CLASSIC CUP RECAP
By Matt Stevens
The third cup event for the championship, the Classic Cup would run for the 45th time and see Martin Roughsedge and Amanda Chamberlain take the 2019 titles.
Established in 1975, the Classic cup is open to all TBA members with averages of 199 and under for the Men and 189 and under for the Women. To be eligible for the final, every bowler must have completed an ‘All Events’ entry in the championship.
A total of 31 male and 23 female bowlers would attempt to make the top 16 to qualify for stage two of the cup event. Similar to the previous cup events (Restricted and Senior), bowlers would use their highest three game singles or doubles attempt bowled during the championship.
The top 16 got underway with eight games on the agenda. Defending champion Chris Kirwin would blast out of the blocks with a game 1 score of 237 to announce he was again going to be a threat. Kirwin would end up as the third highest stage 2 bowler with a score of 1,538 over the eight. New Zealander Josh Stretton would be in second place on 1,598 while South Australian Martin Roughsedge would lead the pack heading into the match play rounds averaging 209.4 over the eight with a score of 1,675.
For the ladies, Queenslander Amanda Chamberlain would lead from the front with a score of 1,508 (avg 188.5) over the eight. Following in second and third place would be two New Zealanders, Dayna Haylock in third place with 1,437 and defending champion Cushla Burns in second place on 1,453.
The top six would qualify for the matchplay final. Finalists would bowl five games of head to head, each match based on scratch pinfall with 20 bonus points for win and 10 bonus points for a draw. Total pinfall plus bonus points would determine the overall winners.
Three of the top six female finalists would hail from New Zealand including defending champion Cushla Burns. Burns would struggle for high scores and finish in fifth place. Tasmanian Rebecca Walker would win three of her head to head matches to jump to third place and claim the bronze medal.
Dayna Haylock would ensure New Zealand would place on the podium by locking away the silver medal by also winning three matches. A total of 65 pins ahead of Haylock was Amanda Chamberlain. The Queenslander would lead throughout and no one would end up catching her. Winning three out of her five matches and being awarded 60 bonus points, Chamberlain’s final total score would be 2,452.
Similar to the men, the stage 2 leader in Martin Roughsedge would be too much for the challengers to catch. Roughsedge would win four of his five head to head matches to claim the title by 56 pins from New Zealander Josh Stretton and Victorian Steve Kennedy in third place.
