Tournament becomes ‘Vinnie and Mojo show’

It was especially pleasing to acknowledge the effort of the 12 players who made the long journey from South Australia.

Two of their crew, Nathan Black and Simon Geater-Johnson, reached the last four, only to be defeated in their semi-final by the subsequent winners.

Preceding the Pairs was a Singles competition on Friday with four bowls over 12 ends in a knockout format.

The semi-finals of this event saw George Kambos just edge out Scott Boschen - one of the several Wimmera visitors - and Matt Kurta got the better of our own Carly Crothers in the other.

The final could have gone either way, with Kurta sneaking home against Lambos, 10 shots to nine.

It was then on to the Classic Pairs, with three matches over 12 ends on Saturday, and a further two on Sunday morning.

There were 66 teams in 11 sections, with each section winner progressing to the finals, which were all played over only six ends.

Seven teams were eliminated in the early finals until there were only four still standing.

The first semi-final then saw the aforementioned ‘Croweaters’, Black and Geater-Johnson outgunned by Vinnie McIlwain and Mick ‘Mojo’ Gardner.

The other semi was a comfortable win for the Sunbury pair, Lee Wesley and Danny Fortune, over the father and son combination from Stanhope, Barry and Ben Fletcher.

The final was a very tight contest of quality bowls, but McIlwain and Gardner seemed to have all the answers when it counted, and turned it into the ‘Vinnie and Mojo show’ when they recorded a reasonably comfortable 7-3 victory.

Attention at the club is now turned towards the fours tournament at the end of August, with more than 120 bowlers again expected to take part.

~ Rob Daly