It was a busy weekend for our club with the inaugural playing of the Inter-Zone ‘Black Paddles Shield’ between Zones 1 and 11 being held at our club Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. On Sunday morning was also the first round of this year’s premier club event the Open Major Singles. There were some interesting results and the second round is set down for this Sunday morning. Pennants: Last Saturday we were successful in the vital 8th Round match for our Grade 6 side against the strong Yamba (Gold) side, which takes us to the top of the ladder with just two home games to play. This puts this grade in a good position to win the District flag. The No 7 Grade side did not do so well at Grafton. This Saturday is the final round for our No 3 and No 5 Grades and the next to last round for the No 6 and No 7 Grades. The draw is as follows: No 3 Grade play Yamba (away); No 5 Grade play Iluka (home); No 6 Grade play South Grafton Ex-services (home); No 7 Grade play Iluka (home). Nominations for the Veterans Singles close this Friday April 29 and Minor Pairs on Friday June 3. The 4th Round of the popular ‘Last Friday of the Month’ single entry triples will be played this Friday. The chase will be on to catch Doug Starr who has cleared out from the field after only three rounds of play this year. The ladder shows: Doug 1st with 77pts; Harry Austen 2nd with 51pts; Stan McKenzie 3rd with 49pts; Andrew Lambie 4th with 41pts; Trevor Govey 5th with 38pts. Results Championships Played Sunday April 24 – Club Open Major Singles (Round 1): Ben Lee d Des Johnson 31 – 8; Jim Shannon d Ken Crampton 31 – 19; Ron Smidt d John Nash 31 – 20; Michael Bailey d Terry Johnson 31 – 29. Matches set down for play this week are: Club Open Major Singles (markers names in brackets) Cliff Vagg v Kerry Wells (Round 1 match) (to play mid-week). Sunday morning May 1 for 9.30am roll-up (Round 2): Ron Orr v Don Plummer (Des Johnson); Steve Jackson v Mick Prowse (Ken Crampton); Winner (Vagg/Wells) v Warren McDonald. (TBA); Tom Johnson v Gary Scott (John Nash); Jim Johnson v John Deale (Terry Johnson); Ben Lee v Jim Shannon (TBA); Ron Smidt v Michael Bailey (TBA). To play on Tuesday May 3 at 1pm: Ross Murphy v Doug Starr (TBA). Pennants Results of Rounds played Saturday April 23. Round 8 for Grades 6 and 7. Round 7 only. No play for other grades. Grade 6: Maclean d Yamba (Gold) 53 – 48 (9 points to 1). Grade 7: Grafton DSC d Maclean 50 – 63 (10 points to 0). The ‘Black Paddles Shield’ Concept: At Ballina’s Cherry Street Bowling Club this Shield was unveiled last Friday (April 22). It is to be played between the newly formed Zone 11 (Manning River District) and our Zone 1. The title of the trophy was inspired by Rex ‘Paddles’ Johnson who has played for Australia on 450 occasions and is a bowling legend, having won gold (1994) and silver (1998) medals over four consecutive Commonwealth Games. Arthur Black another legend of the game who represented Australia on a number of occasions is from the Northern Rivers District whose home club was South Lismore. The inaugural three test match series at our club at Maclean last weekend. ‘Paddles’ Johnson was the skipper of one of the Zone 11 teams. Each side comprises three teams of fours who play each other on a rotational basis so each team plays the others. Results 1st Test Zone 11 won 64 – 57. +7 margin; 2nd Test Zone 11 won 48 – 44. +4 margin; 3rd Test Zone 11 won 46 – 16. +30 margin. Zone 11 the inaugural winner by three tests to nil. Toucher