Narrabri duo through to Bowls NSWs’ mixed pairs state playoffs

Local bowlers David Dewar and Eva Sadler will represent the Narrabri Bowling Club at Bowls NSWs’ state mixed pairs playoffs in March next year following a successful North West Bowls qualifying tournament in Kootingal on the weekend.

The duo were one of three Narrabri Shire teams that lined up at Kootingal Bowling Club, which included their Narrabri clubmates Rebecca Taylor and Richard Little and the Wee Waa Bowling Club’s Dustyn Allen and Kay Dewson.

Dewar and Sadler won three of their four 18-end matches across the weekend, including a final on Sunday morning. They played three sectional games on Saturday and prevailed in two of those.

Round one saw them challenge West Tamworth’s Helen and Wayne Owens and they got off to a flying start as they outscored them 26 shots to eight to go to the top of the table.

They met South Tamworth’s Joseph and Cathy Verdich in round two, who had lost 19 shots to 13 in round one, and they lost 21 shots to 16 them.

Gunnedah’s Daniel Crockatt and Joanne Briggs claimed top spot after round two with a 24 shots to 11 win over the Owens duo that succeeded their opening-round win against the Verdichs, but Dewar and Sadler were still a chance of winning their way through to the final if they could outscore Briggs and Crockatt in round three.

They managed to do that as they prevailed 21 shots to 10 to set up a final against fellow sectional winners Linda and Phil O’Reilly from South Tamworth.

The O’Reillys also won two of their three games on Saturday to top their four-team ladder, but they went down 19 shots to 17 in a thriller against the Narrabri duo on Sunday morning as Dewar and Sadler progressed through to the NSW finals.

The Narrabri team scored one shot on the first end of that final but went behind on the second and never led again until the final end.

They trailed 17 shots to 14 after 17 ends, but on the final end of the game they held four shots after Sadler had bowled her two and Dewar had bowled one. Dewar then played a pearler of a bowl with his second to tuck the jack away, which saw he and Sadler hold five shots as Phil O’Reilly delivered the final bowl of the match. O’Reilly was unable to overturn the five shots as Dewar and Sadler held on to win a nail-biting game 19 shots to 17.

Narrabri clubmates Taylor and Little placed third in their section following one win and two losses, while Wee Waa’s Dewson and Allen ended up ranked second in their section after winning two games and losing the other.

Two North West Bowls teams were guaranteed to qualify for the state finals, and joining Dewar and Sadler in advancing were South Tamworth’s Chrissy and Jeff Myers.

They were two of 32 teams from across the state who have progressed to the finals, which will be held from March 29 to 31 next year in Ballina after qualifiers were held right across NSW on the weekend.

The state finals will be played in sections of four teams, with the eight sectional winners to go through to the quarter-finals.

That guarantees all teams at least three games each, and potentially six if they are able to reach the decider on the final day.