The Blaze was burning – Queensland State Pennant
By Kelsey Cottrell
It’s been an unprecedented year, and whilst we will talk about 2020 for many years to come, the team from Belmont Services will remember it as the year they won their first QLD State Pennant Flag and announced themselves as a club to fear moving forward.
20 district winners played off to get our final eight to compete at Cleveland this weekend and we got to witness history being made.
Belmont Services were competing in their first State Pennant Final for over three decades and had only won their district flag for the first time since 1989; whilst Kawana has been a top side on the Sunshine Coast for several years, they too were hoping to create history of their own, etching their names onto the trophy for the first time since the inception of the event in 2001.
Belmont Services had three well-known names leading their charge, 15 year old junior sensation Kane Nelson, his older brother, an Australian Junior Champion in his own right Jacob Nelson and Brendon Egan who had travelled the country playing for top clubs in a number of states; indeed a great pick-up for Belmont looking to build their ranks.
They were well supported by a team of loyal Belmont Services players who man-for-man were doing their job against the Sunshine Coasters from start to finish.
QLD State representative Kurt Brown, who won the State Flag with Tweed Heads last year, was also building a star-studded side at Kawana, but today was not going to be their day.
At the half-way mark Belmont Services was leading Kawana 38-18 and maintained that safe lead for majority of the match.
Whilst no rink was having a break-out score, Belmont Services were up on all three rinks and just needed to defend for the last 20 ends.
Final Score- Belmont Services def Kawana 69-44
Kerry Flint, Steve Smith, Jake Rynne, Jacob Nelson def Darren Maddrell, Paul O’Brien, Mark Monro, Kurt Brown 25-14
Rick Barnes, Tom Mullen, John Finlayson, Brendon Egan def Russell Van Homrigh, Mark Williams, Keith Whalley, Joel Andersen 22-15
Greg Nelson, Dave Barter, Ben Hamilton, Kane Nelson def Anthony Hughes, Geoff Harrison, Peter Leon, Richard Strawbridge 22-15
The Albert was also a revelation at this year’s event qualifying for the State Finals for the first time in the clubs history and had achieved the great feat with a number of junior bowlers in their corner.
Thank-you to Cleveland Bowls Club for hosting the men’s finals and well done to all the teams for qualifying for such a prestigious state event.
You can catch every end of the match by watching the live stream on the Bowls QLD Facebook page.
For more information: https://www.bowlsqld.org/events/state-pennants/
