Wee Waa bowlers reach the NSW state open grade five pennant quarter-finals

Thirteen local bowlers represented their club and town in style across the weekend as they guided Wee Waa Bowling Club into the quarter-finals of Bowls NSW’s 2024/25 season grade five open pennant competition state playoffs.

An experienced squad of bowlers combined to advance past the sectional play as Kevin Baker, Jay Hall, Zack Doring, Ty Baker, Phil Lawford, Bruce Cowan, Paul Andreassen, Steve Berger, Cody Booby, Toby Reynolds, Peter Doring, Trinity Kelly and Hunter Doring lined up for Wee Waa at the Mount Lewis Bowling Club in Greenacre, west of Sydney near Bankstown.

They produced some impressive and at times clutch bowls to place second on the section three ladder and advance to the final eight, after which they lost their quarter-final showdown by just three shots.

The 2024/25 campaign North West champions got off to a red-hot start in round one on Friday morning when they defeated the Central Coast champions Mingara 64 shots to 61 to kick off the tournament in victorious fashion.

The Wee Waa bowlers won one of the three rinks, and they drew one and lost the other to earn 8.5 of the 10 competition points on offer.

Cody Booby, Toby Reynolds, Peter Doring and Trinity Kelly scored an important 24 shots to 16 win on their rink over Henry Bengowski, Garry Philpot, Sharon Croker and Keith Cook, while Kevin Baker, Jay Hall, Zack Doring and Ty Baker drew 22-all against Brian Pandelis, Lambertus Wolters, Michael Bryan and Bruce Smith.

Phil Lawford, Bruce Cowan, Paul Andreassen and Steve Berger did go down 23 shots to 18 against Stephen Tranter, Kevin Hosford, Bede Hughes and Jeff Kellie, but the narrow margin of their defeat helped Wee Waa secure the win.

Greater Newcastle champs Merewether took down Metro North West champs Toongabbie 72 shots to 41 overall in the other round one match in section three and established themselves at the top of the table after securing nine of the 10 points on offer.

They ensured they would remain on top when they outscored Wee Waa 72 shots to 55 overall in round two on Friday afternoon.

The Wee Waa squad again picked up a win, a draw and a loss across the three rinks, but the loss was greater than the win this time as they earned 1.5 of the 10 competition points on offer to remain in second place on the ladder.

The Bakers, Hall and Zack Doring outscored John Snedden, Dean Jones, Michael Dempsey and Allan Miller 22 shots to 15 on their rink while Booby, Reynolds, Peter Doring and Kelly drew 22-all against Carl Wiseman, Shane Quill, Peter Burgess and Adam Jones.

However, Merewether were far too good on the other rink as Lawford, Cowan, Andreassen and Berger went down 35 shots to 11 against John Slevin, Gregory Johns, Bryan O’Shea and Chris Connor.

The Wee Waa men entered the third and final sectional contest on Saturday morning aware that they would likely need to win to secure a second-place finish on the four-team ladder to advance to the quarter-finals. They rose to the occasion as they secured the only three-rink victory across the three rounds in section three when they outscored Toongabbie 94 shots to 51 on the overall scoreboard.

The Bakers, Hall and Zack Doring scored the largest rink win of the contest as they defeated Sam Ndeira, Tony Xuereb, Nancy Biddle and Uwe Bendt 34 shots to 15.

Hunter Doring substituted in for Lawford and with Andreassen, Cowan and Berger they beat Michael Jamieson, Ray Morrison, Peter Strong and David Hall 32 shots to 16, while Booby, Reynolds, Peter Doring and Kelly downed Brian Hosford, Michael Moseley, David Rothery and Danny Leverton 28 shots to 20.

The Wee Waa Bowling Club men then lined up against Narooma in a quarter-final showdown on Saturday afternoon after the South East champs had topped section four, and the North West side lost by three shots to bow out of the tournament.

The Bakers, Hall and Zack Doring won their rink 25 shots to 13 against Peter Dillon, Les Waldock, John Scott and Keith Pickett, but Wee Waa went down by a combined total of 47 shots to 32 on the other two rinks to lose 60 shots to 57 on the overall scoreboard.

Narooma went on to reach the final after they knocked off Merewether 57 shots to 55 in their semi-final on Sunday morning, but they were beaten 61 shots to 52 by Belfield in the decider as the Metro South West representatives were crowned NSW state champs.

North West was represented across all seven divisions at various locations around the state from Friday to Sunday, with two teams reaching their respective grand finals.

Gunnedah ended up third on their sectional ladder in division one, Inverell RSM finished fourth on their sectional ladder in division two, North Tamworth were fourth on their sectional ladder in division three, Moree Services were runners-up in division four after going down in the decider, Gunnedah finished fourth on their sectional ladder in division six, and Manilla were runners-up in division seven after going down in the final.