Men’s pennants sides in Batavia Bowling League finals contention

The Batavia Bowling League looks set for a quality finish when men’s pennants action resumes next year, with all eight top-flight sides still a chance of playing finals bowls in March. The five-week Christmas and new year break couldn’t come soon enough for a lot of the sides after a three-round period that turned the the competition on its head. With four home-and-away rounds left, the two-day finals series is set to play at Geraldton on March 13-14. Wonthella Maroon looked like premiership favourites a month ago but have dropped to third after a horror run of four losses and a gain of just 21/2 points since then, and now face a tough road when play restarts. Sister side Gold are still eighth but are the form side in recent weeks and in with a shot at finals bowls, after picking up 16 points in their last three outings, including a 6/0 win over the Maroons to be just six points adrift of fourth. Geraldton Red top the table as it stands for the first time this season after they won 65/51 against Northampton. The Reds’ premier foursome of Merv Grigsby, John Burnett, Andrew Mason and Warwick Glenister continued their solid form to record a seventh win of the year with a tight 19/16 result against Dale Maver’s quartet. Defending premiers Denison have continued their hot recent form, amassing 15 premiership points in the past three weeks and storming from seventh to second. Last weekend’s 5/1 result against Geraldton Blue on home soil was perhaps the most important result. A seven-shot (19/12) victory by Brad King, Graham McLeary, Len Carroll and Neil Bond over Craig Walker’s side set up the 53/46 aggregate result as Geraldton Gold displaced Mullewa in the top four with a strong 5/1 result on the Mullewa synthetic to go second on percentage, the Saints’ sole point coming from top-rated quartet Vince Knight, Steve Aarts, John Sims and Aiden Mcauliffe in their eight win of the season. In the second division, Wonthella Maroon and Denison are almost assured of finals with the duo six points clear of surprise package Mullewa. Third and fourth are still up for grabs. Four-and-half points separate third-placed Saints and sixth-placed Geraldton Gold, and the restart will have all squads in premiership mode.