By Roland Smith
After winning the Lilydale Bowls Club men’s Singles Championship, followed by taking out the Eastern Ranges Bowls Region Singles Champion of Champions Cup, Josh Sanders progressed through to the Victoria wide Champion of Champions final.
An amazing accomplishment in itself, given there are over 520 lawn bowls clubs in Victoria with 50,000 plus members affiliated with Bowls Victoria.
An expert commentator at the start of the live streaming said that the two competitors, Josh Sanders and Brenton Coad… “have not lost a game of singles for a long, long time.”
He went on to say that the Champion of Champions Final “is the best State event you can win!”
These words certainly set the scene for a classic final that was about to be played out before our eyes.
After 10 ends the scores were level at 8 shots a piece. Brenton had won 5 ends, Josh 4 with one dead end when Brenton killed it with a drive to break the two close shots Josh was holding in the head.
After 17 ends and over an hour of play, the score was 13 – 14 Brenton’s way. Both competitors were taking it in turn winning ends by the narrowest of margins.
Into the third hour and after 27 ends it could have gone either way, with the score a nail biting 18 – 20. On the penultimate end, Brenton broke free from the long tight tussle, gaining 4 shots before taking the victory with another shot on the final end, taking it home 18 – 25.
Congratulations to Brenton and well done to Josh for holding on for so long against the elite, without losing a game leading up to the Final. Josh, you did the Lilydale Bowls Club and the Eastern Ranges proud.
