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Get your own Free Home PageNowra's Shaun Cummings won the New South Wales Country Open at the Orange Tenpin Bowl in impressive fashion last weekend by leading virtually all the way and then holding off a strong challenge from Orange's Mark Lijic in the stepladder final.
Bowling in the first qualifying squad on Saturday, Cummings shot a 300 game in just his second game of the day and went on to average a hot 232 for the ten games. He went into Sunday's round 49 pins clear of his nearest rival Tony Murray, winner of January's Liverpool Cup.
Sydney's Tony Livianiou was also perfect, shooting a 300 game in the second qualifying squad. He eventually finished in 17th position.
Dual 300's are extremely rare and the feat caps a remarkable string of perfect games in the Orange centre over the past eighteen months that has seen 300 games from June Reil, Mario Mastronardi, Jason Osborne and Jason Brown.
It brings the Orange 300 tally to 7 which is amazing since only one was bowled in the Bowl's first 14 years of business.
Orange's Mario Mastronardi was extremely lucky, barely scraping into Sunday's round, his 180 average good for 32nd spot only after David Hayward withdrew.
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Shaun Cummings made his intentions clear on Sunday morning that he was determined to win the tournament by posting a 245 in the first block to stretch his lead to 64 pins.
However disaster struck in the next block and a pair of poor games from Cummings and some good bowling by Tony Murray and Chris Baker saw that pair slip ahead of the eventual champion.
While some bowlers might have crumbled, Cummings rallied in the next block with a 259 to regain the lead as the 32-person field was cut to the top ten, with Orange junior Jason Belmonte grabbing the last spot ahead of Ken Wiseman.
Getting down to the business end of the Open, Cummings let loose with a blistering 481/2 block to virtually seal the top qualifying spot then finished with 439/2 in the last block. He finished 104 pins in front of the fast-finishing Jason Brown (Orange) who powered home with a 290 game in the second-last block.
Cummings averaged 224 for his 20 games while Brown averaged 218, including 231 on Sunday.
Rounding out the top five were Tony Murray (217), Chris Baker (217) and Mark Lijic (215).
Finishing in the top ten were Steve Pieters (214), Mark Donaldson (213), Jason Belmonte (210), Jason Osborne (207) and Robert Alston (205).
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The stepladder finals saw Mark Lijic take on Chris Baker in the first match. Lijic started with a four-bagger compared to a turkey from his rival. Baker could have won with a strike in the tenth frame but he missed with Lijic squeaking through 202-196.
Lijic then took on Tony Murray who shot out to an early lead and when Lijic opened the seventh frame he looked in big trouble. He found something under pressure though and strung four strikes from the eight frame to win going away 211-178.
Jason Brown was next up and the two put on an entertaining match, with nothing separating them until an open in frame eight put paid to Brown's prospects. Another open in the tenth frame gave the match to Lijic 196-165.
Lijic looked to have the match against Shaun Cummings sewn up when he posted an opening four bagger to give himself a huge 43 pin lead. Nerves bought him undone, opening three of the last four frames to let Cummings grab a come-from-behind 205-194 victory and the first place prizemoney of $1,000.
Orange bowlers outside the top ten were Ken Wiseman (11th), David Rosser (20th), Tim Irwin (28th) and Mario Mastronardi (29th),
Full results, including all the averages for both days' action, can be found on the Fast Lane website at http://www/Colosseum/Court/7685/tenpin.html
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Last week's "Fast Lane" selections were reasonably accurate. The top five picks all finished in the top eight! They were Shaun Cummings (1st), Mark Lijic (2nd), Tony Murray (4th), Mark Donaldson (7th) and Jason Belmonte (8th).
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While not making an impression in the New South Wales Country Open (finishing 28th with a 183 average), David Hayward was mighty impressive in the Australian Deaf National Championships over the recent Easter weekend.
Hayward won the Singles, Doubles and All Events at the Championships with a top 207 average. He shot 236-235 (663/3) in the Singles and 210-207-203 in the Doubles.
He also finished second in the teams event.
In the prestigious Masters, an event he has previously won, he finished a gallant second, going down to Fred Jordan 204-181. He averaged 193 for 14 games in that event.
In the gruelling Individual Championship, he averaged a brilliant 211 for 17 games but could still manage only fourth place because of the handicap differences, with Hayward giving up to 624 pins start!
His 211 scratch average compared to the next best of 189.
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Junior bowler Greg Perry is this week's star with a personal best 913/4 series in the Thursday Singles with games of 214-266-214 (694/3) and 219.
Doing well in the same league were Jason Belmonte 243-277 (703/3 and 896/4), Jason Brown 224-202, Tim Irwin 232, Frank McGovern 202, David Rosser 234-202 (805/4) and Ken Wiseman 201-222.
David Hayward led the way in the Friday Triples with a 659 series after an opening 277 game.
Mark Lijic shot a 636 series with games of 230-237 while John Cooney fired 223-245 for a 626 series. Jason Belmonte also made 600, shooting 234 for a 605 series.
Other high games came from John Barrett 245, Mario Mastronardi 216, David Rosser 203-202 and Bonnea Wiseman 211.
There were also some huge scores in the Wednesday Doubles with Henry Phillips pacing the field with a personal best 732.3 series, consisting of 243-224-256 games.
Sharon Trudgett shot 215-258 for a 659 series while Jim Dullaway fired 243-203-200 for a 646 block.
Jason Belmonte shot 257-243 while Wally Price rolled a 258 ahead of Glenn Robinson with 216, Tim Irwin 223 and Mim Dinsmore with a personal best 204 topped by an even better 221.
In the Wednesday 7:30 league Bruce Clements was the lone star with a 226 game.
High games in the Tuesday Ladies Singles good games were turned in by Rhearne Trudgett 204, Sharon Trudgett 201-208, Melanie Brown 213-233, Maree Brown 215-200, Lyn Handel 237-214, Marilyn Schwenke 213 and Bonnea Wiseman 220.
In the Sunday Singles, Allyson Phoo shot a 210 while Trevor Auliff had a 214. Brian Shaw rolled a 175 all-spare game while Mick Moorby shot a 180 triplicate.
Mark Lijic was white-hot in the Monday Scratch Singles, shooting a great 1363/6 series (227 average) with games of 279-211-227-237-242, coming home with 706 in the last three.
Newbie Chris Warner was also impressive, rolling a 1316/6 series for a 219 average. He had games of 255-213 (665/3) at the start before a great 279 in the last game.
Jason Belmonte also averaged 200 for the night with a 1218/6 series that included games of 255-236 (679/3).
Other good efforts were bowled by June Reil 204-235, Jason Osborne 212-220 (610/3), Wally price 213 twice, James Dubbelde 201, Tim Irwin 200 and Rebecca Belmonte 204.
Other high games this week included Lynda Clingham with a personal best 202 in the Monday 6:30 league; Trevor Rowney a 226 in the Monday Mixed Singles and John priest a personal best 197 in the Sabbath League.
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Events coming up include the Orange Tenpin Bowling association Junior Disco and Presentation night (24 April), the Anzac Day Singles (26 April) and the Orange Masters (2 May).
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