There have been some close results over the past seven days for the Orbost Bowls Club in Gippsland Bowls Region pennant matches, which unfortunately didn’t go the way of the Green Machine.
Rain again disrupted a midweek pennant last week, although this time it merely caused delays rather than stopping the game altogether.
Unfortunately the decision to have lunch during the rain break seemed to put Orbost off its game in its division two match at home against Lindenow.
They had held a good overall lead prior to the break but Lindenow seemed to adapt better to the changed green conditions, slowly catching up and eventually overtaking with the finishing line in sight to win 67-64.
Only Gwen Hatcher’s team of Bruce Kneebone, Lilia Scarborough and Lyn O’Brien finished with a win of 24-22, with the other two teams losing gallantly 22-23 and 18-22.
Orbost only gained two match points for the day but are still holding second place on the ladder, with a 17-point lead over third-placed Lindenow with four home and away matches left to play prior to the finals.
The next match will be on January 21, an away game against Lakes Entrance 3, while in weekend pennant action, division one competed in a very close home game against Paynesville, unfortunately going down 58-56, despite winning two rinks, with the game being decided in the very last end.
Brad Lancaster’s team of Robyn Kellow, Scott Farnell and Ron Hatcher had the largest win of 22-13, with Geoff Lynn, Jurgen Fichtner, Maurice Frank and Peter Coulton also winners 19-17.
Orbost gained four match points which allowed it to maintain its 11th position on its ladder, with its next match on January 18 against Lakes Entrance 1 at the Lakes Entrance Bowling Club.
SOCIAL
Last Thursday saw a session of three bowl triples, with the winners for the afternoon being Trevor Hawkey (skip), Rob Black and Jurgen Fichtner.
Social bowls over the Christmas/New Year break will be on a more ad hoc basis depending on who turns up to play on the Thursday and Sunday afternoons.
BAREFOOT/TWILIGHT
Twilight barefoot bowls finished last Friday for 2024, with the highlight being barefoot bowler, Mick Freeman challenging Greg Rankin to a game of bowls and winning.
Rankin was recently the runner up in the clubs men’s champion singles.
Barefoot bowls will resume on February 3, with the club open from 5.30pm and people can come along at any time after that and stay for as long as they wish.
The club’s barbecue facilities will be ready for use, so why not bring along your own meal and make an evening of it.
Bowls will be provided and if required some training in the basics of bowling can be arranged.
To protect the green, players are asked to wear flat soled shoes, socks or bare feet.
