Men’s Fours Championship
The qualifying round of the Men’s Fours Championships was held on Sunday November 6th. A field of 14 teams entered the competition, so a blind draw was held with each team playing three matches of 14 ends against teams chosen at random, with the top four teams moving on to the finals to be held over 18 ends on Sunday 13th November. Despite minor overnight rain, the greens were running well, if slightly slower than for pennants the day before, and the sea breeze picked up a bit in the afternoon which provided variation over the day. Only the Orton team (Orton, Sabatino, Tompkins and Odell) won all three games, with the other three qualifying teams determined on shots-up, these being skippered by Hulbert, Butler and Mulroy.
The finals were held the following Sunday 13th November over 18 ends on ‘B’ Greeen, in fine but cool conditions with the sea breeze picking up before midday.
The first semi-final was contested between teams skipped by Trevor Orton (Neville Odell, Keith Tompkins, Tony Sabatino, Trevor Orton) and Bob Mulroy (Phil Bilich, Alan Jacks, Lindsay Baker, Bob Mulroy). This was a see-saw affair which saw Orton start with a four, but the scores level after 8 ends at 8-all and again after 16 ends at 14-all. A three to Mulroy on the 17th end when the jack was moved away from the head proved decisive and Mulroy held on to prevail 17-15.
Scores in the second semi-final between Murray Hulbert (Peter Morgan, Peter Flack. Alan Walton, Murray Hulbert) and Rhett Butler (Willy Tan, Brian Keily, Peter Snow, Rhett Butler) were always in favour of Hulbert, although Butler drew within three at 12-15 after 13 ends. Thereafter, Hulbert was able to keep Butler at bay and, although overall ends were tied at 9 apiece, Hulbert ran out the winner at 19-15.
The final saw Mulroy’s team playing fine bowls when it counted over the first 6 ends to pull ahead 9-3, but they conceded 15 shots over the next four ends to hand control to the much steadier Hulbert team and ultimately the match was called after 17 ends 26-12 to Hulbert. The match was played in good spirits, in front of a disappointingly small audience of four or five hardy souls braving the southwesterly breeze. The names of Murray Hulbert, Peter Morgan and Alan (Dreds) Walton will be added to the honour board for the third time, Peter Flack replacing Colin Jasper from previous winning teams.