A whirlwind 10 months for Moama’s new “first couple” of lawn bowls, Cassandra Millerick and Kevin Anderson, shows no signs of slowing as the pair prepare for the finals of the Bendigo Campaspe Goldfields Bowls Region.
Millerick and Anderson arrived in Moama only 10 months ago and have had an immediate impact on the club, both major players in Moama’s debut Bendigo Premier League season.
Anderson’s leadership of the team has it on the verge of a minor premiership, sitting on top of the nine team table with two home-and-away rounds remaining.
Millerick has played 12 matches, mostly as third to Bradley Campbell, this season in Premier League.
She has a 6-1-5 (win/draw/loss) record and is the only female in the 16-member Moama team.
Anderson’s Premier League record this season is 8-4, but I have the feeling that the finals will bring out the best in the 2014 Scottish national champion.
The pair played together in November last year in the state mixed pairs, winning the final against Bendigo pair Lee Harris and Bruce Morley.
In the qualifying rounds they scored a 19-2-win against Eaglehawk’s Phillip and Irene Godkin, then toppled Echuca’s Steve and Michelle Cunnington in the third round 20-6.
Scorelines of 16-6 and 14-4 followed in the lead up to the final, which they won 19-9.
Millerick, who was bowling at Broadbeach (the same club as BPL star Ryan Bester) last season, has playted nine matches for the midweek Moama division one team — for a 7-2 return.
The pair will combine again in early May at championship week in Bendigo, when all the state events will climax with the staging of the finals.
Barry Brennan will compete in the men’s state singles and Sandra Connolly has won her way through to the women’s state singles tournament.
The Moama women’s four of Merilyn Rehe, Mary-Anne Spizer, Marilyn Stephenson and Colleen Maslen will also compete, alongside the Anderson/Millerick partnership in the mixed pairs.
Millerick will round off the group by competing for the state champion of champions title against the other 15 regional champions.
As if they don’t have enough on their plate, Anderson will play alongside Alex Marshall and Ryan Bester in the Ultimate Bowls Championships in April, at Dandenong.