Fours Finals Preview
The first State title to be awarded is the Fours which will conclude tomorrow at the Buckingham Bowls Club. Seven teams remain in the men’s draw while there are still five standing in the women’s, with all players hoping to be crowned the Champions at the end of the day.
The defending champions in the men’s fours, the Douce family have been given the only automatic entry into the Semi Finals. They will play the winners of the Mabb/O’Neill match up. Josh Mabb is playing under an injury cloud, which may see a possible change in the line-up depending on how his knee pulls up after the Singles. Mabb’s team of Keghan Booth, Peter Bannister and Darren Monks, all played well together to win their section and have the ability to make a run at the final. Their opposition is a composite team with David O’Neil of Dover RSL Bowls club taking the helm of the rink. Buggsy Midson will be keen to use his experience to help set up some heads for O’Neil to be able to convert. I think a Mabb victory will set up a ripping Semi Final against Tim Douce who will play his style, often to the bemusement of his teammates, but hey, what is family for if they aren’t telling you that you are doing the wrong thing! I see no reason why the Douce’s can’t make it two finals in a row, which would be an amazing achievement for lead Hec, who at 80 years of age is probably the oldest player in the field.
In the other half of the draw, all four teams will need to win three games in the day to take the title. Wayne Clark who was almost going to have the season off, leads an all Rosny Park team against Simon Zaporozec’s rink. One change will be made to Clark’s rink with John Boatwright taking the place of David Oates due to work commitments. Boatwright will add some valuable experience to the team as well as some good pennant form. Zaporozec has a strong rink with Joey Thomas leading and the two Baker brothers, Josh and Daniel, in support. With both Clark and Zaporozec in great form, this is a tough one to call the winner from. I’ll say Zapper just.
The other quarter final sees David Genford taking on Lee Schraner. Genford and two Patrick “Tootise” Hoffman were runners up in this event last year and will need some continued good bowls form Tom O’Brien and Jarrod Long. Schraner’s rink has given no reason as to why they shouldn’t be the red hot favourites with all four players, Michael Sims, Cameron Tegg and Robert McMullen all in great form. Sims too was a member of the Runners Up rink from last year and is now part of a team that should take him all the way to the title.
As with the other Semi Final, a Zaporozec/Schraner match up should be great viewing with 8 players all capable of high quality bowls. If “Zapper” can get on top early, the shortened 15 end format won’t leave Schraner long to make up for a poor start. I don’t think Schraner will allow that to happen and will prove to be too strong.
Will that set up a Douce/Schraner final? Seeing my selections are 9 correct and 13 wrong from the fours and pairs combined, I’d say that it’s not guaranteed! But is guaranteed, with the 7 teams remaining, some high quality bowls will be played at the Buckingham Bowls Club to determine the winner. Good luck to all teams. David Genford.
The women’s fours will see the Rae Simpson rink of Lyn Triffitt and state juniors Mikayla Fuller and Hollie Keen take on the Huonville rink of Lyn McDougall, Rosie Geeves, Denise Tanner and Daphne Roberts in the only quarter final match taking place in the women’s draw tomorrow morning. The winner of this match will take on the Sandy Bay girls Yvonne Buckley, Christine Dowl, Perri Buckley and Laura Best in the first semi-final.
In the second semi-final the defending champions Bec Van Asch, Gaylene Elsworthy, Vicki Winley and Kim Saunders who are aiming for a hat trick on the women’s fours will take on their 2014 opponents who have a slightly altered rink from the year they were runners up. Lyn Triffit, Deb Lee, Leonie Price and Jackie Knight progressed through to earn their place in the semi after winning one of the hardest sections on paper in the event.
The Tasmanian Open Championships will continue for the rest of the week at the Buckingham Bowls Club. The fours will be completed by the end of tomorrow with the pairs set to take centre stage on Wednesday and the singles on Thursday. The men’s and women’s singles finals will be completed on Friday.
Also don’t forget the Satellite Challenge Series are also continuing for those players that have been knocked out of the event or for anyone that would like to participate even if you haven’t been playing in the Championships. Tomorrow will see the first series kick off at Sandy Bay, Wednesday at Rosny Park and Thursday at Claremont.
