A round six washout has made the final two pre-Christmas break rounds for Stanhope’s division one Campaspe Playing Area team crucial to its hopes of starting 2025 in the top four.
With two wins and a draw (the weekend’s washout) to start the season, third-ranked Stanhope faces sixth-ranked Deniliquin, has a bye and then has second-placed Mathoura on December 17 in the final pre-break round.
Post-Christmas the team has a good draw - with matches against only two of the top four teams - Echuca and Moama Steamers. They have winnable games against Rochester (fifth), bottom team Rich River, and Deniliquin.
Stanhope beat Mathoura by 10 shots in round two, but lost to top team Echuca (by 12) and then suffered a shock lost to Rich River the following week.
Jenny and Geoff Crilly are the team’s top bowlers, ranked 19th and 20th respectively on the player ladder with 3-1 win/loss records. Geoff has led for Jenny this season, with Brian Stokes as the regular third.
– Ky Valley View is yet to open its account in the midweek division two competition, the only rink win for the team this season coming against Rochester when Graeme Topp scored a 12-shot win.
Valley View sits on the bottom rung of the six-team competition, but has the third, fourth and fifth-ranked teams in the coming three weeks. It has struggled against the top teams and on three occasions has lost by more than 60 shots.
– Tongala Red has won just three games in division three midweek bowls and has a tough draw with the top four teams in the next month of competition.
The fifth-ranked team beat bottom team Deniliquin RSL by 15 shots in round two and then had a five-shot win against fourth-ranked Echuca a week later.
In the last three weeks they have lost to Moama, Lockington and Elmore, but remain only one point outside the top four.
– Second-ranked midweek division four team Stanhope has top ranked Rich River this week, having lost to the top team by just one shot in their round three game in late October.
Since that loss the team has beaten bottom team Tongala Red and fourth-ranked Echuca, with Barry Williams, Tom Young, Sue Robinson and Andrew Draffin leading the way.
Williams is the third-seeded player in the competition with a 5-1 win/loss record, while the remaining three are all top 10 seeds with four wins for the season.