Stamina, precision and determination.
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The major pairs lawn bowls final had it all.
Saturday, July 25 at Bowral Bowling Club, Stephen Della and Kevin Stafford defeated Tom De Greenlaw and David Coltman 22-13 in the final of the major pairs competition.
This was no stroll in the park for either side as both teams had competed in the semifinals in the morning.
Which means both teams commenced playing at 9:30 am on Saturday morning then had a 30 minute break for lunch before commencing the final.
This provided eight hours of bowls for both teams. This was purely a match of stamina.
Who said bowls was a easy game?
The opening ends all favoured De Greenlaw and Coltman as they outplayed Della and Stafford, and after six ends had surprisingly gone to a 7-2 lead.
Supporters of both sides were starting to feel a upset was on the cards.
At the half way mark of 11 ends, the motivation had shifted to Della and Stafford slightly, but they still trailed by three shots 9-6.
Somehow through, possibly the barracking on the benches. It was more like a football match.
Neither side could get a break over the other with the scores at 12-11 in favour of Della and Stafford after 14 ends.
Actually, one could feel Della and Stafford just starting to gain the upper hand.
The turning point came on the 17th end with Della and Stafford clinging to a one shot advantage 13-12.
With four ends to play the final in the balance all players produced great bowls shots and the jack being moved on several occasions with both teams producing chances to give them the championship.
The skips with their last bowls, had it all to win or lose.
Firstly, Coltman down by two shots, moved the jack to pick up three shots.
This left Stafford with his last bowl in two minds, what shot to play?
He decided to play a lovely on shot that knocked the three bowls away and rested the jack to his bowls to go from three down to three up and take a four shot lead with three ends to play.
De Greenlaw and Coltman won the next end to pick up one shot and trail 16-13 with two ends to play.
With pressure on both sides it was the experience of Della and Stafford who picked up six shots on the last two ends to give them the title by the score line of 22-13.
What a week of bowls for the professor Della who won the singles title to become club champion and followed it up with a pairs title.
This final was only won at the final ends, with all four players fired up for this match.
Finally congratulations to the winners and runners up. Also, to the supporters who stayed until the final bowl was played.
As bowls secretary Dan Ticehurst stated from a bowls perspective the whole day of bowls was a huge success.
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