Narrabri duo crowned regional champions and qualify for state playoffs

Narrabri Women’s Bowling Club won another regional championship last week when local duo Marie Redman and Helen Woodward prevailed in the Region 3 senior pairs final.

Woodward and Redman travelled to the Armidale City Bowling Club on Tuesday, November 8, where they competed in the regional playoffs, an event that they qualified for when they were crowned the Namoi District Women’s Bowling Association senior pairs champions in Moree back in September.

The Namoi champions played two games on the day in Armidale – a semi-final and then the final – both of which they won to progress to the state playoffs. Those will be held in July next year.

Woodward and Redman were joined by clubmates Debbie Gleeson and Lorraine Scott in Armidale. They played in the open pairs division at the regional playoffs after they too were crowned district champions in Moree.

Like Woodward and Redman, Scott and Gleeson won their semi-final and qualified for the regional final, but they were defeated in the big dance.

In the senior pairs, Woodward and Redman took on Delungra’s Christine McNulty and Shirley Williams, who are the Gwydir champions, in the semi-final.

The Narrabri duo got off to a flying start as they won the first five ends to establish a 10 shots to nothing lead.

The Delungra ladies then won five of the next seven ends, a combined 11 shots to three to cut their deficit to two points.

Woodward and Redman scored two shots on back-to-back ends to go ahead 17 shots to 11, but Williams and McNulty then fired back with two shots on back-to-back ends to reduce the deficit to two shots once more as the score became 17 shots to 15.

The Narrabri duo then scored three shots across the next to ends to make the score 20 shots to 15 after 18 ends, with just three ends left to play.

The Delungra duo set up a thrilling finish as they scored a three on the 19th end and a two on the 20th to tie the score up at 20 shots apiece going into the 21st and final end.

Having led for the first 19 ends of the match and having never trailed at all in the contest, the Narrabri duo held their nerve when it counted and scored a two on the final end to win the knockout game 22 shots to 20 to advance to the final.

The Narrabri ladies’ opponents in that final were the Central Northern District Women’s Bowling Association champions, Quirindi’s Sue Musgrave and Sue Kent.

Musgrove and Kent had downed the host club Armidale City 26-18 in the other semi-final.

Woodward and Redman claimed the first end of the decider to establish a 1-0 lead, but their opponents scored a shot on each of the next three ends to lead three shots to one after four ends of play.

The Narrabri ladies scored a shot on each of the next two ends to tie the score up at three shots apiece and then won four of the following five ends to lead 11 shots to four after 11 ends.

The Quirindi ladies scored six shots across the next three ends, including a four on the 14th which meant that Woodward and Redman’s lead was cut to just one point.

However, they rallied and managed to score two shots on each of the next two ends to lead 15 shots to 10 with five ends left to play.

Musgrave and Kent scored three shots across the next two ends to make the score 15 shots to 13 to the Narrabri ladies after 18 ends, but that became 17 shots to 13 with one end to play after Woodward and Redman scored a one on the 19th end and the 20th end.

Quirindi could only manage one shot on the final end as Woodward and Redman prevailed 17 shots to 14.

In the open pairs division, Gleeson and Scott won their semi-final match 25 shots to 18 against Armidale Ex Services Memorial Club, the New England district champions, which saw the Narrabri duo progress to the decider.

They took on the South Tamworth Bowling Club team of Mel L’Estrange and Cheryl Douglas in that decider, who are the Central Northern District Women’s Bowling Association open pairs champions and had outscored Delungra 28-11 in the regional semi-final.

L’Estrange and Douglas flew out to a 25 shots to eight lead in the final and eventually won it 34 shots to nine at the completion of 21 ends, despite the Narrabri duo playing impressive bowls throughout the contest.