KERANG has become the second Northern District Bowls Division club to win at least four consecutive Saturday pennant Division One titles.
The club defied its underdog status to defeat minor premiers, Cohuna Golf by three shots in the grand final, held in warm and windy conditions at Cohuna, to claim the Hawthorne Family Shield.
In what proved to be a tense finale, the result came down to the final bowl of the 75-end decider after results from two of the three rinks meant the sides were equal with two ends remaining.
Kerang opened up a two-shot lead going into the final end, with Kerang skipper, Dale Hancock’s final bowl ending up resting behind the jack.
The result hinged on the final bowl of Cohuna Golf young-gun Jarrod Hammond.
All eyes were on him as he released his bowl and ran along the green following its path. It failed to move the jack or bridge the gap, resulting in the 10/74 to 2/71 result.
In the spirit of the game, jubilant Kerang players commiserated with the vanquished after an absorbing game, during which there was constant encouragement across the greens as rinks checked on their mates’ fortunes.
Kerang now joins Cohuna Golf with four successive premierships, but is well behind Cohuna Golf’s record of nine successive premierships between 2005-2006 and 2013-2014.
* COHUNA Golf gained some consolation by denying Barham Services back-to-back premierships in the Division Two decider.
The 10/69 to 2/67 result ended the border side’s two-match winning streak against the minor premiers, with Cohuna Golf White becoming the first team to win the Hawthorne Family Cup.
* KERANG made it a double in the Division Three grand final, with the club’s Division Three Blue outfit making amends for last season’s grand final loss in a 8/72 to 4/69 win against Wakool.
Aiming to win the club’s first title in 16 seasons, Wakool managed to win two of the three rinks up for grabs on the day, but Kerang Blue went on to win the Hawthorne Family Silver Plate.
