Joel Hilliard and Peter Davies have continued their domination of the Club Championships at Tuross Head when they combined with Michael Challice and Marcel Kors to win the Fours Championship. For Hilliard the win means he has won all four of the Major Championships – Singles, Pairs, Triples and the Fours. Davies has joined him in winning the Pairs, Triples and Fours. However, they did not win the Fours without a hell of a scare and a remarkable come from behind win over Bruce Magilton, Jonathan Green, Ivan Balentovic and Lawrie Riley.
2020 Fours Champions Joel Hilliard, Marcel Kors, Peter davies and Michael Challice
Both teams won their way into the final with close wins in the semi-finals. Hilliard’s side was pressed all the way by Des Jackson, Alan McLeod, Ray Downey and John Monks. Hiiliard held a slender 16 – 14 lead with three ends to play. Those ends were very tightly contested but Hilliard was able to win all three to grab a 20 – 14 victory.
Riley had a very exciting win over Len Downie, Col Fletcher, Peter Macdonald and Noel Downie. They lead the game for most of the match until Downie hit the front 19 – 18 on the 18th end. With one end to play the sides were locked at 20 all. Riley’s side was able to prevail on the last end to win 22 – 20.
The final was a cracking match with Riley’s quartet defying their under-dog status to have the best of the first half of the match. With all four players contributing to their success they won 9 of the first 13 ends to set up a 21 – 9 lead. Gradually Hilliard’s side chiselled away at the deficit as they won the next six ends, each by a single shot. With just two ends to play Riley was still in front at 21 – 15 and was hoping that their efforts to restrict their opponents to single shots would be enough for a win. However, on the 20th end Hilliard’s team all played great shots to enable them to collect six shots and draw level at 21 all. The Championship came down to a one end shoot out! Hilliard was able to maintain the momentum and his side won the end and the title. On this end they scored five more shots with the final score of 26 – 21 not reflecting the true nature of the game.
It was great comeback by the winners – they won last 8 ends - and demonstrated that champions are never out of a game. Congratulations to them. It has been a wonderful year for Hilliard and Davies. We wish them well as they represent the Club in the up-coming Champion of Champions events. Special congratulations to their opponents for a valiant effort. Two of their players – Bruce Magilton and Jonathan Green - are in their first season of competitive bowls. They were very well lead by Skip Lawrie Riley and Ivan Balentovic was a major force in both the semi and final. We will be hearing more of their success in the future.
2020 Fours Runners Up - Lawrie Riley, Ivan Balentovic, Jonathan Green and Bruce Magilton
