2024/25 champions: Bill Kell, Neville Palmer, Gavan Ebsworth
FOR a brief moment in the dying embers of an intriguing Triples final, Chris Beaney, Brian Binney and Barry Whinfield had a sniff of doing the impossible that eventually went the way of the pre-match favourites - Bill Kell, staking an early claim for Player of the Year, Gavan Ebsworth and Neville Palmer, who now has three titles to his name in little more than one season. Needing a maximum count of six to take the game to an extra end, Chris set the ball rolling with two close bowls and Brian followed up with an even closer delivery. Sadly, his second delivery had everything except one key element... weight. He left the bowl two metres short and the alarm bells were over for Neville, who would have fancied his chances of cutting down the score. He has been in pressure situations on hundreds of occasions but with no doubt now about the result he drew within inches of the kitty as did Barry to underline that behind that smiling bonhommie personna lurks a fierce competitor. There were plenty of phoney battles on show - three English-born Australians in Bill, Neville and Chris, against three authentic Aussies - and all six contributed to an excellent final that finished 19-14. There was also the rivalry between Cambrai and Merriwa retirement villages with the exception of Bill, a resident of Harbourside. Neville now has the singles, pairs and triples and probably would have had the fours had he not been forced to drop out through illness. Bill will have his name on the honours board this season for the mixed fours, the men's fours and the triples and who knows what else is to come? WITH the new season less than a month old, pint-sized Bill Kell is on the verge of winning a third championship as he, Gavan Ebsworth and Neville Palmer go into the Triples final as strong favourites. Bill already has the Mixed and Men's Fours under his belt and in the Triples semi final his team easily got the better of Peter Cutten, Ronnie Futter and Ian Edgar, the game ending with two ends still to play at 22-10. Constantly under pressure, skip Ian, normally a pennant lead, was forced into a succession of weighted shots with little succes. The other semi final also finished on 16 ends with a comfortable 19-9 victory for Chris Beaney, Brian Binney, who was in the successful mixed fours team with Bill, and Barry Whinfield, fresh from his 100 Up comeback final victory over Len Paterson on Sunday. Their opponents, Sergio Sanabria, yet another team-mate of Bill, this time in the victorious men's fours, Brian Barron and Les Mikowiec, who put out the defending champions a week earlier, saw their hopes evaporate by dropping three and then four shots on the 14th and 15th ends. DEFENDING champions Merv Davies, Steve Szonyi and Ivor Thomas fell at the first hurdle in this season's competition as Les Mikowiec, a well beaten finalist in 2023/24, led his new team to a 21-18 victory on a first round of late drama. But Ivor's men did not give up their crown without a fight after Les, Sergio Sanabria and Brian Barron looked set for a comfortable success as they led 17-9 on 11 ends. But they won only one more end - crucially taking four shots - and on the last end Ivor was faced with the distinct possibility of taking the four shots that would have led to an extra end, having been behind for the entire game. Merv , four times a triples winner going back to 2012, held shot on the last end and two other bowls were clustered around the jack with Brian crucially holding second shot. Ivor played a nearperfect forehand draw in trying to ease the opposition bowl out but instead picked up the kitty leaving them still with just one shot. Les's men now face Chris Beaney, Brian Binney and Barry Whinfield, who had an extraordinary finish to their game, which for 15 ends had been hanging in the balance. Trailing 13-15, Bill Nicoll, Charlie Dodson and Eddie Eaton suddenly lost the plot, dropping a six and then four to wrap up the game 25-13 with an end to spare. Singles champion Neville Palmer and his team of Bill Kell and Gavan Ebsworth used their Get-out-of-Jail card to foil Alan Arter, Les Kempton and Bob Barsden by taking the last six ends to clinch a 16-13 victory. Bob, giving first team skip Neville as good as he got, led his team to a 13-7 advantage on 12 ends with some outstanding weighted shots but the pre-tournament favourites chipped away to go one shot ahead on 17 and completed the job with two on the last. Ian Edgar, in the unaccustomed role of skip, led his team of Peter Cutten and Ronnie Futter to a solid and slightly surprising 15-10 win over Colin Tremlett, Fred Emmerton and John Avery. John was a late call-up for Lindsay Marsh, who was not expected to play after a recent fall. He did, however, turn up but opted not to play even though John and Fred offered to drop out. Peter and Ronnie gave Ian excellent support and the trio led for all but one of the 18 ends.