Northern Cape has once again emerged as the overall quadrangular champion, claiming the title for the third consecutive time.

The third edition of the annual Quadrangular Tournament took place in Bloemfontein this past weekend, with matches hosted at Oud Studente Bowling Club and Municipals Bowling Club.

The prestigious event brings together the champions from the Northern Cape, Southern Free State, Northern Free State and North West to compete for the coveted title of Central District Champion of Champions.

The Quadrangular replaced the long-standing Triangular Tournament three years ago when North West joined the annual competition, adding another strong district to the event.

Singles champions defend their titles

Competition got underway on Friday with the men’s and women’s singles, as well as the veteran singles.

Northern Cape’s Marietjie van den Bergh and CP Mathewson arrived as the defending champions and wasted no time adapting to the lightning-fast greens at Municipals Bowling Club.

Both players produced outstanding performances, winning all three of their matches against the champions from the other participating districts. Their unbeaten campaigns saw them successfully defend their respective titles and claim back-to-back Quadrangular Singles championship – a rarely accomplished achievement.

Their success filled the Northern Cape bowling fraternity with pride and gave the district the perfect start as they set their sights on securing the overall Quadrangular title for a third consecutive year.

Team events deliver strong results

Attention then shifted to the team events on Saturday and Sunday, with play moving to the equally challenging greens at Oud Studente Bowling Club. Once again, Northern Cape players had to adjust to the exceptionally quick surfaces.

Although it took a few ends to find their rhythm, the district’s champions soon settled and demonstrated why they had earned their places at the tournament.

The Northern Cape women’s pairs, men’s pairs and women’s fours teams each recorded impressive victories in two of their three matches and came agonisingly close to lifting their respective titles. The men’s fours side made a promising start by winning their opening match but unfortunately fell short in two hard-fought contests thereafter.

Mathewson family secures mixed pairs title

In the mixed pairs, CP Mathewson and his mother, Annelie Mathewson, finally broke through after several near misses to capture the title. They were tested in two thrilling encounters on Saturday, managing to grind out narrow victories under pressure.

On Sunday morning, however, they produced their best performance of the tournament, storming to a commanding win to seal the Mixed Pairs Champions of Champions title.

The victory also completed a memorable double for CP Mathewson, who added the Mixed Pairs crown to his Singles title.

When all the scores had been finalised and the points tallied, Northern Cape had cemented their dominance with three consecutive overall titles – a remarkable achievement and further evidence of the province’s continued strength in Central District bowls.

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