Skilled field of tenpin bowlers set the bar high for DCT
Overall however Alan was not able to shake 'Mr Cool' and Andrew held on to take the tournament by 67 pins.
DOLPHIN Bowl hosted the extremely popular Dolphin Classic Tournament on Saturday and Sunday. A skilled entry ensured that the level of competition would be extremely high and that only a supreme effort would be rewarded.
The tournament is played over three divisions and both genders are represented. Bowlers commence by bowling an eight game elimination round on Friday with the top bowlers returning on Sunday for the sectional finals.
From the outset it was obvious the competitors were not holding anything back with Lorraine Brazier bowling the highest game of all on 243, while Monty Cordingley topped the men’s leader board with a 228 game. It then appeared as if everyone was correctly warmed up as Stacey-Lee Hooper recorded 257 and Andrew Cyster 254.
Game three saw veteran Colin Hayward (227) and Lorraine on 225. Nobody seemed able to consistently roll the high scores as game four saw Stephan Sleigh (243), Pierre du Plooy (236) and Wayne Cyster (227) reaching the summit.
Game four saw the emergence of Alan Kewley from the field recording 252, Jivi Sewcharan 245 and Theo (Rocky) Govender on 234.
Fatigue seemed to start affecting some of the bowlers as they had been on the lanes for about two-and-a-half hours but others were just getting their second wind and Kevin Mortimer was one of these as he had his personal best for the tournament of 259, while Tamika Matthew did the same for the women with 224.
Game seven saw the return of the favourites with Andrew bowling a 284 game and Alan 280. The very promising new bowler Craig Hooper had an all time high game of 245.
Moving into the last game the enthusiasm was still very much evident but it was once again Andrew and Theo with 258 pins each from Leigh Murray 239 and Jivi 238 who performed best.
Divisional leaders at the end of the eliminator were;
Scratch: Andrew Cyster from Alan Kewley. Women: Stacey-Lee Hooper from Tamika Matthew
Masters: Logan Naidoo from Colin Hayward. Women: Lorraine Brazier from Debbie Fowler.
Handicap: Craig Hooper from Shaba Bhagwandin. Women: Danielle Grobbelaar from Madeleine Serfontein.
The sun rose far too early for some of the bowlers as they returned to the centre to bowl another eight or 10 games in the divisional finals.
In the men’s handicap division David Martin, Dylan van Berkel and Shaba Bhagwandin all tried extremely hard to make up the backlog to Craig Hooper but were not able to and he ran out the winner by 107 pins while David was second by only six.
In the women’s handicap division Danielle defended her 45 preliminary lead to win by 27 from Madeleine who was only 11 ahead of Sue Bhagwandin.
In the men’s masters division the overnight leader, Logan, once again held on to win the event but Colin faded on Sunday and Rick Soorjlal moved up into second and Brian Daventry-Bull in third.
Women’s masters, Lorraine took her 100 pin lead from Saturday and extended it into a 173 pin victory from Cheryl Hambrook (who was supported by partner Ricky O’Hare who was only a spectator) on Sunday.
Women’s scratch Stacey-Lee Hooper had been 197 pins ahead going into the finals and she continued with a fine display of bowling to win the event by 395 pins. Unfortunately Bronwen Elbourne was not able to bowl in this event and therefore the desire to see these two going head-to-head did not materialise.
Men’s scratch Andrew was 77 pins ahead of Alan going into the finals but this is not a huge lead considering that 10 games were to be played. Alan was certainly not going to throw in the towel and he proved this in the third game by bowling a 300 game to Andrew’s 247. This was the first perfect game bowled by a non-KZN bowler in Dolphin Bowl and also the first ever bowled in this tournament.
Overall however Alan was not able to shake ‘Mr Cool’ and Andrew held on to take the tournament by 67 pins. Somebody swore that they actually saw Andrew smile after the event but this could not be independently corroborated so it is not believed.
League results and standings will be published next week. The monthly meet is to be bowled on Sunday, 7 June.
