Lawn Bowls
20 April, 2025
Powell 2 Bowl goes Anderson's way
Arguably the most prestigious event on Warracknabeal's bowls calendar, the Powell 2 Bowl singles has been sponsored by the Powell family since 1984.
Twenty-two players sought the mantle of Powell 2 Bowl champion, with two Powells being drawn in the top half of the draw.
Michelle Powell accounted for Noreen Belot in a long game of 31 ends to begin her campaign for the title.
Playing Simon Cousins in her next game (previously, Simon had beaten Bill Kerr by one shot), Michelle made it clear that she enjoyed this game of bowls and reached 21 before Simon, who got stranded on 12.
To get to a semi-final Michelle had to overcome Jing Robertson who had just beaten Norm McLean by the same margin, 21-12.
Norm had won against Shane Powell in the longest game of the day of 33 ends, with many good shots witnessed.
Jing struggled to contain the consistency that Michelle applied to her bowling and was defeated after 29 ends.
The other semi-finalist, Garry Schultz, had fought hard to win against Brian Taylor in his first game.
Their scores were level three times before Garry got up by two.
Garry then met Rodney Sinclair, who had accounted for Isobel Davison by playing scintillating bowls and looked the goods to take out the contest.
However, the bowls genie sat on Garry's shoulder and Rodney failed to fire before Garry reached 21 and a place in the semi against Michelle.
The wind had eased and the temperature lost its sting as Garry and Michelle traded blows until Garry stalled on eight shots for four ends, allowing Michelle to get a break that he could not bridge.
Michelle was into the final.
The bottom half of the draw saw Chris O’Connell play Edna Anderson and take an early lead until Edna finally found the pace and managed a win.
At the same time Gary McLean was accounting for Dale Stronach.
When these two met, Gary showed the class of bowling he is capable of and was too consistent for Edna.
Gary was now pitted against another Anderson in Peter.
Peter had beaten Josh Barry in his first match over 29 ends after Josh got stuck on 16.
This put Peter in line with Graeme Shalders, who had had a bye in the first round.
Peter found his line and length early to apply pressure and ensure his progress into the next round.
Meanwhile, Fred Ackland and Mick Hall were evenly matched, with Mick getting a good lead before Fred got in the groove and kept Mick scoreless for nine ends while he caught up and established a four-shot lead.
Unfortunately for Fred, the worm turned and Mick found his mojo again to close out the game.
Mick met Graham Walder next, when another closely fought game ensued.
The win after 29 ends went to the more experienced player, Graham.
Graham had defeated Ian Hewitt in his first game in another close result – good bowling all over the place.
Graham's next opponent was Peter Anderson in the semi-final.
Peter established an early lead which he saw diminish as Graham found his line and length to take back a three-shot lead before Peter managed to regain his momentum and close out the game.
Peter was in the final against Michelle.
Both finalists had played four games by this stage – more than 100 completed (four pennant games) – but the weather was mild so they decided to complete the competition while the gallery was keen to see a result.
Peter settled early to lead Michelle by four.
She valiantly tried to cut back with beautifully weighted draw shots but Peter was too consistent and managed a scoring run of seven ends to open a 10-shot buffer to claim the Powell title for a third time.
His last win in this event had been 20 years ago.
Congratulations, Peter.