Ballarat’s Greg Brown and Ballan’s Anne Draffen snare 2022-2023 BHBR Singles Titles

Ballarat’s Greg Brown and Ballan’s Anne Draffen have taken out the Ballarat Highlands Bowls Region’s 2022-2023 Men’s and Women’s Singles titles.

The Semi Finals and Final were played on Sunday, 12th February 2023 at Ballarat Bowling Club in tricky conditions with the gusty wind causing problems for bowlers throughout the day.

In the Semi Finals of the Men’s section played in the morning, Greg Brown defeated Victoria’s Craig Ford in convincing fashion 25-9, while Webbcona’s Ben McArthur had a great tussle with Kyneton’s Anthony Mathison before advancing to the final with a 25-20 win.

The Final between Greg Brown and Ben McArthur was a tight match for the first 8 ends with scores tied at 4-4 after 4 ends and 7-7 all after 8 ends, before Greg managed 7 shots to 2 in the next 5 ends, leading 14-9 after 13 ends.

Greg’s ability to continually draw shot against his opponent was a feature of the match.

Ben played some quality bowls throughout the game; however, Greg always had the answers and was a relieved 25-15 winner at game’s end.

“I’m relieved, thirsty, tired, it was very hard conditions out there today,” Greg said.

“The green has been tricky all year and normally been slower, but today it was running quicker and depending where the jack was, any dry spots they just ran on.”

“It was getting a bit of pace towards the end and the wind was not ideal.”

Greg lost 24-25 to Craig Ford in an outstanding match in last year’s singles final and he was happy to get the job done this year.

“I played Fordy last year in the final and that came down to the last bowl and he took me out on the last bowl, so it was good to get one back on him,” Greg said.

In the Women’s section, Webbcona’s Sarah Braybrook defeated Michelle Tait from BMS 25-10 in the first Semi Final and Anne Draffen beat Webbcona’s Leah McArthur 25-14 in the other.

It set up a mouthwatering clash between 2022 Vic Open Women’s Pairs teammates Anne Draffen and Sarah Braybrook.

Anne got away to a flyer in the Final, leading 6-0 after 4 ends and 9-2 after 8 ends, and 17-2 after 13 ends before Sarah rallied with 3 and 2 on the 18th and 19th end, with Anne holding a commanding 21-9 lead.

A single and 3 shots on the next 2 ends saw victory to Anne 25-9 and Sarah was the first one to congratulate Anne on her win.

Both ladies played the match in great spirit, and they’ll team up again in March to contest the 2023 Vic Open Pairs in Gippsland.

Anne is an accomplished bowler with an outstanding lawn bowls resume including a Vic Open win in 2019 when playing for MCC, but this is her first Ballarat Highlands Bowls Region singles title.

“I’ve won a few region titles back when I was playing in Melbourne in the Yarra region, but this is my first Ballarat singles title though, and we won the region triples this year also,” Anne said.

Anne played with Janice Conroy (Ballan) and Amy Newman (Ballarat North) in the triples and is set to represent the region in both singles and triples in Bendigo.

Congratulations to both Greg and Anne on their victories and good luck representing the region in April.