State Pennant Finals wrap up

by jgrey on November 8, 2021

Thunder roll Burnett in men’s state final

Kawana Thunder would have been smiling all the way back up the M1 after a brilliant conclusion to the Men’s State Pennant Finals at the Broadbeach Bowls Club.

The Sunshine Coast based club have been building a side worthy of state glory; it was a classic case of third time lucky for the back-to-back runner up team, having previously settled for 2^nd against Tweed Heads in 2019 and Belmont Services in 2020.

To make this year’s final Club Kawana had to get past a formidable Club Helensvale line-up in their section and that brilliant encounter came down to the final bowl on the 63^rd end.

Fast forward to the final the next day and suddenly Club Kawana would start favourites against the Burnett Bowls Club from the Bundaberg region, a classic David verse Goliath battle. At the halfway mark it appeared the favourites were cruising; however, that was short lived as Burnett staged their comeback.

Club Kawana skips Kurt Brown and Ryan Burnett finished with rink wins under their belts but the game was in the balance. It was up to Brett Wilkie to bring it home for Club Kawana. Courtesy of a brilliant last bowl from Kurt Brown sitting his opposition’s shot bowl out to pick up three shots on his final end, Club Kawana was one in front playing the last end.

An uncharacteristically poor start from Brett Wilkie’s rink was soon forgotten when the former Australian Jackaroo and World Champion delivered the goods. Two down and only a foot to draw the shot, the steady hand of Wilkie did just that.

Burnett’s Darren McCracken and his side were leading 25-10 over Wilkie and collectively had done all they could to get their club over the line. It wasn’t to be as McCracken’s final delivery missed by the smallest of margins.

The victory clearly meant a lot for the men from Kawana as they all ran out onto the green to celebrate as a team, joined by their women’s side who had also performed admirably in the women’s competition at Mermaid Beach. The Sunshine Coast Men’s District last won the State Pennant Title in 2012 courtesy of Mooloolaba.

We thank the Bowls Queensland Match Committee for their efforts this year and Major Events Gold Coast for their sponsorship of the State Pennant Finals.

Men’s State Pennant Final Result

Kawana Thunder def Burnett Bowls Club 56-54

Club Kawana Thunder Winning Teams

Team 1- Geoff Harrison, Darren Muir, Mark Monro & Brett Wilkie

Team 2- Mark Williams, Lewis Stumbris, Peter Leon & Kurt Brown

Team 3- Richard Strawbridge, Chris Kiepe, Joel Anderson & Ryan Burnett

Manager- Tim Phillips

Rampaging Bulls at women’s state finals

Mermaid Beach Bowls Club was the host venue of the Women’s State Pennant Finals and they were treated to top class bowls from eight of Queensland’s best clubs.

The Gold Coasts’ own Broadbeach Bulls made it six flags in seven years after rampaging home with a convincing whitewash of rinks in yesterday’s final, skipped by Bolivia Millerick, Kelsey Cottrell and Serena Mathews against Bundaberg’s Bargara Bowls Club, skipped by Terry Heath, Tulu Chippendale and Debra Handley.

The 2020 final re-match was a one-sided affair but played in great spirit. Bargara may not have the big names that their opponents had lining up against them, but they had already featured in two previous State Pennant Finals and had qualified undefeated from section one.

With wins over North Toowoomba, Condamine and Urangan, the ladies from Bargara showed they are some of the best in our state; consistently making finals is no mean feat but today they would have to settle for silver again.

Broadbeach jumped out of the blocks early. All rinks had picked up large multiple counts in the early stages and with the quality of their side, from the leads to the skips, Broadbeach weren’t going to let any lead slip.

What shaped up to be a semi-final of sorts, Broadbeach and Kawana (both undefeated) had squared off in the final round of sectional play that morning.

Both sides had defeated Tropical Far North QLD represented by the Marlin Coast Bowls Club and Mackay represented by the North Mackay Bowling Club.

To say the game was worthy of a final is no understatement. For three quarters of the game it was anyone’s guess who would claim victory on this occasion with only a handful of shots ever separating them.

Kawana had led narrowly for majority of the match with Julie Keegan’s rink holding the difference on the master board; however, a few strong ends from Bolivia Millerick’s team saw the Bulls edge back in front, whilst the other two rinks were both level.

After 48 ends Broadbeach was in front for the first time in the match and they continued to go from strength to strength in the closing ends, going on to win by 17 shots.

Women’s Final Result-

Broadbeach Bulls def Bargara- 89-34

Broadbeach Bulls Winning Side

Team 1- Cheryl Heaps, Serena Bonnell, Karen Goldsworthy and Bolivia Millerick

Team 2- Adele Pershouse, Rachel Davies, Heather Hodgson and Kelsey Cottrell

Team 3- Val Jackson, Gail Waitai, Anne McClure and Serena Mathews

Manager- Joan Tennent

Thank-you to Major Events Queensland for your support and to the Gold Coast Tweed District Bowls Association Media Team for Live Streaming matches all weekend. We also thank all the volunteers at Mermaid Beach and our Bowls Queensland match committee for their hard work during the event.

View results here: http://bowlsqldonline.org/#!/home

You can watch all the livestreams of the event here: https://www.bowlsqld.org/2021-state-pennant-finals/

WOMEN