There seems to be no respite at this time of year for our top players. No sooner has the Zone Singles concluded than the Zone Pairs event springs into action with the preliminary rounds weekend.

The State Pairs event was hosted by Harbord BC. Our Zone Singles finalist, Rod Silber, teamed up with Chris Carey. After a Round 1 bye Rod & Chris came safely through Round 2 winning 26-12 over C. Robertson/M. Edwards from Manly.

​The Senior Pairs had four St Ives teams entered and all of them drawn to play at Asquith BC. In the morning round three of our four teams won through:-

• Tim Walton & Bruce Mason beat C. Eng/G.Kelly (Dee Why) 19-15
• Steven Goddard & Chris Bergman beat S. Nugent/G. Tetstall (Harbord) 23-12
• Fred Alexander & Wilson Cheng beat G. Hamilton/B. Popplewell (Turramurra) 27-14
• Tony Wright & George Rosettenstein lost to S. Ogden/J. Lancaster (Warrawee) 17-19

The luck(?) of the draw saw Tim & Bruce have to play Steven & Chris in the afternoon Round 2 match. In an incredibly tight match Steven & Chris squeaked home 17-16. Fred & Wilson had a rather easier time coming through with a good 24-13 win over the Warrawee combo Ogden & Lancaster.

In the Reserve Pairs St Ives had two teams in action on our own greens. Ross Yates & John Swann had a real close shave in Round 1 coming home with a 20-19 win over J. Dale & M. Lange (Mosman). Greg Smith & Graeme Manning also had a tough match but they too managed a win, 21-19 over S. Bonthrone/J. Lloyd (Lane Cove). The afternoon matches proved a little more comfortable for our teams. Ross & John beat B. Piper/R. Campbell (Lane Cove) 22-13 whilst Greg & Graeme defeated the Balgowlah pairing P. Tonks/H. van den Heuvel 19-15.

Sunday will see the Round 3/4 matches played on the same venues. It's fantastic to see five St Ives teams making it through to this second day of competition.

Huge congratulations go to Anne Cowlishaw and Di McBryde for their convincing win in the Womens Pairs Championship for 2019. Their opponents were Ros Heilman and Joan McCullagh who both played very nice bowls. However, the winners were just too good on the day. Well played ladies!

All eyes were on Harbord BC for the Zone 9 Singles Championships' Finals and for St Ives that meant focus on the Senior Singles where Rod Silber and Tim Walton faced each other in the Semi-Final on Sunday morning. It was Rod that came through winning 31-19 and he then went forward into the afternoon final against Mona Vale's Brad Landi. One step too far it proved as Brad won the title 31 shots to 9. Great credit to the winner but also to Rod and Tim for a marvellous effort in this year's event.

For more details on the Final checkout the Zone 9 website here

The other two titles settled yesterday saw Scott Bonthrone from Lane Cove take out the President's Reserve Singles defeating Mark Walkden (Pittwater Memorial) in the Final. The State Singles was won by Harbord's Paul Leckey defeating his club-mate Steve Smith in the Final.

So it was Major Singles Quarter Finals day on a very cold Saturday afternoon with a blustery wind to keep everyone on their toes. With Chris Carey in action in the Zone Singles, his match against Michael Macourt had to be rescheduled. However that left three intriguing games to be played.

Chris Wood took on Jimmy Barclay on Rink 10. Chris got off to a strong start winning nine of the first fourteen ends and amassing a 16-7 lead. Jimmy then came back to win three ends in a row to narrow the gap to 16-13. Chris stretched that lead back out to nine shots by end 22 and just kept plugging away with singles until the match stood at 30-21 after end 32. Jimmy wasn't giving in and notched a three on the next end but the match ended on end 34 as Chris got two shots to win 32-24.

On Rink 9 we had the matchup of two great characters as Ray Ryan faced Joe Shofer. Joe made a solid start to the match culminating in a 4-shot haul on end 9 to lead 13-3. Ray fought back to take the next four ends but then gave up another four to trail 17-10. Ray's fortunes were looking much better when he netted six shots on ends 19/20 to tie the match at 19-19. The match stayed close until ends 26/27 when Joe managed three shots on successive ends which positioned him for the win 31-22.

Finally we had Rink 8 which saw Fred Alexander matched against John Cumming. Again we saw one player make a fast start- in this case it was Fred jumping out to a 14-5 lead after fourteen ends. John came back to narrow that gap to six shots before Fred went on an unstoppable run winning the next thirteen ends in a row! The final score was 31-8.

