Sport
16 January, 2023
Radstock and Crossley take Goldfields honours
The first of the district competitions in lawn bowls this season has been completed, with Paul Radstock and Barb Crossley taking the Goldfields State Mixed Pairs title. The duo were too strong in the final, defeating the Loosmore/ Geoffrey...
The first of the district competitions in lawn bowls this season has been completed, with Paul Radstock and Barb Crossley taking the Goldfields State Mixed Pairs title.
The duo were too strong in the final, defeating the Loosmore/ Geoffrey combination at Maryborough Golf Club on Sunday, January 8, 18-7.
It means that the pair have qualified for the state championships, which are currently slated to go ahead in late April at the Bendigo East Bowling Club, according to Bowls Victoria’s website.
As Radstock explained, victory was special for the duo, especially given the hot weather. Crossley’s experience in the sport was also crucial to the victory.
“It was hard because of the weather, you just get on with it as best as you can. Barb has been bowling a lot longer than me — she’s very experienced and she calmed me down a bit. She’s won the title 10 times now — nine times with her husband (Graeme), but he wasn’t feeling up to it this year, but she asked me and we ended up winning,” he said.
“I’ve been able to get to know Barb through playing pairs with Graeme at Moama, and we just got to know each other really well at Talbot Bowls Club.”
Radstock said his formula to success was ensuring that shots could be made early, forcing the opposition to get creative to peg back the margin, and it was plain to see in all three games the duo participated in, having won their quarter-final, semi-final and final thanks to fast starts.
“For us, it’s about trying to get ahead early. If you can, you can limit any damage over the next few ends. You don’t want to have too many shots given away. If you can get in front early, the pressure is on the opposing team, and that was the pattern in all our games — we were able to get off to a quick start and we held it until the end,” he said.
Radstock, who plies his trade with high-flying Talbot Gold, currently lying third in the Saturday pennant division one ladder, says that the result should be a good one going forward for Talbot’s chances of earning an all-important top-two finish in both Saturday pennant divisions.
“It’s a good result for my confidence. The better we play in singles, pairs and triples can only make us better for the pennant teams. I skipper our first division team, and Barb is a skipper in our B team as well. Mind you, Barb doesn’t need confidence — she’s been playing that long and has done it all the time,” he said.
Lawn bowls district competition will be completed this week, with the Goldfields Men’s Over 60 Pairs to be played at Newstead on Wednesday morning, while the men’s and women’s state singles will be completed on Sunday at Avoca and the Maryborough Highland Society respectively.