Wee Waa advance in men’s pennants competition with wins against Narrabri and Manilla in Moree

Wee Waa Bowling Club won their way through to the next stage of North West Bowls’ 2024/25 season pennants comp with back-to-back victories in Moree across the weekend.

Division three section two action was contested at the Moree Services Bowling Club, where the Wee Waa men prevailed 75 shots to 43 against Narrabri Bowling Club on Saturday morning before securing a first-place finish with a 71 shots to 51 victory over Manilla Bowling Club on Sunday morning.

The other match played on Saturday afternoon saw Narrabri edge out the Manilla men 57 shots to 55, which meant Wee Waa topped the section with 18 of a possible 20 points while Narrabri placed second with 10 and Manilla were third with two.

The Wee Waa bowlers now advance to the division three round robin playoffs against section one winners Guyra and section three winners Kootingal, which will be contested next month. The winner of that event will qualify for the state finals next year.

Guyra went through undefeated at Inverell RSM Bowling Club against Glen Innes and Inverell Sporties, while Kootingal also went through undefeated against Quirindi, South Tamworth and West Tamworth at the North Tamworth Bowling Club.

In Moree, Wee Waa and Narrabri faced off in the local derby on neutral territory as they both looked to get off to a winning start to the weekend.

Narrabri managed to claim one rink as Laurie Gilbert, Larry Scott, Richard Little and Dave Dewar downed Chris Crutcher, Kevin Baker, Paul Andreassen and Steve Berger 17 shots to 15, but Wee Waa scored dominant wins on the other two rinks to comfortably prevail.

Kyne Allen, Phil Lawford, Peter Doring and Trinity Kelly outscored Ian Macmillan, Steve Daskey, Graham Rose and Len Ryan 30 shots to 16 while Toby Reynolds, Jay Hall, Bruce Cowan and Ty Baker defeated Dean Hulbert, Colin Armstrong, Stuart Coleman and Scott Dewar 30 shots to 10.

Those results saw the Wee Waa men win 75 shots to 43 on the overall scoreboard and claim nine of the 10 competition points on offer.

Narrabri Bowling Club bounced back that afternoon as they won two of the three rinks against Manilla to prevail 57 shots to 55 and also earn nine of the 10 competition points to get themselves back in the hunt.

All three rinks were hotly contested as Hulbert, Gilbert, Coleman and Dewar beat Manilla’s Steven Lancaster, Michael Cant, Jamie Laws and Richard Ingram 19 shots to 17, Macmillan, Daskey, Rose and Ryan outscored Manilla’s Andrew Lovegrove, Neill Bonnett, Glenn Goman and Graham Wells 22 shots to 18, and Manilla’s Ian Bannister, Mitchell Burns, Doug Cooke and Edward Lockrey downed Armstrong, Scott, Little and Dewar 20 shots to 16.

The round three match on Sunday morning had major implications for the overall section two ladder, with Manilla able to win outright if they picked up 10 points, a draw or a win being good enough for Wee Waa to go through, or a Manilla nine-shots-to-one win seeing all three teams finish level on 10 points.

Wee Waa got the job done easily as they claimed two of the three rinks to win 71 shots to 51 overall.

Lovegrove, Bonnett, Goman and Wells beat Reynolds, Hall, Cowan and Baker 21 shots to 18, Baker, Crutcher, Andreassen and Berger outscored Bannister, Burns, Cooke and Lockrey 23 shots to 10, and Allen, Lawford, Doring and Kelly beat Cant, Lancaster, Laws and Ingram 30 shots to 20.