Lawn Bowls
8 October, 2026
Tight games in John Howard semi-finals
October 1 saw the semi-finals of the John Howard Memorial played at Beulah Bowls Club in overcast and windy conditions.
On the day four players competed to become grand finalists for the honour of winning the season-opening competition.
The match-ups were Alan Edmonds against Leanne Shanks and Ross Williams against Ray Turner in the 21-up competition.
The game between Edmonds and Shanks started with Leanne leading the first few ends before Herb started his chase.
The scores flipped-flopped back and forth until settling at 10-10 in a very tight game, with a light shower making play even more tense.
With some very good bowling by both players, the score slowly climbed until it was tied at 18-18, with the watching club members becoming very quiet for the final ends.
The next ends were very close but, ultimately, after 27 ends, Herb was able to take shot bowl to defeat Leanne 21-18.
On rink three, another tense battle was going on, with Ray and Ross trading ends and shot bowls, leaving the spectators in doubt as to who was going to come out on top.
The rain shower didn’t seem to worry either bowler as they continued to compete.
Once again, as with Leanne and Herb, the scores were tied at 20-20 before the final end, with Ross coming out on top to complete a great afternoon of tight bowling in which the results were in doubt to the very last end.
Alan and Ross will be playing the final this Thursday which, based on what these games showed, should be a great competition.