Two weeks earlier it was Cunnington who took the lead for Lockington with a big semi-final win to allow it safe passage to the grand final. In a replay of that match with Moama the Lockington outfit walked away with a 58-50 victory.
Cunnington only managed a draw in the grand final, but with seven ends remaining he faced a six-shot deficit and produced an inspired 15th end which swung the momentum of the match.
Pitted against Roy Jackson the Lockington skip had won just four of the opening 14 ends and faced a six-shot deficit. On the 15th end he wiped that margin out by taking six shots on the end to square the match with six ends to play.
Jackson responded by winning two of the next three ends before another three-shot haul for Cunnington squared the match again, with two ends remaining.
The skips took one shot each on those final ends for a 19-all draw.
Leanne McInnes’ five-shot win against Barry Cuttriss was the most significant result of the grand final. She won all but four of the opening 17 ends and was a 12-shot leader with just four ends to play.
Cuttriss produced a significant charge to end the match, winning all four of those ends to cut the margin back to five and lose 14-19 to the Lockington skip.
Graham Turner and Moama’s Tony Hawley did battle on the remaining rink, an early 5-1 lead for Turner cancelled when Hawley took four shots on the 11th end to square the match at 11 shots apiece.
Turner took three shots on the 12th end and built his lead to five before Halwey won successive ends and was just two behind with one end remaining.
Turner won that end, his 11th of the match, to win overall 20-17.
• Two premierships in the space of 24 hours for Terry Thomson and her Campaspe weekend Division 4a rink signalled the start of a major celebration for the quartet of Moama lawn bowlers.
Thomson, on Friday, had been part of the Campaspe midweek Division two premiership win against Tongala. And it was her rink which combined to influence the Moama Red win against Rochester in Saturday’s Division 4a victory.
Her lead bowlers, Lyn Snell, Yvonne Hinsley and Sandra Harvey, were all involved in a last-end win for the Moama Division three midweek team on Friday against Deniliquin.
And there was a repeat of that performance on Saturday as they won the final end for a 43-40 overall win.
Thomson, Snell, Hinsley and Harvey started the 62nd — and final — end of the grand final with the overall score 40 apiece.
Minutes earlier Rochester skip Greg Watkins had tied with his Moama opposite number Bob Neal after a spectacular comeback on the final two ends of the match.
Watkins and Neal finished on 19 apiece, but with two ends remaining Neal held a five-shot lead. The Rochester skip, on his home rink, collected two shots on the 20th end and three on the final end to square the match.
There was little between the pair in the opening 11 ends, in fact, only one shot before three wins on the next four ends gave Neal a six-shot lead.
Five shots for the Rochster skip on ends 16 and 17 reduced the margin to one before another change in momentum put Neal in charge.
All the while on the neighbouring rink there was a see-sawing battle between the competition’s two leading skips, Thomson and Rochester’s Jenny Major.
They had avoided each other all season, but when the draw was completed for the grand final they were pitted against each other in the most important match.
And there was no-one left disappointed at the end of 21 ends.
Major led 10-4 after eight ends, but a pair of three-shot hauls to Thomson and a bag of five shots on the 12th put the Moama skip six shots up after 14 ends.
Major responded with a five-shot haul of her own on the 17th end, which levelled the match again. Three shots for Thomson on the 18th end swung the momentum back in favour of Moama, prior to successive end wins against squaring the ledger with one end to play.
Moama held the shot from the opening bowl and ended with three, Thomson electing not to put down her final bowl and the team won by three shots.
• Campaspe midweek’s Division 4b premiership was taken home by Deniliquin RSL, which led from start to finish against Echuca.
MORE DETAILS TO COME
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