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Sports reports: Lower Murray bowlers win the Pitcher Shield

Plus the latest in Murray Bridge golf and rifle shooting and Murray Towns cricket.

Contributed

Dec 6, 2023 — 5 min read

This post includes contributions from Derek Vanderzon, Michael Potts and Daniel Irvine.

The ladies of the Lower Murray Bowling Association pose with the Pitcher Shield at Jervois on Friday. Photo: Murray Bridge Lawn Bowling Club/Facebook.

Lower Murray bowlers win the Pitcher Shield

The Pitcher Shield has been contested at Jervois Bowling Club between the Southern Mallee, Hills and Lower Murray bowling associations.

The Lower Murray side won the day on Friday with 152 shots for and 77 against.

The Hills had 110 for, 84 against while Southern Mallee scored just 61 and conceded 162.

The new greens are a treat, but haven’t done the home club’s bowlers any favours yet. Photo: Tailem Bend Bowling Club/Facebook.

Visitors spoil the party on Tailem Bend Bowling Club’s new greens

Jervois have responded to a couple of poor performances to take all 12 points against Tailem Bend, on Tailem’s newly revamped greens on Saturday.

Jervois welcomed back Graeme Herbert from a knee operation, and he led his rink of Jeremy Scannell, Russell Schutz and Bob Solley to a 23-16 win over Merv Stevens, Kylie Slattery, Con Jones and Colin Baxter.

A four and a five in the first nine ends got Herbert out to a 10-shot lead before a four to Stevens reduced it at the break.

But Herbert was never really under threat, extending the lead again before a pair of twos at the finish reduced the final margin to seven shots.

Shawn Hicks, Trevor Mann, Derek Vanderzon and Shane Fromm benefitted from a couple of stray bowls from their opposing skipper to skip to an early 10-1 lead against Travis Schenke, Stuart Rooke, Kevin McDonald and Matthew Hogan, but this was reduced to just three shots at the break.

Jervois broke away again after the resumption to lead by as many as 12 shots, but this was again reduced to five shots in the finish.

Graham Fromm, Daryl Little, Graham Schenke and Neil Morris were winners against Rob Hales, Nathan Mammone, David Hoare and Ian shepherd with a remarkably low score of 15 shots to their opponents’ 10.

Hales took the opening three ends as well as the last two, but very few in between as Fromm gradually assumed control with a series of singles and the odd two.

Tailem would be very happy with their new greens which, although quite slow as expected at this early stage, drew remarkably well and consistently.

Mannum overcame RSL at the RSL by four shots in a tight struggle, with two rinks getting up.

Terry McDonnell, Tommy Towns, Stephen Gregory and Ron Van Tijn got off to a flyer with the first nine shots against Jason Sipos, David Graham, Matt Wynne and Garry Daniel.

A four to Sipos momentarily halted the momentum, but they were never really in the contest in going down 15-27, with a few late shots making the score a little less one-sided.

David Thiele, Neil Zander, David Newell and Allan Wooldridge won five of the first six ends, and 12 in total, but fell one shot short against Graham Wakefield, John Howe, Gary Odgers and Marie Wachtel in a 16-17 loss.

Two threes and a four to Wakefield proved the difference, with Thiele only scoring singles and the odd two in response.

Noel Kneebone, Anne Marie Kuchel, Kerri Bolt and James Galbraith dominated early against Gavin Pfeiffer, Garry Fowler, Kelvin Newman and Lynton Jones, racing out to a 12-1 lead.

Pfeiffer took the last four ends before the break to close within three shots, then Kneebone again broke clear by nine.

Pfeiffer threatened once more but Kneebone eased to a nine-shot win, 25-16.

Karoonda opened up a gap at the top of the table with all 12 points against Murray Bridge at Murray Bridge, and must be now be seriously considering themselves as pennant favourites.

They will complete the second round at home to bottom-placed Tailem Bend next week, so should further consolidate their position.

Rowan Zadow, Garry Mason, Rohan Tomkinson and John Wegner led the way with a 27-12 win over Darren McIntosh, Brian Traeger, Brian Leckie and Michael Ferris.

The other rinks were much closer with Josh Porker, Shaun Wood, Erin O’Malley and Bill Cornish 23-21 winners over Bruce Attrill, David Kempe, Mark Callery and Anthony Gill.

Ian Symonds, Gary Zadow, Don Loller and Malcolm Waechter were 19-16 winners over Ben Traeger, Peter Shilton, Charlie DiSanto and Paul Smart.

Matthew Birch wins first local competition

Recently joined member of only a few months Matthew Birch has secured his first competition victory after just a handful of rounds with a terrific nett 65 on Saturday to win a stroke event at Murray Bridge Golf Club.

Coming in with a consistent form line, he might have just now worked the course out in returning a very good round of golf with the tee blocks way back, making it about as long as it can be and obviously a bit more difficult than normal.

It’s always good to see a new member do well and have a new name up in lights – well done.

Results: murraybridgegolfclub.com.au/competition-results-reports.

Robert Paech shoots on his way to a perfect 50 on Saturday. Photo: Daniel Irvine.

Summer wind comes blowin’ in across the rifle range

Cooler conditions have prevailed on the first shoot of the summer as members of the Murray Bridge Rifle Club competed from the always challenging range of 1000 yards.

The wind was fresh on Saturday, holding at around 30 kilometres per hour from the right, but had enough changes to impose a challenge on even the best shooters.

The best scores of the first round showed the difficulty of the conditions, with Greg Traeger leading TR with a 45.03.