Thrust into Division 2 this year courtesy of winning the 2016 Division 3 Pennant competition for Southern Downs District, eight keen bowlers from Tenterfield ventured to Tannymorel Bowls Club on Sunday, 27 August 27 not quite sure what to expect against more experienced teams.
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The competition pitted Tenterfield against the strong clubs of Tannymorel, Goondiwindi and Southern Cross (Warwick). Playing 18 ends of Fours is a gruelling test of bowls, so three rounds in a day is a marathon effort.
After a 90 minute bus trip to Tannymorel we found ourselves confronting the home team with barely time for a cuppa. However 2.5 hours later Tenterfield had ground out a gritty victory with a +11 margin on shots.
We then tackled Goondiwindi as the breeze picked up and made bowling a real challenge. Goondiwindi handled the wind better than Tenterfield so we lost with a margin of -11 and our hopes of a successful day were dashed.
After lunch we re-grouped and decided we could play better. Our next game was against Southern Cross and we played our best bowls of the day to win that round with a +42 margin. As luck would have it, Goondiwindi faltered in their last round against Tannymorel falling to a narrow loss.
When all scores were tallied, Tenterfield had won the day by 20 shots. You beauty!
Super Veteran (Over 80s) Don Lewis said he was proud of the boys, especially newbies (to Pennant play) Rick Layton and Maurie Carroll.
Skip Neville Richardson said that to win Division 2 at our first attempt was fantastic and a proud day for Tenterfield Bowling Club.
Just a great team effort with solid contributions by all bowlers.
Now we have 12 months to build a team to take on the best of Southern Downs District in Division 1 in 2018. Now that’s a challenge!