued their advantage by adding another 16 points leading up to the 16th end, where the score was shown as 20 to 9. The situation after that became worse and no matter how Peter’s team tried they could not stop the inevitable from happening, because after 20 ends the score was 28 to 11. However, the score does not display the effort that Peter’s team put in to try and win, the major factor was that Bruce’s side managed the conditions better.
