Narrabri Shire bowling clubs score crucial open gender pennants competition victories

Wee Waa Bowling Club and Narrabri Bowling Club returned to winning ways on Saturday as they defeated Club Gunnedah in their respective North West Bowls 2025/26 season open gender pennants round four fixtures on their home greens.

For both teams, it was their second win of the season, keeping their hopes of progressing to the state playoffs alive.

It was a nail-biting victory for Wee Waa as they went down on two of the three rinks but managed to prevail 51 shots to 47 overall and earn eight points for the ladder.

It was the team of Chris Crutcher, Cody Booby, Peter Doring and Steve Berger that carried the home side to victory as they registered a dominant 26 shots to nine win over John Clark, Rick McKenzie, Wayne Hosking and Mark Boyd.

Ben Russell, Kevin Baker, Toby Reynolds and Ty Baker 19 shots to 10 to Andrew Cameron, John Pryor, Caleb Cameron and Jacob Martin, while Kay Dewson, Brock Allen, Bruce Cowan and Trinity Kelly were beaten by Barry Robbins, Gary Fordham, Brett Green and Keith Hubbard 19 shots to 15 as Gunnedah managed to sink Wee Waa 38 shots to 25 across the other two rinks.

Despite those impressive efforts, the visitors still fell four short on the overall scoreboard.

Wee Waa’s second win of the season saw them end the weekend ranked in third place with 16.5 points, while Gunnedah (30) dropped to second following their maiden defeat of the campaign.

South Tamworth Gold edged ahead of Gunnedah by half a point at the top as they moved to 30.5 following a 64 shots to 49 victory against clubmates South Tamworth Green, who are still winless and at the bottom of the table with three points.

Narrabri Bowling Club’s win over Gunnedah was a far more dominant one as they outscored the visitors 71 shots to 41 on the overall scoreboard.

Gunnedah did manage to win one rink to pick up a point for the ladder as Narrabri claimed nine to keep them in the hunt for first place on the four-team ladder.

Eva Sadler, Larry Scott, Kevin Baguley and Lisa Pillar were the big winners for the home side as they beat Kevin Selway, Jason Wheeler, Chase Fermor and Bruce Cameron 30 shots to seven, while Stuart Coleman, Steve Daskey, Keith Stoltenberg and Len Ryan outscored Brian Woods, Peter Baker, Robert Morgan and Thomas Bartman 29 shots to 16.

The other rink saw Club Gunnedah’s Nathan Barnes, Leanne Martin, Paul James Lodge and Steve Martin get the better of Helen Woodward, Tony Redman and Scott and David Dewar 18 shots to 12, but the hosts still managed to secure a 30-shot victory.

Their second win of the season saw them climb off the bottom of the grade six section one ladder as they overtook Club Gunnedah, and they finished the weekend just nine shots behind Manilla after the ladder leaders went down 67 shots to 39 overall in a top-of-the-table clash against second-placed Manilla.

Bingara remained on 29 points and are now followed closely by Manilla (22) and Narrabri (18), with Gunnedah last on 11 points.

The two Narrabri Shire clubs will hit the road this Saturday for their round five encounters as Wee Waa travel to South Tamworth Bowling Club to meet South Tamworth Green, while Narrabri heads out to Manilla.

Both of those fixtures are must-win matches ahead of the sixth and final round on Saturday, March 28.

March 21 will be a weekend break for both clubs.

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Wee Waa Bowling Club has released its latest fixtures for the 2025/26 season.

The following competition matches must be played by Sunday, March 22:

Over-60s singles – Peter Hennessy v Charlie Thompson, David Hogan v Bruce Cowan, Phil Lawford v Chris Crutcher, Geoff Whitton v Clancy Hamilton.

B-grade singles – Charlie Thompson v Brock Allen, Peter Hennessy v Kerry Sadler, Hunter Doring v Gary Nolan, Melissa Allen v Kyne Allen.

Players for those fixtures must organise their own markers.

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Thursday morning bowls commenced at the Narrabri Bowling Club last week.

Kyne Allen and Dawn Armstrong defeated Rhonda Fitzgerald and Tony Redman 19-10, Eva Sadler and Helen Woodward outscored Yvonne Hardman and Kay Dewson 16-13, and Glennis Godden played swinging lead and with Trish Allison and Lyn Tuckey downed Marie Redman and Di Chessells 14-11.

Social bowls will be played again at Narrabri Bowling Club today from 9.30am.