On Saturday we saw firstly the completion of the Men’s Pairs that had previously been called off after 11 ends in November due to heavy rain and then difficulty with availability to complete it.  Michael Gruzin and Kevin Bettman went into the last 10 ends played on Saturday leading 17 to 8 over Paul De Bruyn and Mike Heath which was a fightback by Paul and Mike after having been down 15 – 1 after 6 ends.   Saturday saw Kevin’s team take 2 of the first 3 ends all with single shots to be 19-9 ahead before Mike’s team went on a run of 5 ends in a row to draw the score back to 19-15 on the 19th end.  Paul and Mike had put themselves in positions to get some multiples with a bit of jack movement, but Michael and Kevin played steady bowls to ensure they minimised the scores even when down to eventually run out winners 23 – 15. Congratulations to Michael and Kevin as the Men’s Pairs Champions for 23/24 as well as to Paul and Mike in making it to the final and putting up a good fight from a long way back.
 
In the Men’s Triples final it was Peter Shlager,  Jimmy Barclay and Chris Carey up against Harley Rose, John Cumming and Chris Bergman.  Team Carey coming off a good win in the semi final and team Bergman having to survive an extra end in their semi final to make it through.  Team Bergman started well with a 3 on the first end before both teams settled into their work with predominant short to medium ends by both teams seeing the scores reaching 10 all on the 11th end with team Carey having won 6 ends to 5 with both teams earning some good multiples. 
With Peter Shlager peppering the jack and putting the pressure on team Carey went on a 8 to 3 run to be leading by 18 – 13 after 16 ends.  The teams then traded shots to be 20 – 15 after 19 ends.  On the 20th end team Bergman took 1 shot to make it 20 – 16 with both teams having won 10 ends each emphasising the closeness of the contest.  Team Bergman then won the next 3 ends after some excellent conversions by Chris Bergman under pressure to jump in front 21 to 20 on the 23rd end.
It had been a high standard game, and the last two ends didn’t disappoint with team Bergman holding two shots on the 24th end before Chris Carey drew inside both bowls to convert to earn a score of 2 putting them 1 up with an end to play.  He quickly called for a full length jack which Pete duly obliged and one of the longest ends of the day saw some short bowls from the leads but with team Carey holding sway but with plenty of room available.  Jimmy and John then ended with bowls past the jack but still with plenty of room which Chris Carey took advantage of and drawing shot a little behind the jack.  Chris Bergman ran through the head with his first bowl and when he stepped on the mat for his final bowl he was down game.  A large crowd had gathered to watch so the pressure was high.  Chris played a positive shot and managed to move the jack sideways towards John’s bowl giving them a 1 on the last end to draw the game.  Shot of the day !!
That brought us finally to an extra end to decide the result and Chris Bergman won the toss and gave the mat away to keep the last bowl and Pete took the mat up for a short end.  He proceeded to put another near the jack putting the pressure on immediately with Harley managing to put one a little past but in a good area which Jimmy matched by finishing just inside Harley’s bowl. The first 3 skip bowls didn’t change the head with team Carey still holding and yet again Chris Bergman game down on his last bowl.  He let the bowl go and then turned his back on the bowl to shake hands before Chris Carey suggested he may want to watch the final result.  His bowl held its line and with close to perfect weight and did enough to nudge the back jack towards Harley’s well positioned bowl.  The win to Harley, John and Chris.
In a great game for the spectators that had assembled through the day with all players contributing to the contest and In the final analysis Harley, John and Chris had won 14 of the 25 ends plus the extra end to come from behind again to win the final after having done the same in the semi final so deserving winners.  Congratulations to both teams on a terrific final.

Write up by Greg Smith who had a touchline view of both games.

Congratulations to Michael Gruzin for winning the Major Singles and the Pairs (with Kevin Bettman).

Michael beat Tim Walton to capture the singles.
Michael & Kevin Bettman beat Paul De Bruyn and Mike Heath to win the pairs.

An outstanding year for Michael, who also just missed out on getting to the Triples final (with Greg Smith and Wilson Cheng)

Michael has only been bowling for a few years and was the deserved winner of both the Singles and the Pairs. We wish him continuing success in the coming years.