WANGARATTA’S Ian Brimblecombe is the new Ovens and Murray Bowls Association singles champion.
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Brimblecombe claimed the prestige title with a 25-16 victory against long-time Wodonga champion Ashley Bates at Rutherglen on Sunday.
Bates qualified for the final with a 25-18 semi-final success against Yackandandah’s Ron Boulton.
In the other semi-final, Brimblecombe had a 25-12 semi-final win against promising St James youngster Haydn Smith.
Brimblecombe established an early lead in the final and kept the pressure on Bates.
Twice Bates was holding three shots and Brimblecombe played superb conversations to take the ends.
On one occasion, he trailled the jack to the ditch to pick up three shots when he was three down before his last bowl.
It was a mixture of ideally waited shots along with pin-point drawing which highlighted Brimblecombe’s display.
He will take part in the state singles play-offs at Bendigo next year.
Bates was recently beaten by just one shot in the final of the state over 60 singles.
He won his preliminary games 21-5, 21-9 and 21-7 before facing Warrnambool’s Brian Scott in the final at Ocean Grove where the scores were locked at 16-all, 18-all and 20-all.
Scott drew a bowl about 15 centimetres short of the jack on the final end.
It was just inside one of Bates’ bowls and he just had to make contact to push the opposing bowl out.
But he narrowly missed all three attempts.
Corowa Services’ Scott and Ken Widdison will meet Greg and Laurie McDonald (Wangaratta) in the final of the O & M pairs.
They won their semi-finals at Rutherglen last Sunday.
The Widdisons had a 25-9 semi-final win over fellow Services members Max Scanlon and Bill Davidson.
The McDonalds got over the line against Michael Szabo and Les Spencer (Yarrawonga-Mulwala) 18-16.