#BPL12: By the Numbers
With the dust now settled on yet another memorable edition of the Bowls Premier League (BPL), Aaron Delaporte takes a forensic look at how BPL12 fared by the numbers, with records, milestones and firsts aplenty.
In what was another outstanding Bowls Premier League (BPL) series, the Tweed Heads Ospreys claimed their second BPL title, with an an eerily similar score line to their last title success.
They defeated a gallant Adelaide Pioneers side 4-1, 6-0, having previously won BPL10 against Sydney Lions 8-1, 9-0. with winning skip Aaron Teys dropping just one shot on each occasion.
Tables turning
BPL12 also highlighted just how tight the BPL competition is, with Tweed Heads and Murray Steamers reversing their finishes from the previous series.
Murray took the wooden spoon for first time in their illustrious history, while for Tweed’s Teys bounced back from a wooden spoon to claim the title for a second time, with his see-sawing finishes in the past five events now recorded as 8th, 1st, 1st, 8th 1st.
Tweed Heads became the first team to ever win a BPL title after finishing outside the top two spots; sitting seventh after six rounds at 2-4 before winning six of their last eight matches, ahead of their three finals wins.
After seven rounds they had improved slightly to fifth and are now the only side to win the title after being outside the four at the halfway mark of the qualifying rounds.
Setting records
Melbourne Pulse, despite having bowed out of the finals in straight sets, set an amazing record during BPL12; their nine straight wins to start the tournament is a record for most consecutive victories by a team before their first loss. During that run, they also won five tie breaks.
Surprisingly, this is not the overall record for most consecutive wins; in APL02, way back in November 2014, the New Zealand Blackjacks won 11 consecutive matches from round 3 to 13, which included six tie break victories.
Speaking of tie breaks, the 31 tie breaks played across the 60 BPL12 matches was the second most in competition history; with 51.7% of matches played featuring a tie break, it was well above the competition history of 43.2%.
The Sydney Lions became the first BPL team to score 2000 shots in competition history, registering the milestone during a round 11 win over the Melbourne Pulse.
Milestone moments
Karen Murphy became the first female to play 150 BPL games, reaching the mark in round three.
Michael Walker (Murray Steamers) and Aaron Wilson (Melbourne Roys) also brought up their 150th games in rounds 11 and 14 respectively; unfortunately for all three players, none of them made the finals and they all suffered straight set losses in their milestone matches.
Players to reach the 100 game milestone mark included Carla Krizanic, Barrie Lester, Wayne Ruediger, Ellen Ryan and Ben Twist.
Scott Thulborn became the first player to reach the 100 games mark for Adelaide (Endurance/Pioneers) and the fourth dual MVP winner; he joined Aron Sherriff, Alex Marshall and Ryan Bester as multiple MVP winners.
With all the stats said and done, the best news for BPL fans is that the next instalment is only a few months away, with the eagerly anticipated #BPL13 at Club Pine Rivers in April.
Contribution by Aaron Delaporte (Bowls WA).
