On face value, a 33-shot win is comfortable in any language, but Ocean Grove bowls star Brad Pavey said Saturday’s Premier Pennant victory against Lara wasn’t as easy as the 100 to 67 scoreline suggested.
While Pavey’s rink had a 31 to 9 win, the other three rinks were close and the Grovers had to work hard to beat a team that had won just once this season.
Pavey, who was recently elevated to the Emerging Jackaroos squad, said even his rink wasn’t in complete control until late.
“I think we were 3-7 down after six ends and we were probably a little bit slow out of the blocks,” the 25-year-old Victorian state player said.
“So we just had to really grind it out and sort of win ugly, I guess. The score probably didn’t really sum up the game that well. We probably won by more
than what we should have.
“We reset, we had a bit of a chat, just said we all knew that we weren’t really playing that well. We shortened it up a little bit and we were able to gain the momentum from there.”
Tyson Cromie’s rink got over the line 17-15 against Don Grellet and Peter Loe’s finished 32-22 winners over Brendan Umbers. Matt Flapper’s rink went down 20-21 to Stu Hedger, earning Lara two points for the game and preventing the Grovers from a clean sweep.
Pavey said he was enjoying being skip of his rink with Robyn Hunt as lead, Chris Burrell as second and Chris Price as third.
“Robyn is pretty new to bowls and very new to Premier League and she’s been absolutely unbelievable,” he said.
“She’s just adapted so well, just takes everything on, full of encouragement, is really, really competitive, hates losing, hates playing a loose bowl, which, to be fair to her, she hasn’t played many of those.
“Buzz (Burrell) has been around for a couple of years now. He can bring a lot of energy to the side. He’s a bit of a larrikin, as is Chris (Price), my third.
“We’ve played a lot of bowls together over the last three years and he’s a very good player in his own right. He also brings a lot of noise and a lot of energy to our team.
“I think our rink has gelled really well together.”
The conditions during the game at Lara were windy and with Ocean Grove now playing home games at an indoor venue under the Dome, Pavey said the side had to adapt.
“We’ve all played in those conditions outside the last six months when we’ve had the Dome so there’s no excuses,” he said.
“I think we just have to probably give ourselves a little bit more time to adapt and just don’t think it’s going to happen straight away.
“We still have our (outdoors) green over the road, which is carpet so a few of us had a practice on that on Thursday night, just to try to adapt to the conditions, which was a little bit similar to what Lara was.”
GEELONG BOWLS REGION
Round 8, Saturday 13 December
Rinks in order of skip, lead, second, third.
Premier Pennant
Ocean Grove 100 (17) def Lara 67 (2): T. Cromie, A. Forster, W. Frith, J. Rudd 17 def D. Grellet, S. Tump, C. McPherson, S. Emond 15; B. Pavey, R. Hunt, C. Burrell, C. Price 31 def MJ Kelly, P. Cook, B. Emond, A. Gillett 9; M. Flapper, H. O’Reilly, J. Bertrand, Z. Abro 20 def by S. Hedger, J. Macgavin, H. Tump, J. Moloney 21; P. Loe, C. Rippon, M. Rowley, T. Joel 32 def B. Umbers, L. Sanderson, A. Ansett, M. Fedyk 22.
Queenscliff 78 (12) def Drysdale 74 (6): B. Russell, M. Speed, W. Macleod, N. Dixon 27 def B. Howie, J. Candy, T. Villani, M. Johnson 8; S. Sullivan, R. McGovern, B. Gladman, S. Monahan 16 def by A. Rees, M. Hommelhoff, L. Benson, A. Keranen 22; M. Hocking, C. Heard, W. Visser, J. Reilly 18 def J. Monahan, M. Neicho, M. Campbell, A. James 26; R. Butler, D. Saunders, A. Green, R. Cameron 17 def by M. Godbolt, P. Lucas, M. Rees, J. Fry 18.
