With a midday start all were thankful of the relatively cool conditions but with the green running at a slow mark of 10 seconds stamina would still be a necessary attribute to triumph.
A new format was used for the competition with all 22 players playing the preliminary round and 11 winners plus five lucky losers making it through to the last 16 knockout stage.
Things didn’t look too promising for the female competitors as the first two matches resulting from the random draw pitted four ladies (Nid Noi Worada Junkiri, Sireeton (Wan) Sirimuangjan Eddon, Clare Parkes and Alison Ostrom Duvarney) against each other. Nid Noi and Alison won, leaving Wan and Clare hoping that their points loss difference would be good enough to make it into the lucky losers category.
Wan eventually scraped through to the main draw by just a solitary point, while Clare was relegated to the “plate” competition for the unlucky losers, joining other notable casualties Dot Barker and Rob Knight in the secondary event.
In the last 16, Nid Noi was drawn against husband Glenn Collins. The husband and wife combination had triumphed in last month’s Memorial Pairs tournament but this time they were adversaries with Nid Noi taking the spoils in a surprisingly easy victory over her other half.
Most of the other last 16 matches were close affairs. Dean Lambert needed a sudden death end to see off Frank Born, while Tony Fifield arguably caused the shock of the round by beating serial winner Ron “3peat” Blackwood who had made the long journey from Phetchabun in an attempt to add to his long list of past successes. The exception to this rule was Wan who returned to form with a record 19-2 victory over Derek “Dr Rock” Chalmers.
The quarter-finals saw a very tight session of matches, with Ray “The Rocket” Austin defeating Peter “The Kaiser” Kuschel with the last bowl of their match and Carl “The Mesh” Mesham producing a Lazarus like recovery to snatch an unlikely draw against Tony and then win the sudden death extra end.
Wan sneaked through to the semi-finals after beating Dean Simmonds by the finest of margins 5-4 and Nid Noi edged past Par “Pat” Alm 8-6.
Semi-final matches increased to 10 ends, meaning the aforementioned stamina factor would come into play.
The first semi-final saw Nid Noi take on The Mesh, both champions of singles tournaments last year, and a tight affair was therefore expected. However, there was to be no Lazarus moment from The Mesh this time as he was soundly beaten by Nid Noi 12-2 with 2 ends remaining.
The other semi-final between Ray “The Rocket” and Wan was a much tighter affair. Wan was ahead for most of the time, with Ray falling agonisingly short by inches when it truly mattered as he failed to register the 3 points he required to take the match to sudden death and Wan progressed to the final by a score of 7-6.
This meant the final was a repeat of the preliminary round match between Nid Noi and Wan. Aptly described by Dean Simmonds as the “Clash of the Thaitans,” would Wan be able to turn the tables and avenge her earlier defeat by Nid Noi?
Despite a tight start with both players delivering quality bowls, Nid Noi stretched away to a 7-1 lead after 6 ends, leaving things looking ominous for Wan.
However, what followed was a remarkable turn around by Wan as she delivered a maximum score of 4 on end 8 to reduce the deficit to 7-6 before scoring 2 points on both ends 9 and 10, meaning she secured her first ever “major” title at the club.
Congratulations to the worthy winner of a quality final played in the finest of sporting spirits, proving that Friday the 13th was certainy not an unlucky date Wan! It also emphasised the recent dominance of the Thai lady contingent in the “majors” once again leaving their international male opponents trailing in their wake.
As seems to be a recent trend of keeping it in the family, Wan’s husband Paul “Policeman” Eddon beat “Dunking” Duncan Kennedy in the “plate” final to complete a clean sweep for the clearly delighted Eddons.
The next tournament on Jan 10, 2025 is the annual “Pryder Cup” team tournament when The Colonials take on The Rest of the World.
Kamala Lawn Bowls Club is open six days a week and all equipment is provided. Group bookings availabe for private tournaments, company or social events and celebrations with buffet food at reasonable rates. For further information contact the club on 094 898 7476.