Cool damp and windy conditions greeted the 250 bowlers from all corners of the state for the commencement of the 2016 Inter-Zone Sides Championship at Forster and Tuncurry Beach Bowling Clubs last Saturday.
Weather conditions did improve throughout the day with the many spectators being treated to excellent bowls from all teams. After three rounds of sectional play the semi-finalists had been decided. At Forster Zone 12 (Sydney Sth West) and Zone 6 (Hunter) were the successful teams, and at Tuncurry Beach Zone 16 (Illawarra) and Zone 13 (Sydney Central & South) were also winners.
Our local Zone 11 guys, despite trying their best and putting up gallant resistance, were unsuccessful, losing all three games to better teams on the day. In order our losses were to 2015 semi-finalists Zone 7 (76-79), Zone 16 (63-92) and Zone 4 (70-82).
On Sunday afternoon the semi-finals were played. Zone 12 played Zone 6 at Forster and with both sides scoring 2 rink wins the score could have been close, but the strong Zone 12 team ran out winners 86-67. In the other semi-final at Tuncurry Beach the scores were close for much of the game, but over the closing stages Zone 13 were too strong and pulled away to record a 79-64 win.
The final was played at Forster on Monday morning on a 15 second green in absolutely perfect conditions. In the initial stages the scores were extremely close with barely a shot in it, but after the half way mark the extremely strong Zone 12 team put the pressure on and dominated the game. Zone 13 did make a small come-back to get the margin back to 10 shots, but that was as close as they could get. The final score being Zone 12 (77) defeating Zone 13 (59).