A quick start was needed to apply early pressure and is exactly what was delivered.  Jimmy Barclay’s rink started the game with three 4’s in a row before a 6 on the 5th end to go ahead 18-2. Chris Carey’s rink had a steady start to jump to a 5-2 score after 4 ends before Harbord was able to level up with three singles by the 7th end. Kevin Bettman’s rink found the going a little harder against the very experienced Michael Sparozvich who was playing well to be down 2-11 by the 7th end.  At the conclusion of those first set of 7 critical ends per rink St Ives led Harbord 25-21 after 21 ends. Chris Carey’s team then applied the pressure, winning 5 of the next 7 ends to reach the last third of the match 12-8.  Jimmy’s rink continued to gain some nice multiples as the game settled down to reach 27-14 with a third of the game to go while Kevin’s team held their own with two big ends on the 13th and 14th ends to hold the score at 9-17 to Harbord meaning an overall St Ives lead on the big board of 48-39. Chris Carey’s rink then went on a strong run winning 6 of the next 7 ends to finish on with a very strong 24-10 victory and while Jimmy Barclay’s rink only managed to win 2 more ends they restricted Harbord to only singles in each winning end to finish 30-19 up while Michael Sparozvich continued to ramp up the pressure but ultimately the gap was too far to end with a convincing 65-53 St Ives win over Harbord.

With a very strong victory from Willoughby Park over Manly Vale in the morning we saw Manly Vale then have to take on St Ives in a clash to decide the grand final participant to take on Willoughby Park on Sunday morning. As strong a start as St Ives had in the morning, we then saw a reversal on each rink in the afternoon.  Kevin Bettman’s rink was able to break out to a strong lead early after dropping a 4 on the second end to lead 11 -5 after 7 and likewise Chris Carey’s started with a 5 and a 3 to reach 10-5 after 7 while Jimmy Barclay’s rink dropped some early multiples to be 4-11 after seven ends meaning St Ives held a slender lead at 25-21.  You could be forgiven for having some confidence at this stage given it was the same score in the morning’s first 21 ends. Manly Vale had some other ideas.  Manly Vale piled on the pressure winning 16 of the next 21 ends to lead 52-38 after 42 ends. With only a third of the game to go a 14 shot deficit is significant.  With plenty of supporters watching St Ives needed to dig deep to stay in the contest and after a big gee up from Jimmy and people finding their voices and encouragement from the sidelines a complete change came over the game. St Ives then won 16 of the next 21 ends to finish the game matching what Manly Vale had done in the middle part of the game. St Ives then outscoring Manly Vale 33 shots to 7 to notch a remarkable comeback victory 71 to 60 to make their way to the grand final on Sunday.

The teams and the supporters gathered again for the final game of the season with the winner to win the last zone 9 grade 4 pennant before the region name change and the opportunity to participate in the State Pennant finals.  The hallmark of the campaign was good starts across the first 21 ends and the final was no different with St Ives jumping out to a 26-10 lead with Willoughby Park only able to win 7 ends.  Willoughby Park settled into the middle part of the game but weren’t able to bridge the gap with scores shared 22 all to see a 48-32 lead to St Ives with 21 ends to play with Jimmy’s rink only giving up a single shot in that period to lead 27-3 after 14 ends. A miracle was required from Willoughby Park but were only able to bridge the gap by 7 shots to a final St Ives win 63 shots to 43.

This result was a culmination of 6 sectional rounds and 3 final wins making 9 wins in a row for the St Ives team having beaten their Willoughby Park opponents 3 times throughout the season (their only losses) so deserved winners.
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A big thanks to all the players that contributed to the season in grade 4 having used 21 different players and also to all the supporters that came along to Chatswood to watch with quite a number having not missed a bowl played over the finals weekend. We were able to witness a good camaraderie on the green which helped us overcome the chasm on Saturday afternoon and the club spirit and encouragement of the supporters that well exceeded our opposition which gave everyone a boost when they needed it.

Well done everyone.

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.