Local bowlers reach North West mixed pairs final in Bingara

Eleven local bowlers were in action at Bingara Sporting Club across the weekend during NSW Bowls’ 2025/26 state mixed pairs competition qualifying event, with one team falling at the final hurdle in their pursuit of reaching the state playoffs.

There was a total of eight North West sections this season, which meant all section winners would progress to semi-finals, and the two final winners would progress to the next level.

Four sections were hosted by the Bingara club and the other four were held at South Tamworth Bowling Club.

Narrabri’s Rebecca Taylor and Wee Waa’s Kyne Allen teamed up at the event, and they went all the way to the Bingara final after winning their pool games and their semi-final.

They were in a three-team pool and they had the bye in round one. They then outscored Rosemarie and Todd Fuller 19 shots to 13 in round two and went up against Glen Innes’ Rachel Shannon and Inverell RSM’s Dennis Williams in round three.

That was a crucial match for both sides after they had both won a game each across the first two rounds, and it was Taylor and Allen who got the job done as they prevailed 20 shots to nine to progress to the semi-finals.

They took on Lightning Ridge’s Shaun Ellery and West Tamworth’s Zoe Stewart in the first knockout match on Sunday morning and were victorious by a 15 shots to seven scoreline to progress to the final alongside Gunnedah’s Ella Cameron and Jacob Martin.

The Gunnedah duo were also undefeated up until that point after winning all three of their sectional matches and accounting for Armidale City’s Lee Robinson and Matthew Fletcher 21 shots to 12 in their semi-final.

It was Gunnedah who stood tall in the final as Cameron and Martin outscored Taylor and Allen 20 shots to 10 to progress to the state finals.

Joining them as North West representatives are South Tamworth’s Christine and Jeff Myers, who defeated clubmates Linda and Phil O’Reilly 18 shots to 13 in the other final at their home club.

Narrabri Bowling Club’s Dave Dewar and Eva Sadler and Wee Waa Bowling Club’s Dustyn Allen and Kay Dewson competed in the same section as the eventual champs from Gunnedah on Saturday.

Those two teams both lost their respective round one matches before they went head-to-head in round two, with the Narrabri duo edging out the Wee Waa pair 16 shots to 15.

They then both went down in round three, with Dewson and Allen falling just short again as they were outscored 15 shots to 13 by Cameron and Martin.

Section three included five local bowlers as Narrabri’s Cindy Neil played with Tony Redman, their clubmate Lisa Pillar played with Lightning Ridge’s Joseph Webb, and Wee Waa’s Melissa and Brock Allen formed a team.

It was a tight opening round in that section as Neil and Redman took down Pillar and Webb 18 shots to 14 while the Allens drew 13-all with Armidale City’s Robinson and Fletcher.

Pillar and Webb bounced back from their early loss to score a big win against the Allens as they prevailed 37 shots to 11, while the Armidale City duo had another draw as they finished locked at 17-all with Neil and Redman.

The Allen duo defeated Neil and Redman 17 shots to 12 in the third and final round, which meant the winner of the other match would take top spot, and it was the Armidale City duo who prevailed in a nail-biter as they downed Pillar and Webb 17 shots to 16.

Just two points separated the first and last-placed teams in that section after all teams won one game each, but the Armidale City duo’s two draws got them over the line before they went down against the eventual champions in the semi-final match.