The 2019 Triples Championship has been decided following the playing of the semi-finals and final. The two semi-finals followed a very similar pattern with the favoured sides dominating the early ends and setting up winning leads.
Noel Downie, Peter Davies and Joel Hilliard raced to a 16 – 0 lead after 11 ends in their tussle with Des Jackson, Col Fletcher and Lawrie Riley and were never really troubled in moving into the final. Peter Macdonald, Stan Peck and John Monks also had their game against Julian Penny, Ben Hewison and Doug Williams well in hand when they pulled ahead 13 – 0 after eight ends. Williams’ side did show some fight but were never able to narrow the margin going down 27 – 14.
Above: 2019 Triples Runners Up John Monks, Stan peck and Peter Macdonald
The final proved to be a worthy Championship play off with all six players contributing to a high quality, closely fought battle. Nothing separated the two teams for the first 18 ends with Downie, Davies and Hilliard holding a one shot lead at 14 – 13. In this period Macdonald, Peck and Monks combined very well and were denied on several occasions by excellent last bowls by Hilliard.
Above: Joel Hilliard, Peter Davies and Noel Downie 2019 Triples Champions
Then, as the temperature dropped as the clouds moved in, the nature of the game changed. Downie, Davies and Hilliard started to dominate the game. They won the next four ends to move to 21 – 13. On the 23rd Monks was forced to play a very risky bowl to give his side some chance. Unfortunately, the result was not what he wanted and he lost 5 shots. That meant Hilliard had an unassailable lead of 26 -13.
The final result did not reflect the tightness of the game or the good play of the losers. Downie, Davies and Hilliard played very well in the crucial final ends that proved the difference in an excellent match. Congratulations to the winners!!
