Island Park's hopes extinguished
While the big guns continued to flex their muscle in the Metro Senior A pennant series, the story of round 7 was the result between the bottom teams, the Otago B52s moving back into 4th place — condemning Island Park to a 7th straight defeat in Waldronville.
In other results, Chisholm Links were no match for St Clair at Corstorphine while the Otago Bombers accounted for Taieri Lakes 4.5-1.5 despite 3 halved games.
At Balmacewen, the Bombers flew out of the blocks with wins to Luke Murdoch, Ben Patston and Duncan Croudis.
Both matches at 5 and 6 were halved — Callum Judkins (Bombers) and Josh Boath, Ryan Rosevear (Bombers) and Hayden Robertson — which secured a Bombers win.
Blair Bennett (Taieri Lakes) halved with Brandon Hodgson to give the visitors a half-point which may prove a key difference come finals time.
At St Clair, the presence of youth continues to be a revelation for the defending champions in 2025. After years of playing a Dad's Army squad, the young St Clair sextet continue to grow and are still yet to taste defeat.
Logan Clarke, Connor Howes, Parker Aluesi, Harvey O'Neill and Albie Reed all secured wins for the Saints while Will Summers was held to a half against Jason Pegler to complete the 5.5-.5 near whitewash.
At Island Park, the home side's hopes of a semifinal resurgence are now all but extinguished, going down to a young Otago B52s side 4-2.
The tail games were split each way with Otago Volts cricketer Jamal Todd (B52s) winning on debut while Brent Butler squared things up for Park over Lewis Harper.
Brian Helton and George Prendergast won their respective games at the top order to give the visitors 3 games while halves from Riki Bush and Jonty Smith were enough to claim an important away victory.
By Michael Minty
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Otago Daily Times
18-05-2025
- Otago Daily Times
Island Park's hopes extinguished
While the big guns continued to flex their muscle in the Metro Senior A pennant series, the story of round 7 was the result between the bottom teams, the Otago B52s moving back into 4th place — condemning Island Park to a 7th straight defeat in Waldronville. In other results, Chisholm Links were no match for St Clair at Corstorphine while the Otago Bombers accounted for Taieri Lakes 4.5-1.5 despite 3 halved games. At Balmacewen, the Bombers flew out of the blocks with wins to Luke Murdoch, Ben Patston and Duncan Croudis. Both matches at 5 and 6 were halved — Callum Judkins (Bombers) and Josh Boath, Ryan Rosevear (Bombers) and Hayden Robertson — which secured a Bombers win. Blair Bennett (Taieri Lakes) halved with Brandon Hodgson to give the visitors a half-point which may prove a key difference come finals time. At St Clair, the presence of youth continues to be a revelation for the defending champions in 2025. After years of playing a Dad's Army squad, the young St Clair sextet continue to grow and are still yet to taste defeat. Logan Clarke, Connor Howes, Parker Aluesi, Harvey O'Neill and Albie Reed all secured wins for the Saints while Will Summers was held to a half against Jason Pegler to complete the 5.5-.5 near whitewash. At Island Park, the home side's hopes of a semifinal resurgence are now all but extinguished, going down to a young Otago B52s side 4-2. The tail games were split each way with Otago Volts cricketer Jamal Todd (B52s) winning on debut while Brent Butler squared things up for Park over Lewis Harper. Brian Helton and George Prendergast won their respective games at the top order to give the visitors 3 games while halves from Riki Bush and Jonty Smith were enough to claim an important away victory. By Michael Minty
Otago Daily Times
16-05-2025
- Otago Daily Times
St Clair dominant force at awards night
St Clair scooped three awards for a standout year at the Bowls Dunedin awards last night. They were named club of the year after what was described as their best season in decades. St Clair won multiple centre titles, are home to countless Dunedin players and won the men's interclub sevens title, which gained them a berth in the national finals. Off the green, they worked hard hosting events for their community and ran a successful twilight bowls programme that attracted new players. It was being part of that work that led to Lyndon Broadley being acknowledged as greenkeeper of the year. Broadley started greenkeeping in 2010 with Caversham before joining St Clair and still helps in a supervisory role at Caversham. He has arguably transformed St Clair into the best green in Dunedin. Jordan McEwan was recognised as men's development player of the year. The St Clair bowler won the centre junior singles, was part of the team that won the interclub sevens title and was a member of Dunedin teams at national championships. It was a tight race for men's and women's bowler of the year. Taieri bowler Beth Brown was named the best women's bowler. She won the open pairs and open triples and was third equal in the open singles and champion of champions singles. Kaikorai bowler Nigel Birkbeck was named men's bowler of the year. He won the open triples and champion of champion pairs and was third equal in the champion of champions singles. Kerrin Wheeler — helped by father and director Colin — was named open disability player of the year. The North East Valley bowler was part of the Parajacks side who beat Australia at the transtasman series this year and he won bronze at the national open disability singles and pairs. He is a member of the New Zealand high performance squad. Cyril Gilfedder (North East Valley) was recognised as umpire of the year, after clocking up more than 107 hours. Gilfedder umpired 14 events at the centre throughout the 2024-25 season and made contributions to the centre and clubs. He supported fellow umpires and players and has been president of the local association for the past two years. Kelsey Bennett (Brighton/St Kilda) was named female development player of the year. She won the champion of champions mixed pairs for St Kilda and champion of champion triples for Brighton. She was also a key in the Dunedin women's development side.
Otago Daily Times
04-05-2025
- Otago Daily Times
Bombers beat B52s to retain second spot
Wild, wet and windy weather played its role during round 5 of the senior A metropolitan pennant series on Saturday. Home teams handled the conditions the best and came out on top. At Balmacewen, the Bombers beat their B52s clubmates 4.5-1.5 to remain solid in second place on the table. Easy wins to Duncan Croudis, Tom Griffin and Ryan Rosevear proved to be the difference as the Bombers secured three games early. B52s No 6 George Prendergast inflicted a rare defeat on Luke Murdoch before Ben Patston clinched the result for the Bombers, halving with Brian Helton. Brandon Hodgson added a fourth win over Andrew Hobbs on the final green at the top of the order. At St Clair, the competition-leading Saints barely broke a sweat against bottom-placed Island Park, locking away the Blackhead Cup for another year with a 5-1 victory. The visitors struggled in the conditions, even more so when the rain arrived midway, with Will Summers recording his first pennant win for the Saints, beating Jarden Hammond 5/4. Tony Giles and Connor Howes soon followed suit with big wins. Park greenkeeper Michael Minty was the lone victor for Island Park — 7/6 over Scott Mitchell — while Harvey O'Neill finished the result in style for the Saints, beating Kade Haley-Broderick 2/1. At Chisholm Links, where the conditions were at their worst, the home side revelled in a 6-0 whitewash of Taieri Lakes. The result was reflected in the margins with Mike Weastell and John McIntee winning their matches 6/5 and Blair Liffiton 5/4, while Jason Pegler and Mackenzie Gibson were at least forced to play 16 holes, and Kai Koni was held to a 1-up victory over Jarred Haigh. — Michael Minty
