Geraldton brother, sister Kim Cross and Lee Poletti aim to win back-to-back over-60s State pairs title

Geraldton’s own brother and sister duo of Lee Poletti and Kim Cross will endeavour to create history by winning back-to-back State titles when the 2022 over-60s mixed pairs championship starts on Tuesday. The 2021 final resulted in an 18/16 scoreline in favour of the Cross family pairing over the husband and wife team of Ross and Linda Warburton. Poletti, now playing at Mosman Park, is a member of the WA Hall of Fame with multiple years of Australian and State representation, and has won State titles in singles, pairs, triples and fours. Her brother, based at Wonthella, is a long-time zone representative with multiple blue ribbon singles titles across the State, including this year’s 2022 Wonthella title. The sectional stage of the campaign for the brother and sister will begin on Tuesday morning at the Cambridge Bowling Club in section 12. In the opening game they will play the Brunswick combination of John and Margaret Exten. The Warburtons return to avenge their 2021 loss in a tough section at Willetton, which includes skippers Des Miguel, Sam Perica and Shane Smith. Several regional pairings are competing with Leeman’s Sandra Trenowden and George McArdle in section 13, and Dandaragan have two nominations, with Kerry and Trevor McMillen playing former State representative Gary Caffell and Rhonda Prosser, with Laurie Armstrong and Lana Moore fixtures to play last month’s 2022 country week singles winner Kathy Gobbart and partner Roy Humpfrey from the Gingin club. In total, 61 sides have entered the championship event, with sectional winners entering through to the last 16 stage on Wednesday at the Manning Bowling Club. The grand final will be played on Thursday at a venue yet to be announced.