Parkes Bowling and Sports club won the Majors Gold Frank Gersbach Cup. Pictured (L-R) are Martin Tighe, Frank Gersbach, Paul Lewin and Brett Frame. Railway Diggers won the minors Silver Cup with Frank Gersbach presenting Ben McNaughton with the cup.
A total of 56 local bowlers took part in the first round of the Geoff and Bob Freeman Shield Challenge last Saturday in what is hopefully to become an annual event between the two Parkes clubs.
The clubs were competing for the Frank Gersbach Cups, the Gold Cup for Major Teams and the Silver Cup for Minor Teams. The overall winners, after the return round to be played later in the year, will take home the shield.
It was a great day for bowls and the standard was very high resulting in some close scoring.
The results were (Railway Teams mentioned first) – Gold Cup game: Team Dave “Major” Johnson 12 – Team Mick Went 29; Team Paul Kirwan 11 – Team Brett “Baldy” Frame 28; Team L. Ramsay 15 – Team Dave Reilly 17. Parkes Bowling and Sports Club won the Gold Cup with an aggregate score of 74 – 38.
The Silver Cup results: Team Greg Howlett 24 – Team Martin Tighe 22; Team Pat Cooney 18 – Team Col Hayward 26; Team Ben McNaughton 25 – Team Brian Hampton 9; Team Wally Grant 17 – Team Col Mudie 21. Parkes Railway/Diggers Club took home the trophy with an aggregate score of 84 – 78.
The Parkes Bowling Club won the day with an aggregate score of 152 – 122.
Frank Gersbach was at the Parkes Bowling & Sports Club to present the trophies. Congratulations to all the players and the people behind the scenes who made it a great day for bowling.
The scene is set for the return match at the Railway Club later in the year, probably in September, when the winner of the Shield will be decided by the aggregate scores over both days.
By George Bradley