So the Semi-Final line-up will see Fred Alexander up against either Chris Carey or Michael Macourt whilst Chris Wood will play Joe Shofer.

The delayed Round 3/4 matches in the Zone Singles championships were played at various venues on Saturday- no rain this time around but my goodness it was cold!

Our sole survivor in the State Singles, Chris Carey, was in action at Harbord BC against Belrose's Steve Kerr. A tough match which Chris ultimately lost 31-21.

In the President's Reserve Singles Graeme Manning was our man. Graeme was playing at St Ives in Round 3 against G. Elliss of Avalon Beach. Graeme gave it everything but lost the match 31-25.

In the Senior Singles there was some real drama at Belrose BC. In Round 3 Tim Walton faced Raul Lewis of North Sydney and came through a close one 31-26. At the same time Rod Silber had an equally tough match against Tony Taylor of Belrose. Rod matched Tim's success also winning 31-26. So both men now had Round 4 matches! Rod went into overdrive and sunk his opponent B. Lee (Belrose) 31-7! Tim's match was against K. Sivaloganathan  from Mosman and this turned into a titanic struggle. The match finished 31-29 with Tim just getting across the line.

Our third qualifier in the Senior Singles was Peter Tonoli who unfortunately had to forfeit his match against Brad Landi of Mona Vale.

So now we have the prospect on Sunday morning of Tim Walton & Rod Silber playing against each other in the Semi-Final of the Senior Singles at Harbord BC. Which of course means that one St Ives player is guaranteed a place in Sunday afternoon's final. Stay tuned!
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It was a great pleasure to watch the pairs semi finals today. All four ladies played beautifully and this showed in the progressive scores. In both matches, the lead changed a few times throughout the game and the result came down to the final end.
I am sure that all players will be happy with their game today.
Congratulations to Joan McCullagh and Ros Heilman for their win over Kath Morrison and Jackie Wilmshurst.
Congratulations to Di McBryde and Anne Cowlishaw for their win over Margaret Ledbury and Rhonwen Martin.
The final is scheduled for Thursday next week.

The ladies played the second round of the Club Pairs Championship today. Initially the weather looked doubtful but it turned into a beautiful day for bowls. Congratulations to all the players today. We now have four pairs ready to play the semi-final next week.

Today's rain put paid to nearly all the scheduled play in Round 3 of the Zone Singles. Zone 9 have confirmed that Rounds 3 & 4 of the Singles will now be played next Saturday at the original venues (including St Ives). The Semi-Finals & Final will now be played next Sunday (June 23) at Harbord BC.

This weekend sees the opening rounds of the Zone 9 Singles - State, Senior & President's Reserve competitions played at a number of venues across the North Shore.

Nine members from St Ives competed on Saturday with five of them getting through to Round 3 to be played Sunday morning.

Pride of place yesterday goes to Chris Carey who came through two rounds at Harbord BC. Chris came through first against Harbord player V. Meth 31-21 and then a tougher contest against M. Smart from Belrose. Chris won the second round match 31-29.

SIBC club champion, Wilson Cheng, was in action in the State Singles at Pittwater Memorial BC. Wilson had a close shave in his first round against M. Holmes from Dee Why 31-29. Unfortunately the draw then pitched Wilson against Harbord's Terry Warder. It was a close game but Terry won the battle 31-26. Our other competitor in the State Singles at Pittwater was Chris Bergman who lost to A. McMaster from Belrose 31-13.

In the Senior event three of our players managed to come through to Round 3. Tim Walton had an excellent 31-13 win over W. Green from Dee Why at Belrose BC. Also at Belrose, Rod Silber had an even more impressive 31-11 victory over J. Lancaster from Warrawee. Our third player at Belrose was John Cumming who played a terrific game against R. Lewis from North Sydney but came up just short losing 31-26. Over at Asquith BC, Peter Tonoli had a fine win 31-24 over W. Bridge from Turramurra.

In the President's Reserve event St Ives was one of the venues for Round 1/2 play. Playing on his home green suited Graham Manning who won his match 31-25 against B. Cunneen of Belrose. Greg Smith was our final competitor and he played at Mona Vale BC against M. Delahunty. On his opponent's home turf Chris couldn't quite get the win but the 31-26 scoreline shows how close it was.

Congratulations to all of our competitors and good luck to those in action today.