Howlong hammered the previously undefeated Lavington outfit to snatch top spot in grade three of Albury and District pennant on Saturday.
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The Spiders won all three rinks to claim a maximum 10 points and hand the Panthers their first loss of the season, 68-39.
Ian Doolan comfortably accounted for Brian Linehan, 31-13, John Dawson withstood a big challenge from Adrian Pantling, 14-11, while Phil Slater claimed a 23-15 victory over Ken Allen.
Commercial’s 16-shot victory against Henty was closer than it looked on paper, with the match featuring two drawn rinks.
Les Murphy drew with Peter Forck 19-all, David Barnes shared a 17-all scoreline with Kim Maher, while Bernie Mahlo’s 28-12 result against Glen Harrison ultimately proved the difference, giving Commercial nine points to Henty’s one.
Barnes was pleased with the way the Commercial bowlers battled to get the result.
“It was pretty close the whole way through,” he said.
“You’re always keeping an eye on the overall scoreboard, so your strategy can change a bit.
“We didn’t want to take a big risk and drop a large number of shots.”
The remaining match saw North Albury bounce back with a 59-46 victory against Culcairn.
Jim Lee grabbed Culcairn’s only point with a 19-17 victory against Allen Ross, while North Albury came away with nine points thanks to Stephen Broad, who defeated Dave Trebley, 24-11, and Norm Honey, who edged past Terry Hensel, 18-16.
Both teams agreed to play the match at 9.30 in the morning to avoid the afternoon’s extreme heat and allow Culcairn to field a side as number of their player would have been unavailable due to a wedding later in the day.
The district fours championship was decided last Sunday at Henty Bowling Club, with the North Albury quartet of Norm Honey, Greg O’Brien, Allen Ross and Brett Furze winning a thriller, 17-15, against fellow North Albury bowlers Max Duncan, Merv Curphy, Lloyd Ronan and Bob Geddes.
Champions of the district triples were also confirmed earlier in the month, with the Howlong team of Wally Bourne, Phil Slater and John Boyd taking the title by four shots against, Duncan, Ronan and Geddes.
Next weekend is round four of the pennant season, while Sunday will see the start of the district pairs with the seniors to be played at Rand, the president’s reserve at Oaklands and the open pairs at Culcairn.
