The Men’s Pairs Championship was completed on the afternoon of Friday 18th February, before an appreciative audience, whose numbers were swollen for much of the time by the presence of the MegaBowl competitors.

The semi-finals had been played on Friday 11th and Sunday 13th February. In the first semi-final, Greg Taylor and Bruce Eagles were successful over Peter Crow and Ian Linford, while Dan Nichols (replacing Frank Tyson) and Matt Sharrett overcame Peter Snow and Trevor Orton in the other semi-final.

In both games there were a number of competitive ends, but final scores were very lop-sided and the games called early.

The final was a high quality, closely fought, intense affair in which scores were tied at 9-9 after completion of 12 of the scheduled 18 ends.  However, Matt Sharrett and Dan Nicholls (substituting for Frank Tyson) adapted a little better to the slowing conditions and eventually pulled away winning the last 6 ends for a 17-9 victory over Bruce Eagles and Greg Taylor.  Congratulations to Matt and Dan/Frank on their first victory in this prestigious event.

On Wednesday 12th January, six teams completed Round 3 of the sectional play, after play was abandoned due to extreme temperature on the first day of play back in December.

The three section winners along with the fourth best placed team made up the semi finals which followed immediately after the completion of Round 3.

The first semi final saw Barbara Lorencs, Pauline Marsden and Liz Marshall with a convincing win over Sandra Minnett, Helen Teasdale and Betty Stern.

The other semi final was a very close game with Pauline Bourne, Jan Cook and Coral Smith up against Robyn Van Mosseveld, Shelley Jeffs and Wendy Flack. With scores even after the 14th end, and the Van Mosseveld team holding game with one shot, Pauline Bourne played the last bowl to sit and take shot and the game.

The final was then played on Wednesday 2nd February between the Lorencs and Bourne teams. Pauline Bourne now has her name on Sorrento’s honour board a remarkable ten times after skippering her team to victory. There was simply no stopping Pauline and her team of lead Coral Smith and third Jan Cook as they romped to an 18-9 win over skip Barbara Lorencs, lead Liz Marshall and third Pauline Marsden.

The unpredictable nature of bowls saw Barbara’s team get off to a flying start in the final with a four on the very first end. But in a sobering jolt, Pauline’s team hit back straight away with a four, followed by two twos, two ones, and a three, to race to a formidable 13-4 lead after seven ends.

Coral was leading beautifully and Jan contributing valuable assistance as Pauline also continued to weave her renowned magic. And when it was all over, as hard as Barbara’s team had tried, that nine shot advantage still remained.