By Peter Brennan
As Christmas inexorably approaches, as it seems to do every year, there are some at Yarra Junction Bowling Club who are welcoming the holiday break. Not so the Midweek Pennant team, who seem to be doing well without bowling a ball. They were due to host Ferntree Gully at home this week, but unfortunately for Ferntree Gully, the pestilence struck them down, and they were forced to forfeit with a number of their team afflicted with covid. This is a reminder to us all that the pandemic is not over, however much we might like to think it is. The silver lining is that Yarra Junction received full points, and remains firmly placed in third position. With a bye next week and then the Christmas break, the Midweek competition at the moment is a stress-free environment.
Not so the Weekend team. It is just a short time since Yarra Junction was top of the ladder, but with very little dividing the top teams much can go wrong very quickly. A crushing defeat last week at Mooroolbark plunged Junction to third, and this week the team travelled to Yarra Glen, to play on their brand-new green. Theoretically, a new green should dispel any local knowledge and home-ground advantage, but that isn’t how it played out.
The work that has been done at Yarra Glen should be commended. For some time the old green has resembled a ploughed field, but now there is a beautiful new green, new verandah, new shade cloths, and a very inviting atmosphere. It will be interesting to see how the green wears in over time, but at the moment it plays slow and narrow, and although Junction approached it with confidence they were comprehensively outplayed, losing all four rinks by a substantial margin. All of a sudden Yarra Junction have slipped to fifth, and their position for the finals has become tenuous. The home game next week again Lilydale looms as do-or-die.
It is interesting, the difference between greens. Yarra Junction players love the green at Junction, it is slick and fast and they are hard to beat on it, but you cannot think of another quite like it, and the players struggle on the greens they visit, either grass or synthetic, that seem invariably slower and narrower, where they consistently fail. Unfortunately, these are the greens finals are played on, so they need to learn that the home-ground advantage may not be enough. Something to think about over the break, and maybe it is just a midseason slump. All is not lost.
Many thanks to those who organised the Christmas celebrations on Sunday where the club farewelled Nancy Stevens a long-time club member who is moving from the valley. She will be greatly missed.
A reminder to those who are interested that we offer free coaching from the club’s fully accredited coach, and free use of equipment.
Happy Christmas to all.
