Crucial clashes at core of critical round

TWO battles in particular will headline Round 13 of the Geelong-Ballarat Premier Division.

Bareena goes head-to-head with Lara at Bareena, while Ocean Grove takes on Sebastopol.

Top side Bareena has the momentum, but Lara cannot be questioned on the back of strong recent form, ensuring a cracking battle on the horizon.

Lara’s past three outings underline the side’s danger factor — a gutsy three-shot win against Queenscliff, a narrow two-shot victory against Webbcona and, last week, a more comfortable 17-shot win against Buninyong.

Lara skipper Travis Kelly said his team would remain unchanged ahead of the blockbuster clash.

“No changes for us, we have settled our side and have been building slowly,” Kelly said.

“They are on top for a reason, but we have motivation to reverse the previous result.”

In Round 4 this season, Bareena edged out Lara by two shots at Lara, and Kelly admitted that hurt his side.

“The first time around we blew the match, that was the one that got away, we will use that as extra motivation ahead of tomorrow,” Kelly said.

Kelly himself has found some form with eight rink wins in a row and has set his sights on either of Bareena’s gun skippers Brannon Shelton or Ben Wilding.

“We are all equal third on the skippers ladder, so it would be a great game and a matchup that could be the difference overall if I could shut one of them down,” Kelly said.

Ocean Grove will need to find some 2019 form ahead of its crunch game against Sebastopol.

Ballarat’s only top-four contender sits third and comes off a loss, as does Ocean Grove.

But the Grovers have been forced to make changes to their line-up for tomorrow’s clash.

GBR novice singles champion Cheyne Verrier plays his first game of Premier Division bowls, while David Rudge also receives a promotion to the highest level of bowls in the Geelong region. The buffer between the two teams sits at 24 points, which the Grovers will be keen to extend.

Buninyong won’t want to allow Victoria two wins on the trot in their clash on the greens at Buninyong, while Queenscliff could possibly return to grass to take on Highton 1.