The 2023-’24 season of Northern Cape Bowls commenced in fine style this past weekend with the Northern Cape Pairs Championship.
Qualifiers from the four sub-districts all eyed the first title of the season after each sub-district had hosted a pairs competition, with the qualifiers making it through to the Northern Cape playoffs.
Sectional play was completed on Saturday, 11 November, with the winners of each section making it through to the semifinals on Sunday morning, which was followed by the finals.
In the women’s pairs final, after being locked at 21 all on the final end, Annelie Mathewson and Odrie du Plessis scored the crucial winning shot over Geraldine Moodaley and Michelle van Zyl to take home the title. Both teams are from Kimberley.
The losing semifinalists played for a third and fourth place, and it was Melandi Lambrechts and Liezel Kock from Conroy who came out on top over Marietjie van den Bergh and Mariaan Botha from Kalahari.
In the men’s pairs, Dudley Daniels and Shaun Campher continued their form from the previous weekend when they had reached the final of the Kimberley Sub-District Bowling Association pairs competition, by advancing to the Northern Cape Bowls’ pairs final. It was, however, Marco Geel and Francois van der Walt from Conroy who outclassed the men from Kimberley, taking home the title.
In the third and fourth playoff, it was Wouter Blom and Gavin Panderis from Conroy who pipped Charles-Peter Mathewson and Etienne Mathewson from Kimberley by one shot on the last end to come out on top.
