Sunbury suffered a narrow loss in the opening round of Bowls Victoria Pennant division 1, section 1.
Playing Glenroy at Glenroy, Sunbury gave up a half-time lead of 11 to go down 81 (14)-75 (4).
For Sunbury, Marc Bullows, in his debut as a skipper in the top side, won 21-11 and Elise Cowan’s rink won 20-19.
The rink led by Carla Krizanic, now rated the No.1 female bowler in Australia, lost
25-22, while Mark Cowan’s rink was thumped 26-12.
Sunbury’s Dave Glennon said Glenroy would be one of the teams to beat this season, having recruited well.
“It’s only round one and it’s a mountain not a sprint,” he said.
“Hopefully, we’ll play finals at the end of the year. We led at half-time, but they ran over the top of us. We were missing the two Brads [Willoughby and Janner] and Mark’s rink had two debutantes.”
Cowan said they had added a few players, including a few younger recruits. Among those joining up have been members of the Morison family, which travels from Cranbourne to play.
Lachlan Morison recently won silver at the Australian Under 18 Championships as part of the Victorian team that included another Sunbury player, Ethan Higgins.
Lachlan’s sister Tayla, is also part of the Victorian set-up, with parents also joining the club.
The influence of Cowan, who is also coach of the Victorian under-18s, is one of the reasons young players are coming to the club.
Adding to the his Victorian role, Cowan has taken over the coaching reins at Sunbury.
The long-time player, skip and committee member decided the time was right for him to step into the role.
No longer coaching full time with Bowls Australia, he wants to pass on his knowledge and experience to the Sunbury bowlers.
“I want to keep Sunbury at the forefront of bowls in Melbourne,” he said.
Overall, it was a poor day for Sunbury with just one of its six sides winning.
Sunbury’s top side will this week face Altona (2) at home.
