Brentton Donaldson and John Kewish. Photo supplied.The Ashburton Bowling Club can boast having some of the best singles players in town after a winning double in the Lowry Cup and Nan Marsh Singles on the weekend.

Brentton Donaldson claimed his second Lowry Cup title in stifling conditions in Methven, while Wendy Suttie swept all before her to win the Nan Marsh at Allenton.

After a huge day of qualifying seven days earlier, both fields were worked down to the knockout stages, and five ladies made it through to the big dance in the Nan Marsh on the Allenton green.

In an all-Ashburton match to open the day Barbara Skilling and Wendy Herriott did battle in the first round, with Skilling proving too strong for her club-mate, winning 21-15.

That pushed the competition into its semi-final stage and Skilling squared off with Suttie while Hampstead’s Jo Collis and Ashburton’s Alison Gibbs battled it out in the other.

Suttie and Skilling put together an impressive performance with the match finishing at 22-19 in a closely fought affair, while Collis booked herself a trip to the final with a win over Gibbs 21-9.

In the final Suttie kicked into gear strong from the outset and built a steady lead, and eventually worked her way to the required 21 shots to win the title, 21-11.

Up in Methven, 11 hopefuls started the day chasing glory, but the field was slowly whittled down to just Donaldson and clubmate, John Kewish to battle out the first-to-21 shots final in front of a decent sized crowd.

The first round of the morning resulted in Allenton’s Mat Bassett winning a thriller over Methven’s Simon Fleetwood, while Allenton’s John Drayton did the same against Methven’s Rob Fensom. In the third match of the early morning – an all-Methven affair – Aaron Allred proved too strong for Matt Markham.

That left a field of eight remaining.

Donaldson began his quest with a 30-end marathon against Allenton bowler Alex Crawford, with neither player giving in an inch in one of the matches of the day, while Drayton comfortably held off Allred.

Kewish stepped into the fray with a good win against Bassett, and Richard Kane (Allenton) and Bruce Harper (Methven) fought out the other match with Kane claiming the spoils.

The semi-finals were both comfortable affairs for Donaldson and Kewish.

Donaldson was too good for Kane winning 21-13 while Kewish got the better of Drayton to win 21-8.

In the final, Donaldson made a strong start and raced out to a big lead against his club-mate and never really looked back, relying on his impressive draw game to constantly score shots as he built up his tally to win 21-7.

It was Donaldson’s second victory in the coveted singles event, having last won it in the 2017-2018 season.

Meanwhile, in Christchurch a number of local names featured in the hugely popular Stuart Buttar Invitational Pairs at the world-class Burnside Bowling Club.

The annual tournament features some of the biggest names in the sport and is always a must-compete for many every year.

None of the three combinations featuring Mid Canterbury players made it to the finals on Sunday – but all three did put up strong efforts in an incredibly tough line- up of players.

Allenton’s Sandra Keith and Pete Whinham lost their first three games in the opening stages of the competition, but bounced back with two strong wins in the final two rounds. That pushed them into Division 3 where they picked up a win from the three matches but missed the finals.

Up in Division Two, the Methven pairing of Craig Carter and Tim White also picked up two wins in qualifying and put themselves in with a shot at the finals but fell at the final hurdle, losing their third match in post section.

Rodney Greaney also featured in Division Two alongside playing partner Ian Rule.

They had a draw and a win from their three post section matches, but were unable to advance through to the next stage.

The tournament was won by Matt Gallop and Isaac Denny who fended off the challenge of the internationally acclaimed Jo Edwards and Val Smith to win the final 10-8.

By Matt Markham © The Ashburton Guardian - 19 January 2021