Torquay 108 (18) def Bell Post Hill 55 (0): N. Ball, R. Aitken, J. Howarth, J. Banks 39 def D. Gillett, G. Logue, R. Couzens, A. Firth 9; J. Issell, C. Papastergiou, A. Shaw, A. Sampson 25 def B. Seaton, F. Clayson, D. Phelp, B. Richards 13; D. Cairns, R. Milesi, W. Roberts, B. Ott 20 def D. Gercke, A. Lewis, A. Mayne, A. Pratt 17; B. Irvine, B. Calthorpe, G. Gibson, P. French 24 def B. Toner, M. Couzens, J. Toner, B. Bottrell 16.
Highton 98 (18) def Eastern Park 62 (0): David Priddle, R. Priddle, C. Elliott, C. Polwarth 33 def S. McDonald, T. Scorpo, S. Young, M. Coleman 14; A. Lee, D. Kiss, B. Prior, S. Shuttleworth 26 def N. Bell, R. Sherwell, P. Scorpo, T. Balchan 14; Dan Priddle, M. Coulter, R. Chambers, J. Fitzgerald 21 def A. Munro, D. Jackman, D. Andueza, D. Washington 17; S. McLachlan, J. Kiss, T. Hickey, D. Klemke 18 def A. Martin, S. Webb, P. Hawkins, S. Field 17.
Division 1
City of Geelong 94 (16) def Leopold 69 (2): M. Nitchie, L. Simpson, N. Robinson, S. Ashby 20 def B. Anderson, B. Shaw, L. Seear, L. Cameron 18; N. Craven, H. Boult, K. Gooley, L. Harvey 28 def M. Willis, D. Rudge, M. Booth, N. Lazic 9; J. Shell, N. Trease-Gordon, G. Lane, D. Vogele 19 def by T. Dickson-Arthur, M. Gregg, T. Salisbury, D. Alderuccio 26; S. Tillson, R. Sutherland, S. Somerton, D. Wombell 27 def C. Sproal, B. Mathieson, P. Shuttleworth, D. Seear 16.
Belmont 95 (16) def Highton 63 (2): J. Harris, S. Grainger, S. Rundell, D. Ross 33 def R. Kerr, Y. Olsen, I. Anderson, D. Tudor 20; S. Davies, B. Clark, M. Koulkoudinas, W. Hovey 16 def by O. Landry, P. Jones, S. Kerr, R. Imanse 19; R. Hayes, G. Davies, P. Newton, L. Butcher 20 def P. Monk, G. Gerdtz, H. Gilmore, N. Oakes 13; R. Agg, J. Clark, C. Bassett, G. Smith 26 def M. Cavanagh, M. Staggard , D. Cameron, D. McGregor 11.
Ocean Grove 107 (14) def St Leonards 67 (4): H. O’Reilly, J Le Cerf, C. John, D. Henery 16 def by A. Hills, J. Doyle, B. Auld, B. Culph 18; M. West, M. Jacobs, S. Renshaw, O. Clark 42 def H. Dahler, R. Beattie, D. Barnett, R. Michael 11; A. Drury, T. Warren, P. Entwistle, C. Verrier 18 def by T. Long, M. Maddox, G. Lund, B. Padgham 20. R. Brehaut, M. O’Reilly, B. Boyle, S. Avery 31 def M. Kennedy, F. Aston, P. Garlick, A. Doyle 18.
Geelong 101 (18) def Portarlington 71 (0): B. Wilson, B. Armitage, L. Formosa, C. Fawthrop 19 def D. Dunlop, I. Wiffen, R. Malcomson, J. Baker 15; T. Earp, R. Kent, D. Jarman, S. Martin 23 def B. Hirth, D. Roberts, W. Atkins, P. Fisk 22; A. Crooke, R. Petterwood, K. Petzierides, A. Fawthrop 33 def G. Reed, T. McNamara, A. Marston, T. Freeman 15; T. Thompson, N. Coots, G. Briggs, G. Harrison 26 def T. Demaria, M. Weales, D. McNamara, M. Dennis 19.
