Women’s State Championships – Day 6 Wrap

by Billy Johnson

Forster are the Bowls NSW Mixed Pairs State champions after winning what has arguably been the best match of the State Championships so far. Both teams left everything out on the green in an epic final that see-sawed from start to finish. The Neutral Bay/North Sydney pair of Midori Matsuoka and Kenta Treacher gained an early lead, but very little separated both sides heading into the halfway point of the match.

From there, both teams lifted a gear and treated the crowd to an incredible display of bowls. Shots were exchanged constantly, with ends quite often decided by a final bowl conversion from either skip. Matsuoka and Claire Kelly were consistently putting bowls in the head, allowing for both Treacher and Shannon White to trade blows from the skip position.

A pivotal three on the 13th end gave Forster a 13 – 6 lead, by far the biggest of the match, and left Neutral Bay/North Sydney needing multiples to stay in touch. With the way all four bowlers were playing though, any multiples were going to be hard to come by, and this proved to be the case with Forster holding out for a 13 – 10 win.

In the semi-finals, Neutral Bay/North Sydney got off to a flying start against Cabramatta, leading 10 – 4 after 9 ends. The experienced duo of Carmen Anderson and Gary Corey did all they could to work their way into the match, but it proved too difficult for them as Neutral Bay/North Sydney went on to win 15 – 5. It was a similar story in the second semi-final between South Tamworth and Forster. Claire Kelly and Shannon White were relentless from all positions, giving South Tamworth very few opportunities to stay with them in the match. Despite the loss, the hometown favourites certainly did their club and community proud.

Almost as impressive as Claire and Shannon’s performance on the green has been the support from Forster Bowling Club off the green, with a whole group of supporters making the trip to support their team. It certainly didn’t go unnoticed too, with Shannon full of praise for the club after the final.

Click here to view the event results.