Initially, cold and blustery conditions provided another challenge for Sturt’s Wednesday pennant sides playing at home on 11 November, but Sturt II and III both responded with convincing wins.
Sturt II continued its strong start to the season with a well-balanced performance against Toorak Burnside II, while Sturt III recorded a 69–45 victory over Colonel Light Gardens II.
Across both matches, there were strong rink performances, good teamwork and plenty of resilience — along with the usual dose of humour.
Sturt II Report by Team Leader Rod ‘Rocket’ Ettridge
Sturt II prevailed over a tenacious Toorak Burnside II.
In a match that started in almost arctic chills, second-placed Sturt took on sixth-placed Toorak Burnside on a sedately paced A Green.
In our pre-game huddle, I spoke of my dismay at the way the opposition had tried to take over all five rinks in the warm-up.
The match also included two Norwood premiership players, our own Mocha Dunstan from the 1975 side, while Toorak had Wayne Schmaal, a nuggety back pocket player from the 1982 team.
Back to the match.
Once more Wyatt Groth’s four (Badenoch, Mullins, Hughes – see Feature Photos) got off to a flyer and held a comfortable lead all day to take a 28–11 win.
Peter Hughes came up to me at one point and said he had to give the team a rev-up after dropping a one!
Mocha and Kym Pratt had a very good game in the pairs for a nine-shot win and are building a very strong record.
As skipper in a triple that had Alan Catterall on the mat and Alan Ludlow at two, it was a pleasure to always outnumber the opposition with bowls in the head, and our 30–18 win was built on that.
While not winning their rinks, Ralph’s triple (Morgan, Speck) and Brett’s four (Blue, Bolton, Trenerry) nonetheless held in there and were great examples of keeping an eye on the big picture as we worked to a very good overall win.
Next week we travel to Colonel Light Gardens to continue our good start to the season.
Sturt III Report by Team Manager Nick Manglaras
It was overcast and a little miserable at the beginning of the day, with a cold wind blowing from Antarctica it seemed.
The sun poked its head out later in the day, to warm the Sturters’ old bones and it had the desired effect.
Sturt III took on Colonel Light Gardens II and came away with a solid win, 69–45.
The Griffith rink (Quick, Vail, Manglaras) had a big win (34–11 and the club Rink of the Day), despite some ordinary bowling, at times, by our boys. Imagine the scoreline had they bowled to their brilliant best.
Special mention to John Griffith who came back from injury and didn’t skip a beat as skip. And he kept the rabble down the other end in check.
The Adams rink (Paley, Marrollo, Mann), took advantage of the peptides on offer before the game and raced to a 17–3 lead at half time.
Unfortunately, the drugs were diluted after sandwiches were eaten and the opposition gave them a mighty scare picking up 15 shots to 4 after the break.
The end couldn’t come quickly enough and the Adams Sturters won by 3 shots.
The other winner was Silvio Marrollo’s beard, which scared the opposition and should reach Santa Claus proportions by Christmas.
On the Flourish rink appropriately skippered by the facially hirsute Robb Nuus (Berryman, King, Wood), it was a tight tussle all day, but the boys went down by two shots (14–16).
No Flourish voucher for Robb today, but his motivational talk at the beginning of proceedings was inspiring.
Another special mention to Graham Wood, who selected himself and managed to stay upright and coherent, despite a weekend away with twenty blokes on a houseboat. Not sure about the unshaven look, Graham.
Overall, a successful day played in good spirits against the friendly and courteous Colonels.
Derrick Witt rebounds
Shout-out to club stalwart and pennant regular Derrick Witt who experienced a health event while bowling at Adelaide Bowling Club last Saturday.
Tireless Lyn reports that Derrick had a few days in hospital, got the green light, and hopes to be back bowling soon.
Lyn and Derrick have kept health professionals on their toes this year!