Congratulations for a super effort from Nic (18 years old) and brother Tim (21 years old) Toomey for winning the Bowls Specialists Wellington Mixed Pairs on Monday at the Johnsonville club. They played in a superb final which went bowl for bowl through the nerve-wracking last few ends beating the home club’s Lui Hare and Rob Ashton 17-16.
Some great draw bowls from Nicole in particular gave the Victoria pair a 5-1 lead but experience appeared to be getting the upper hand with a couple of fours giving the Johnsonville pair a 9-6 lead after 6 ends. But then the game tightened up again with the sides eventually level on 12 shots each after 12 ends. A three to Jville on the 13th of 16 ends gave another lead for the home team which they kept until the last end going into the 16th 16-14 up. Tim stepped up to the mark first killing the 16th, and then drawing two magnificent shots on the replay to force an extra end. The extra end was full of drama with first Lui and then Rob killing the end. On the third attempt Tim drew a toucher but Rob drove that off, and then trailled the kitty with his last bowl. Nicole drew shot only for Lui to shift the jack back to Rob’s bowl. Nicole with her last had to draw to the back of the head and did so picking up the jack into the ditch. Lui had very little chance to stop her bowl from running down the profile into the ditch giving a fantastic win to the Toomeys!
It was a great tournament for Victoria with Helen King and her husband Ben losing a semifinal to Nicole and Tim 15-12, and Hayley May and Raymond Martin going down in the other semi to Lui and Rob 18-9. A comeback looked on the cards on the 12th end with Hayley and Ray holding a close-knit 6 shots, but Rob pulled a rabbit out of the hat hitting the bunch and stopping on the jack for shot. Nina and Alf De Munnik also made the last day falling at the quarterfinal stage 19-15 to Helen and Ben.
Victoria takes an early lead in both the Mens and Womens unofficial Club of the Year points standings. Victoria is also on top of both the Mens and Womens Bowls Wellington Premier Interclub points standings so it has been a spectacular start to the season!