LBIOM

Making their debut in a major national championship final Andy Dixon & Gordon Drinkwater showed how much their performance has improved this season by overcoming the experienced pairing and defending champions Mark & Clive McGreal in an enthralling match.

With Andy the first to find a more consistent line and length of what proved to be very difficult green conditions he soon helped build a few shots lead and with Gordon producing some vital turnover bowls at crucial points of the match they were always ahead and well placed with just 4 ends to play. However, with Mark playing almost single handedly and with little support from his partner throughout the final he managed to produce some big bowls late into the game to claw back the deficit and edge the McGreal’s into the lead by 3 shots with just 2 ends to play. Not to be outdone, on the penultimate end Gordon delivered a spectacular “take out” shot to claim 4 shots and take a single shot lead into the last end. After delivering the opening bowl of the final end just a foot away from the jack Andy’s work was done and despite the best efforts of the other players no-one come close to beating that bowl which was good enough to win the end and earn Gordon & Andy their first national title with the scoreline 18-16.

Our thanks to umpire John Kewley and marker/score Win Kewley for officiating and past president Pam Makin for the presentation.