Sport
6 March, 2023
Game for the ages as Highland White wins thrilling division two decider
It was a double dose of joy for the Highland Bowling Club on Saturday afternoon when Highland White won a thrilling grand final encounter with Carisbrook at Newstead. In contrast to the division one decider, division two’s grand final was...
It was a double dose of joy for the Highland Bowling Club on Saturday afternoon when Highland White won a thrilling grand final encounter with Carisbrook at Newstead.
In contrast to the division one decider, division two’s grand final was a dramatic encounter which came down to the very last shot of the match.
After 62 ends, just one shot separated Carisbrook and Highland White. But in a dramatic finale full of twists and turns, Nathan Reeves played a clutch shot to ultimately deliver White the premiership and prevent a play-off for the title, with White eventually winning 65-62.
Before Saturday, the highest losing score of the 2022/23 season across both divisions had been 59, cementing the division two decider as an instant classic.
Reeves’ shotmaking in the clutch helped his team take a 24-21 win over Eric Symons, while Leanne Wallis took a 23-17 win over Ron Baker.
Carisbrook were able to make a game of it thanks to Phillip Burt’s 24-18 win over team manager Tony Lacey.
Highland White team manager Lacey said it was unbelievable to turn the tables on Carisbrook, the dominant team of the competition throughout the season, when it mattered most.
“It was heartstopping. It was getting to me a bit as I probably put in my worst game of the year. It told a little bit on my rink, but there is 12 of us, and it took all 12 of us to get to the final,” he said.
“It’s two weeks in a row we’ve had a game like that now. We got up against Talbot last week by a shot, and to do it again today (Saturday) was unreal.”
Lacey paid tribute to Carisbrook for the game, with the team having taken refuge at Highland throughout the season while their bowls club was being refurbished.
“Carisbrook have been really grateful to us all season, as we were able to let them to use our greens and that helped them,” he said.
Lacey was also surprised by the speed of the green throughout the day, but said some key adjustments were able to help them secure victory.
“No one is used to the pace of the green around here. Some of us have played on quicker greens and got used to it fairly quickly, but it’s easier for those who have indeed played on those types of greens,” he said.
“We had a couple of changes in our rinks that made all the difference, which helped us strengthen two rinks where we were reasonably weak. We did get done by Carisbrook twice, once in the semi-final and once earlier in the season, but the semi-final was a close game. There was only six or eight shots in that. We weren’t too worried about it, we actually felt that playing last week would help us rather than Carisbrook.”
Lacey was watching with bated breath as Reeves’ team was completing the final end of the match alongside teammates from both division one and two teams, and recalled a moment from a previous game which Reeves put to use on Saturday.
“We were ecstatic. Nathan got those shots in towards the end. I remember saying to him a while ago, playing with him going into the 22nd end at Talbot, I was leading and he was playing second. I put two shots straight onto the kitty and I turned around and said ‘when the going gets tough, the cream goes straight to the top’, and he reminded me of that this afternoon,” he said.
Lacey said while he will celebrate the Saturday pennant for the immediate future, there’s still plenty to ponder going forward.
“Our team goes up in the top division, but our second team goes down to division two now. So it will be interesting to see how the selectors pick the teams next year,” he said.
“Division one was magic. We feel great, but the next challenge is the midweek pennant. We would be over the moon if we could win that one as well.”
