STEAMERS CLINCH THIRD BPL TITLE

BY VAL FEBBO

Home franchise the Moama Steamers have claimed a third Bowls Premier League (BPL) trophy at BPL17 and first in three years following a 5-2, 6-2 win over the Sydney Lions in a rematch of 2022’s BPL14 final. After concluding the preliminary rounds on top of the table, Aron Sherriff, Cassandra Millerick and Ryan Bester would wait until the third match of the night as they looked to book direct passage to the decider. The qualifying final saw them meet the Lions who accounted for them in two sets, forcing Moama to take on the Moreton Bay Pirates trio of Chris Rosanes, Jo Edwards and Alex Marshall.

The home side took the opening set before Sherriff and Marshall dazzled the capacity crowd to some of the most delightful shot making of the week.

Moreton Bay were in their third clash of the evening, having ended the reign of two-time defending champions in the Melbourne Pulse first up before accounting for the Tweed Heads Ospreys in the second match of the night.

They had a feel for things and would no go down without a fight, with the maroon donned trio taking a tight second set and forcing a tiebreak for a place against the Lions.

It came down to the last bowl where Marshall looked on track to seal victory before the jack rolled towards the Steamers bowls, handing them the victory.

The final was hotly contested from the outset, with Sherriff maintaining his scintillating form from the prelim as he duelled superbly with Lions’ skip Aaron Wilson.

Millerick led magnificently in the opening three ends against Karen Murphy, while Bester and Ben Twist battled hard for their skippers in the ensuing ends. However, it was Sherriff that would get the job done in the clinches, playing bowls that one could only dream of as he secured his record fifth BPL title and first since BPL07.

Bester himself was crowned champion for the third time, while Millerick hoisted her maiden trophy at the event with coach Kevin Anderson winning his first championship as coach.