SOUTH Bendigo has taken a massive step in its Bendigo Bowls Division pennant emergence after upsetting Bendigo East on Saturday.
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South showed plenty of resilience against the reigning premier to record a thrilling 96-94 win at home to square its ledger at 3-3.
South has now won three in a row for the first time since its return to division one three seasons ago, with Saturday the first time it has beaten the Beasties during that time.
Showing just how much South has improved this season under new coach Brad Holland – recruited from Bendigo East – the last time they played the Beasties they had been on the end of a 45-shot belting.
South jumped out of the blocks superbly, leading by 25 early, before the Beasties rallied and when they led by 10 shots after the tea break looked the likely winners.
However, South dug deep, dominating the last five ends, including picking up four shots off the final two ends – one of which was a three to Holland after opposing skipper David Keenan had been holding four – to score one of the club’s most memorable division one wins since its last flag in 1994.
Both teams won two rinks apiece, with the biggest margin being South’s Liam Crapper’s five-shot win over Darren Burgess.
While he came up big with the final bowl, Holland went down 23-20 to Keenan – but had the last laugh.
• Bendigo defeated Inglewood by 12 shots in a clash of the top two teams.
After Inglewood held a four-shot advantage at tea, Bendigo gained the upper hand after the break to win 94-82 at home.
The key result that gave the advantage to Bendigo was Ian Ross scoring a 31-13 victory over Lindsay Kelly.
In what was a battle of the BBD’s two top-ranked rinks going into Saturday, Bendigo’s Andrew Brown had a 22-18 win over Nick Davies, who skippered in the absence of Daryl Rowley.
• Here come the Hawks.
Eaglehawk won its second game in a row and improved to 3-3 with an all-rinks 50-shot flogging of Golden Square.
With their 116-66 win, the Hawks are now back within 12 points of the top four after a sluggish start.
The rinks of Ken Rusbridge (+18), Simon Carter (+17) and Tony Ellis (+12) were all double-figure winners for the Hawks, who had the game done and dusted by tea when they were already 34 shots up.
• Castlemaine ended a string of six losses in a row against Kangaroo Flat with a comfortable 28-shot victory.
Fourth-placed Castlemaine swept the Flat 99-71, scoring an all-rinks win for the first time since round nine of the 2013-14 season.
