Todd Cowan and Justin Knight narrowly miss out on another Zone 3 Bowls title

Wee Waa Bowling Club’s Todd Cowan and Justin Knight were just one win away from advancing to the 2021 Bowls NSW State Championships in the State Pairs division, however, they went down in Sunday’s Zone 3 final at South Tamworth Bowling Club.

The duo had already qualified to play at the State Champs at Ettalong Memorial Club next month in State Fours alongside clubmates Ty and Kevin Baker, while Knight will also compete in the State Singles division after being crowned Zone 3 champion in June.

But the Wee Waa men fell just four shots short in their quest to win a third Zone 3 championship for Wee Waa Bowling Club in 2021.

Cowan and Knight qualified for the weekend’s Zone 3 State Pairs finals series after winning the Wee Waa sectional final 27-17 against Laurie Gilbert and Dave Dewar on Saturday, June 26.

They then joined the seven other sectional final winners in South Tamworth on Saturday and were drawn to take on Moree’s Wayne Tighe and Chris Cox in the quarter-final.

Cowan and Knight won that match 25-13 before edging out South Tamworth’s Michael Tarbert and Phil O’Reilly 18-17 in the semi-final on Saturday afternoon to advance to Sunday’s final.

The other side of the draw was won by Gunnedah Services and Bowling Club’s Scott Thorning and Dylan Eather on Saturday. They defeated Armidale City’s Steve and Todd Fuller 19-13 in their quarter-final before winning a close game 21-19 in the semi-final against Lightning Ridge’s Anthony Lamb and Leo Hooper.

In Sunday morning’s decider, Cowan and Knight went down 20 shots to 16 in the 21-end match.

The Gunnedah men had established a 12-6 lead after 12 ends, then led 17-12 at the completion of the 18th end.

However, Cowan and Knight rallied to score a four on the 19th to make the score 17-16 with just two ends left to play.

The Gunnedah duo then scored a two on the 20th end before sealing the contest with a one on the final end to win the match 20-16.

Meanwhile, Wee Waa Bowling Club was also represented in the Senior Pairs and President’s Reserve Pairs divisions on Saturday.

Chris Crutcher and Steve Berger went down 25-7 against Lightning Ridge’s David Samuelsson and Rex Skuthorpe in their Senior Singles quarter final.
Samuelsson and Skuthorpe reached the final but were beaten 24-20 by South Tamworth’s Ken Lachlan and Steve Graham.

In the President’s Reserve Pairs, Wee Waa’s Sean Anderson and Brett Pillar were downed 27-15 by Walcha’s Kenneth Cameron and Kyle Goodwin in their quarter-final.

The eventual winners in that division were Tamworth City’s Peter Seagrott Tim Austim.