Ovens and Murray have held off a fast-finishing Albury and District outfit to claim the 2017 annual challenge at Howlong.
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The eventual winners raced out to a lead of 38 shots after the morning session, before the Albury association fired back in the afternoon.
Ovens and Murray won the aggregate by 13 shots, 205-192, to retain the Jack Beck Memorial Shield.
The best performed team from the Ovens and Murray was the rink skipped by Corowa Civic’s Thomas Webb, while the side led by Henty’s Peter Forck was the only Albury and District combination to win both its games.
Albury took out the official rink aggregate 28-25 following a strong performance in the afternoon.
Brian Watson, Slawko Kitt, Mick Dunnett and Mark Mulcahy overcame a 12-10 loss in the morning to win the afternoon match 18-13 against Neil Pryor, Noel Murrell, Bryan Smith and John Fisher to claim the spoils.
Fisher, who was also the team manager and selector for the Ovens and Murray, said the event is always keenly contested by both groups.
“It provides a good opportunity to put teams from across the region and across their district together to formulate the best combinations for other events we play in,” Fisher said.
Fisher added the greens were well prepared.
“We’ve had a long, cold winter and the greens are just starting to come into their own because they’ve only really just started to grow,” he said.
“It was always going to be a bit tricky at this time of the year and that green was a bit tricky too, but I’m not critical of any greenkeeper because it can change pretty quickly.
“The greens weren’t going to cost anyone a game, if you bowled well enough, you were alright.”
Morning results: Ovens and Murray 113 def Albury and District 75 (Ian Brimblecombe def Adrian Pantling 20-17, Maurie Braden def Norm Honey 18-12, Thomas Webb def Duane Crow 23-8, Matt Robertson def Wally Bourne 21-10, Chris Langdon def Terry Hensel 19-14, Josh Rudd lost to Peter Forck 12-14).
Afternoon results: Albury and District 117 def Ovens and Murray 91 (Adrian Pantling def Josh Rudd 22-20, Norm Honey def Chris Langdon 16-12, Duane Crow def Matt Robinson 25-13 , Wally Bourne lost to Thomas Webb 16-19, Terry Hensel def Maurie Braden 16-13, Peter Forck def Ian Brimblecombe 22-15).