Wee Waa Bowling Club duo wins Zone 3 Bowls’ Champion of Club Champions event

Wee Waa Bowling Club’s Justin Knight and Todd Cowan are the 2021 Zone 3 Bowls Champion of Club Champions Pairs winners following a dominant display of bowls at South Tamworth Bowling Club across the weekend.

Knight and Cowan were Wee Waa Bowling Club’s Pairs champions last year, which earned them the chance to nominate for the Zone 3 Champion of Club Champions event.

They dominated in the final on Sunday afternoon against Armidale City’s 2021 champions Paul Bullen and Todd Fuller, never trailing on their way to a 23 shots to 14 victory to be crowned Zone 3 Pairs champions.

By winning that event, Knight and Cowan have qualified for the 2021 State Champion of Club Champion Pairs finals. They will also be hosted by South Tamworth Bowling Club from June 3-7.

The Wee Waa Bowling Club team was one of 14 in action in the Zone 3 playoffs across the weekend.

Knight and Cowan took on Werris Creek Bowling Club’s James Roberts and Peter Cunningham on Saturday morning and scored a 29 shots to 11 opening-round victory to qualify for the quarter-final stage.

On Saturday afternoon, they won their round of eight match 25 shots to 15 against Gunnedah Services duo Scott Thorning and Paul Daniels.

Those two victories meant that the Wee Waa bowlers had qualified for the semi-final, which they would play on Sunday morning against Narrabri Bowling Club’s Trinity Kelly and Kevin Baguley.

The Narrabri men enjoyed a round one bye and then defeated Inverell Sporties’ James Thomas and Shawn Davidson in their quarter-final.

Knight and Cowan prevailed in the semi-final match comfortably by nine shots on Sunday morning as they outscored the Narrabri duo 31-22.

They advanced to Zone 3 Bowls’ 2021 Champion of Champions final as a result of that win, where they would meet Armidale City’s Bullen and Fuller on Sunday afternoon.

The Wee Waa men got off to a flying start and won six of the first seven ends to establish an eight shots to one lead after a third of the match had been contested.

Bullen and Fuller had reduced their deficit to three, just five ends later, after winning three of those ends.

But Knight and Cowan then turned that 9-6 lead into a 13-6 advantage after scoring four shots to nothing across the 13th and 14th ends.

Bullen and Fuller won the next two ends to make the score 13-9 before Knight and Cowan scored a four on the 17th end and a three on the 18th to establish a commanding 20 shots to nine lead with just three ends left to play.

The Armidale City duo attempted an 11th-hour comeback as they scored a three on the 19th end and a two on the 20th to make the score 20 shots to 14 in favour of the Wee Waa men.

However, it was too little, too late for the Armidale City team as Knight and Cowan sealed the game with a three on the 21st and final end to score a 23 shots to 14 championship victory.

Wee Waa Bowling Club will be represented in South Tamworth again this weekend when last year’s A-grade Singles champion Toby Reynolds plays in the 2021 Zone 3 Champion of Club Champions Singles event.

Meanwhile, Wee Waa Bowling Club hosted four club matches across the weekend.

Three A-grade Singles matches were played, which saw Steve Berger down Jay Hall 31-25, Wayne Booby beat Phil Lawford 32-27 and Toby Reynolds defeated David Hogan 31-27.

There was also one B-grade Singles match played. Peter Hennessy beat Graham Amos 31-7 in that game.