2020 has been a strange year, as John Lennon said "strange days indeed, most peculiar momma". With delayed Championships, we did not know who would be our Dick Carey Bowler of the Year until 30 minutes before the presentation. It was a very close contest again and at one stage it looked like we might have a three-way tie for the first time, having had a two-way twice before.

This award was established by the late Dick Carey, a life member of the Saints and an Australia Sports Medal recipient in the year 2000 for his contribution to bowls. Dick won 19 Championships at St Ives and was a runner up in the State Triples in 1990. He was also a member of the Saints for over 50 years.

This Year's Dick Carey Bowler of the Year is Rod Silber. Rod scored 15 points from a possible 20 by winning the Major Singles, the Pairs and the Fours. Congratulations Rod! Rod is only the second person to win this prestigious award twice and the only one to go back to back, well done Rod.

For the record here is the points tally:

Rod Silber  15
Di McBryde  13
Vicci Bartrop 13
Chris Carey  10
Wilson Cheng 10

Well done all and go the Saints, bring on 2021!

Tony Wright, Graeme Manning, Chris Bergman and George Rosettenstein Vs Fred Alexander, Wilson Cheng, Chris Carey and Rod Silber

It's was the last Championship of the year that was a weird year, and both teams sported pedigree coming into the match. Team Georgie comprised Tony Wright (winner in 07 and twice runner up), Graeme Manning (semi finalist in the Pairs 2020), Chris Bergman (runner up Triples 2020 and Zone Senior Triples winner 2019) and George (multiple winner at Lindfield and district  level) . They had won their past two games by 14 and 17 shots respectively. What would today hold? Well they were up against the defending Champs Fred Alexander, Wilson Cheng, Chris Carey and Rod Silber, game on. 

The greens were packed as we had pennant trials as well as some keen observers. The game was played on Green No 3 that had come in this week, running a respectable 13 or so seconds. This game was a good display of bowls, we saw every shot except a full-blooded drive, Rod had CC on a leash with that one. What the crowd saw was a dominant display of big early counts and minimal losses. As you can see from the card below team Silber came out strongly pulling a 5 on the 6th end to lead 12-2. Rod and the boys did not score a single but kept pulling on the multiples and when dropping an end only dropped a single shot at a time "ones don't hurt Roddy".

George drew nicely to cut down 5 heads where he was down 3-4 shots but the pressure kept being applied by the Champs. Team Georgie held several 4 counts only for CC or Rod to draw in for the shot. In the end the teams shook hands or fist-pumped after 19 ends with the score 31-7. Commiserations Tony, Graeme, Chris B and George, some days things just don't go your way.

Congratulations to Fred, Wilson, Chris C and Roddy, well played, strong bowls and good tactics saw you get in front early and stay there. It's two in a row for this team. 

Fun Fact: Fred has won this Championship in every position from lead to skip, has anyone else done this here or at another club?

From the roving Saints reporter a happy Christmas to all and a safe holiday break. May 2021 be a fantastic year with a little less drama. 2021 is looking very strong for our club with many new players starting to show real promise and many established players hitting great form. Go the Saints in 2021!!!
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Today, we saw Shizuko Hashimoto play Vicki Bartrop in the finals of the Consistency Singles. It was an excellent match with Shizuko taking an early lead and holding onto it throughout the match. Well played by both ladies with Shizuko winning for the second year in a row.