Stawell Bowling Club competed at the 2019 Champion of State Pennant competition at Moama on May 3-5.
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The bowling team qualified for the event after winning the Grampians Division season and then went on to conquer the Wimmera Region competition.
Playing against the best players in the state, the team of 12 played on three rinks and were skipped by Andrew Cray, Neil Coates and Andrew Sharp.
Game one was against Portland a close result of eight shots which went to the team from the coast.
"Andrew Cray started with a win on his rink but could not cover the other two rinks losses," club president Andrew Sharp said.
"In the second game, we played the highly fancied Ocean Grove. Andrew Cray and I had very close finishes.
"Neil Coates was up against Matthew Flapper, a top state player who proved too strong for us in the finish."
Game three delivered the first win of the competition to the Wimmera, defeating Gippsland - West Sale, two rinks to one.
In game four Stawell played Ballarat Memorial and struggled to keep up with the opposition, losing two rinks and Neil Coates managed a draw.
In the last match, Stawell played the undefeated Bendigo East.
"They (Bendigo) had inflicted some massive wins over the competition," Sharp said.
"We played well and kept with the top team for most of the game.
"I was up against one of the top-ranked bowlers in Australia, Lee Schraner.
"With scores tied on the last end, the result was decided by a measure."
Stawell finished the competition in fifth place.
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