John Monks has won the Consistency Singles Championship for the second year in a row following the playing of the final matches in the competition.
Monks’ opponent in the semi-finals was determined when Alan Skelton had a good victory over Des Jackson. This game was close over the early ends until Skelton was able to pull away as he excelled on his favoured long ends. Jackson battled hard but Skelton was too strong on the day and won 150 – 120.
In their semi-final, Monks was under pressure early as Skelton had a great start and established a good lead of 41 – 17. Monks steadied and gradually narrowed the margin and by the 14th end he had levelled the score at 70 all. The match then became a real arm wrestle. Monks had a slight lead but could not pull away from the tenacious Skelton. After 28 ends the scores were 143 to 137. Monks was able to claim victory when he took out the next end.
The other semi-final was even closer as Lawrie Riley and Stan Peck had a battle ‘royale’. For the first half of the game the players were hard to separate. The scores were locked together several times in the first 14 ends. Riley then had a dominant spell where he built a lead of 107 to 93 after 20 ends. Peck then had his turn and by the 27th end he grabbed a narrow 136 – 134 lead. Despite Riley drawing level again on the next end, Peck did enough to make his way into another final with a hard fought 152 – 148 victory.
The final between Monks and Peck had a number of side stories. Monks was striving to retain the title as well as gain revenge after Peck had staged a marvellous fightback to grab the 2018 Major Singles title in the final also against Monks. Further, in the long history of playing one another Monks had never beaten Peck in a singles match.
Above: Lawrie Riley, Stan Peck and John Monks
It was to be Monks’ day. He played well from the start and by 11 ends he had a very handy lead of 71 – 39. He was able to continually put Peck under pressure and as a result Peck found it difficult to narrow the lead. Every time Peck seemed to be gaining some momentum Monks was able to reassert his dominance. In the end Monks had a very convincing win of 158 to 102.
The win was well deserved as Monks played excellent bowls throughout the game. Well done to both players, not only for their efforts in this event but for their play throughout the Championship season. Peck won the Major Singles ( against Monks); Monks won the Minor Singles and they teamed with Alan McLeod to win the Triples.
