JUST as things were going according to plan, a series of upsets in the weekend’s Central Midlands bowls competition resulted in a shuffle in the ladder.
These surprises now indicate the season’s contest may be fairly even with only one good game the difference between top and bottom.
Hitherto red-hot favourites, Moora, got their comeuppance with the bowls of lowly Calingiri and although Moora still hold top spot, they are only a squeek away from relegation and would not need another similar mishap.
Then add what looked like a white-hot contender in Kalannie who, up to their meet with Buntine, were holding a position in the four despite a bye.
Buntine used their home turf to advantage to cripple the visitors 5/1 with last year’s leading skipper, Vic Orchard’s loss by 12 to Ian Carlshausen, of note.
Club wise, derbies do more harm than good, and Dally White could have done without their 1/5 loss to Dally Green, which now sees the White boys scratching the bottom.
Perhaps not so much an upset but a repeat of last season when Ballidu emulated a shaky start and started their climb toward a premiership at the expense (as was before) of Wongan Red.
But in what should (on paper) have been a 6-0 encounter, Wongan Red picked up a positive rink win to narrow the aggregate loss and a point to keep them at number two.
The coming weekend’s fixtures suggest even more surprises are at hand with Ballidu’s return to favouritism tested by Dally Green’s newfound power, Moora again on foreign turf against Wongan Blue as also Kalannie against Wongan Red and Dally White a target for Buntine’s resurgence.
Wedding and a funeral
No doubt a wedding in Moora was a big contributing factor to the decimated numbers in their visit to Calingiri but perhaps also the difference in speed of the greens may have prompted Moora’s 0/6 “funeral”.
Probably exaggerated but reports have it Moora’s carpet was running at 19 seconds and to move from this to Calingiri’s comparison would surely have tested Moora’s adaptability, even with a lessening of the exaggeration, which again prompts the re-emergence of Moora’s hoodoo of “have bowls, can’t travel”.
Moora’s Dave McQueen, finding himself in a new skipper’s role, fell foul of Richard Smith who turned two preceding big losses to grab 19 over McQueen.
Bill Hobden was lucky to go down by only four to a new power in the league in Calingiri’s unbeaten Ian Woods and Paul Spowart notched his first win for the season with five over the normally reliable Mick Rodan.
No doubt Moora will be at full force when they visit Wongan Blue this weekend and the encounter should either confirm or deny whether Moora has a real hang-up with unfamiliar turf this year.
Doom and gloom
Doom and gloom merchants were in full voice at the beginning of the season suggesting Buntine were in the beginning of their death roll with a claim of diminished numbers and a future loss of their stars in Trevor Reudavey and Gary Cheeseman.
No doubt Reudavey and Cheeseman are to move on but at the moment they are very much alive and well and although numbers still remain so-so, the Buntine boys have never fielded short and are starting to cause a lot of havoc in the competition.
Some may see as fait accompli a 5/1 win over Wongan Blue but their latest 5/1 over a visiting Kalannie confirms Buntine are not there just for a day out.
Obviously stretched in the previous four-rink set-up, Buntine now shows some heavy material in their three-rink turn out and it showed in Ian Carlshausen’s crew’s demolishment of last season’s leading skipper in Vic Orchard by 12.
Kalannie have the numbers and with this, rotating skippers saw Kim Jefferis get a berth but he did not enjoy his first outing against an unbeaten Trevor Reudavey and probably had reason to boast only a two-shot loss.
The only bright spot for Kalannie was to see Kingsley Roach continue his unbeaten record with seven over a luckless Gary Cheeseman.
Bombers in full flight
The flaps are down and the Ballidu Bombers are now in full flight with a healthy 5/1 over a visiting Wongan Red.
A shaky start has prompted a shuffle in Ballidu’s sides where the previously successful combination of Chris Leahy, Bill Lines, John McDonald and Bill Smith was not travelling all that well to see McDonald and Smith move to Wayne Sermon and his third, Dave McPharlin.
That move proved to be a positive one with Sermon and crew putting Wongan Red’s Gary McCagh away by 10 shots.
But it had a negative result in Red’s Norm Wass’ 17 over Chris Leahy and company.
Despite this hiccup Ballidu proved overall they are back in the premiership defence mode with Graham Lehmann’s combination of Rob Falconer, Neil Whyte and John Burns producing consistent bowls to down Don Macpherson’s crew by 17.
Although Wongan Red did not enjoy the day they found solace in the one strong rink win which is proving so valuable in the three-rink competition as it not only reduced the aggregate margin for a percentage saver but also provided a point win which could prove important toward the end of the season and for the moment keeping them in second spot.
Green’s the machine
If there was doubt as to which was the better of the two Dally sides, the weekend’s encounter sees Green as the machine.
Although there were only nine shots in the aggregate, Green’s two strong rinks were well able to handle the remaining rink’s mishap.
Kingsley Toster returned with his “greed is good” axiom with 15 over Gordon McNeill and Noel Whyte survived a concerted effort from Glen Jones by three.
Willy Lines provided the spark for White with his nine over Phil Moore.
Perhaps a sigh of relief could be heard from Dalwallinu as they won’t have to suffer another derby this season.
Results
Buntine 5 (73) d Kalannie 1 (66): Ian Carlshausen 31 d Vic Orchard 19, Trevor Reudavey 23 d Kim Jefferis 21, Gary Cheeseman 19 lost to Kingsley Roach 26.
Ballidu 5 (70) d Wongan Red 1 (60): Graham Lehmann 34 d Don Macpherson 17, Wayne Sermon 26 d Gary McCagh 16, Chris Leahy 10 lost to Norm Wass 27.
Dalwallinu Green 5 (75) d Dalwallinu White 1 (66): Kingsley Toster 29 d Gordon McNeill 14, Noel Whyte 22 d Glen Jones 19, Phil Moore 24 lost to Willy Lines 33.
Calingiri 6 (80)_d Moora 0 (52): Richard Smith 31 d Dave McQueen 12, Ian Woods 25 d Bill Hobden 21, Paul Spowart 24 d Mick Rodan 19.
Leading skippers
The list of unbeaten skippers thins with only two successful over three games.
Wongan Red’s Norm Wass heads with 22 shots up and Calingiri’s Ian Woods follows with seven up.
Unbeaten including a draw is Buntine’s Trevor Reudavey.
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