TUNCURRY Beach's Rex Johnston continued his domination of Zone 11 bowls championships by winning the champion of champion pairs title at Forster Bowling Club.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
This is his fifth zone title of the year, and he appears to be almost unbeatable at the moment. This would make him an absolute shoe-in for the zone's bowler of the year award.
In the first semi-final Wayne O'Neill and Mick Stanbury (Lansdowne) played Forster's Steve Pell and Peter Schroeder. A quick start saw Schroeder score a huge seven on the first end, and followed that with a two and a one to grab a 10-0 lead after three ends. Scoring was very even after that, and after 13 ends Schroeder led 19-10. The game was then turned on its head, as O'Neill and Stanbury went on a scoring spree, winning seven straight ends, and scored 21 shots to come from the clouds and record a 31-19 win.
The second semi had Noel James and Rex Johnston (Tuncurry Beach) up against Errol Ruprecht and Dominic Riley (Taree West). Johnston began with a pair of twos, and while he was never headed from there, the heads at times were extremely close, with only some outstanding conversions from Johnston keeping them in the lead. Johnston gradually opened up a gap to lead 22-8, with the final score being 24-14.
The final was a real seesawing affair at first, with rarely more than one shot the difference between the two sides, and no-one giving an inch. After 11 ends the scores were locked at 10-10. Johnston then scored a four, but Stanbury immediately hit back with a three At 17-14 to Johnston, he scored a five and a three to open up a 25-14 lead.
O'Neill and Stanbury won the last three ends, scoring six shots, but the gap was too large and the final score was 25-20 to James and Johnston.
