Bowling clubs from the northern suburbs, especially Durbanville, completely dominated the various Western Province Pairs competitions at Edgemead Bowling Club last week.

This medal charge was led by a father-son team from Bellville and a young, newlywed mixed pairs combination from Durbanville Bowling Club (DBC).

In the knockouts played at Meadowridge on Youth Day, three of the four eventual semi-finalists were teams from Durbanville.

Very competitive

“Many people think of bowls as a social sport, but it can be very competitive,” said Francois Bruwer, DBC president.

“We are super proud of our Durbanville bowlers for the excellent result last week.”

Men’s Pairs Competition

Gold went to Alfred Mraji and his 16-year-old son, Thando Mraji, after beating Durbanville’s Bräsler van Schoor and Adré Barnard in the final of the Men’s Pairs Competition.

DBC veterans Lydia Maritz and Noeleen Hogan also won silver by making it to the Women’s Pairs final.

But the real DBC stars were two young newlyweds — Tyler Pitcher (27) and his wife, Gillian (25), who got married in May — setting themselves up for a golden wedding gift.

They beat Durbanville clubmates Bräsler van Schoor and Angie de Wet by 19–13 in their mixed pairs semi-final.

In the final, they met yet another Durbanville hurdle, Lydia Maritz and Jaco van Tonder, who beat Clair Cowan and Warren Hewitt (and C. Prins) from Western Province Cricket Club.

The Maritz team comfortably won 20–13.

But in the final the Pitchers easily romped home 24–10 against Maritz and Van Tonder to win gold.

Represent Western Province

Said a chuffed Tyler: “It was one of our greatest achievements because we could do it together.”

By winning, they now have the opportunity to represent Western Province at the Bowling South Africa Mixed Pairs National Tournament in Mbombela in August.

Tyler, a teacher at Llandudno, started playing bowls at the age of eight at Kidd’s Beach Bowling Club in East London. Gillian grew up in George and started playing bowls at the age of twelve at Outeniqua Bowling Club.

“We met through bowling at the junior provincials in Bloemfontein in 2014,” said Tyler.

They joined DBC a few years ago and got engaged on 1 May 2025. The Pitchers have both earned provincial colours in their sport.

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