THE Albury and District Bowling Association’s champion of champions, Allen “Salty” Ross and Stephen Broad, finished runners-up in the recent Zone 8 (Riverina) play-offs.
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The North Albury combination was beaten 21-18 in the final at the Wagga RSL club by the Wagga RAFC combination of Noel O’Brien and Bob Hart.
Earlier, Ross and Broad had comfortable wins in their preliminary round game and semi-final.
They won 30-8 against the Southern Slopes District representatives Anthony Bliss and Peter Prentice.
The margin in their semi-final was 28-8 against the Southern Highlands’ Daryl Turner and Adam Peel.
O’Brien and Hart won their preliminary game against the South West District’s Scott Rush and Peter Watts.
In their semi-final, they defeated Riverina’s Rodney Flack and Lincoln Gooley.
Ross and Broad dropped behind in the early stages of the final and trailed 8-2.
But they fought back to close the gap in a top-class final.
With three or four ends to play, they were holding five shots and Hart had his last bowl to play.
He managed to kill the end, forcing a replay, which was crucial at that stage.
But several times he was down multiple numbers and either drew the shot with his last bowl or killed the end.
O’Brien and Hart were leading by two shots going into the final end.
It was in contention about which team was holding shot, but it turned out the Wagga combination had it.
They qualified for the state play-offs being held soon.
Ross was due to represent Albury last Saturday in the singles champion of champions event, but he had a prior commitment and provided a walkover to Wagga representative Brett White, who went on to win the event.