Jervois wins at Mannum as division one lawn bowlers dodge the rain

This story was contributed by Derek Vanderzon.

Divison one bowlers have managed to avoid the rain which played havoc with division two and three results in the Lower Murray Bowling Association on Saturday, with all three matches able to be completed with minimal disruption.

At Mannum, the visiting Jervois side set up a win with a strong first half, and withstood a second-half challenge to win 59-52 with one win, a draw and a loss across the three rinks.

Shawn Hicks, Derek Vanderzon, Heather Fromm and Neil Morris were easy 27-10 winners over Andrew Hammence, Peter Wegner, Scott Bennier and Todd McDonnell, who put in a rather shoddy performance without their regular skipper Terry McDonnell.

Hicks led 12-4 at the break before a brief resurgence closed the gap to four shots after 14 ends.

But aside from some good saves from Hammence, it was a dominant performance from the visitors, who added a further 15 shots to two over the last seven ends.

Graeme Herbert, Garry Mason, Graham Schenke and Len Gommers held a slight advantage over Graham Wakefield, Tom Towns, Jack Vinck and Gary Odgers for most of their contest, but in the end were forced to scramble for a draw.

Their biggest lead was five shots after nine ends, but when Wakefield strung three ends together from the 17th-19th he had taken a four-shot lead and all the momentum.

Mason steadied things for Jervois and, with twos on the final two ends, a draw resulted: 16-all.

Gavin Pfeiffer, Marty March, Stephen Gregory and Colin Campion kept Mannum in touch until the end with a dominant second half against Jeremy Scannell, Graham Fromm, Bruce Smith and Stuart McCulloch.

Scannell led by four shots after 10 ends, but Pfeiffer picked up a two on the 11th, and followed this up with two and four immediately upon resuming; Jervois’ overall lead of 12 at the break had been quickly whittled down to three shots.

Scannell had a brief resurgence to tie the scores, but Pfeiffer added 11 shots to one over the last five ends, with a five on the 18^th the highlight as he ran out a 26-16 winner.

Karoonda stay on top with a win in the Bridge

Karoonda maintained their unbeaten status with a 70-54 away win over Murray Bridge, who remain in unfamiliar territory entrenched at the foot of the table.

Andrew Stasinowsky, Erin O'Malley, Ray Rudiger and Malcolm McKenzie broke away after a tight first half to score a 25-14 win over David Kempe, Brian Traeger, Ben Traeger and John Bubner.

Stasinowsky had won eight of the first 12 ends, but seven singles meant he had only a two-shot lead to show for it before a seven on the 13^th gave him a nine-shot buffer.

Kempe closed the gap to three shots with three ends to play, but Stasinowsky finished strongly, adding three, one and four for an 11-shot win.

Josh Porker, Belinda O'Malley, Len Symonds and Bill Cornish overran Darren McIntosh, Tony Trewren, Troy Penhall and Brian Leckie with an impressive second half performance.

Trailing 10-6 after 10 ends, Porker added 13 shots to nil over the next six ends to assume control with a nine-shot lead.

A five to McIntosh got him back in the contest, but Porker took three of the final four ends to win 25-16.

Rowan Zadow, Ian Symonds, Jayden Turner and Tarryn Turner looked like they had done enough to complete the clean sweep over their opponents when they overcame a five-shot deficit after 16 ends to go to the last end with a three-shot lead over Bruce Attrill, Judy Zadow, Helen Lindner and Paul Smart.

But in a disastrous final end, Attrill collected a seven and a 24-20 win.

Tailem Bend dominates RSL

Tailem Bend had little problem in disposing of RSL, collecting all 12 points with an impressive 73-41 win at the RSL.

Rob Hales, Michael Thorne, Stuart Rooke and Grantley Byrne were far too accomplished for Jason Sipos, Charlie DiSanto, Bruce Warner and Greg Hopgood with a 29-8 win.

Sipos was held to two singles in the first half, and went to the final end with just five shots on his scorecard.

A three on the final end slightly eased the misery.

Hales had twice gone on a six-end winning streak, and already had the game well under control before stringing together three fours in a row in the second half.

Travis Schenke, Merv Stevens, Neil Zander and Ian Shepherd scored a 24-16 win over Noel Kneebone, Karen Kneebone, David Newell and Anne-Marie Kuchel, with a final-end five blowing out the margin.

Kneebone started with a three, but Schenke gradually took the ascendancy and held Kneebone at arms length for most of the contest.

Kneebone crept to within three shots going into the final end before Schenke delivered the coup de grace.

Strangely, both sides struggled to string winning ends together, with Kneebone unable to do so at all, and Schenke doing so only twice.

Duane Edwards, David Hoare, Kevin McDonald and Bernaud Naulty edged out David Thiele, Max Wilkin, Michael Walker and Phil Day 20-17, but would probably feel they deserved to win by much more after winning double the number of ends.

Only 11 shots were scored over the first nine ends as Edwards took a 9-2 lead, but a seven came out of nowhere for Thiele to tie the scores.

Suddenly 15 shots were scored in four ends as Thiele took a two-shot lead, which he still held with three ends to play.

Unlike previous weeks, Thiele fell away at the end as Edwards added two, one and two for a deserved win.

Titans will clash at Karoonda this Saturday

This Saturday, Karoonda will host Tailem Bend in what will undoubtedly be the match of the round.

Karoonda are travelling along very nicely, with the acquisition of Andrew Stasinowsky and return of Josh Porker making them a much stronger side.

With Tarryn Turner showing promise and Malcolm McKenzie in good form alongside Malcolm Waechter and the ever improving Erin O’Malley, they are certainly the team to beat at the moment.

Tailem Bend have never been short on top-end talent, but do rely on having them available on a regular basis.

If Sam Shepherd and David Hoare are there along with Travis Schenke, Duane Edwards, Rob Hales and Merv Stevens they have a very solid base.

Their depth is their Achilles heel, so they will want to be at full strength for this battle.

Jervois will host RSL looking to consolidate after a solid start to the season.

After being well beaten by Karoonda they have beaten Murray Bridge and Mannum, who they struggled against last season.

Shawn Hicks’ rink is so far unbeaten and combining well.

Graeme Herbert and Jeremy Scannell are yet to find their best form, but are class performers who are always threatening.

RSL would be bitterly disappointed with their loss to Tailem Bend after a win against Mannum and pushing Karoonda all the way in a narrow loss.

They cannot afford to start slowly, especially away from home.

I would expect a response from Noel Kneebone and Jason Sipos in particular, but Jervois should win this one.

Winless Murray Bridge travel to Mannum with both sides so far being disappointing.

As defending champions Murray Bridge would feel they have plenty of experience and time to turn the corner.

No doubt the loss of Andrew Stasinowsky has had a massive impact, but he was there for just one season, and they were reigning champions before he arrived.

Mannum’s only win so far has been at the expense of a severely depleted Tailem Bend, and they will be desperate to turn the corner.

David Kempe has returned to Murray Bridge after two seasons at Mannum, and will no doubt have an interesting battle against his former teammates.

It is hard to see Murray Bridge losing four matches on the trot, but if they do surely there will be some repercussions.