SOCIAL BOWLS WEDNESDAY 3rd August
Thirty hardy souls signed up for social bowls on a sunny, breezy day. The wind was quite stiff coming in general out of the west. Most bowlers found it tricky however, because one minute it was gusting from the south-west and the next from the north-west. At least it was something to blame for those wayward bowls!
On rink No 8 (Waratah green) Bill Pope and Paul Rubie took on Laurence Vipond and his skipper Chris Brangwin. Laurence and Chris got off to an excellent start to lead 6 – 0 after three ends. However Bill and Paul fought back strongly and by the 11th end were trailing by only a single shot. A four shot haul on the 13th end, as well as another 3 saw Bill and Paul push on to a six shot victory.
The remaining matches were staged on the Lewis green, with two pairs and three triples. In the first of the pairs, Don Colman and Graham Hunt challenged Steve Day and Peter Morales. Steve and Peter got away to the better start with 4 shot and 3 shot hauls on the 3rd and 4th ends. Despite Don and Graham scoring 2 on the next end, Steve and Peter raced away to lead 18 – 4 after ten ends. From that point on, Don and Graham were never in the hunt (pardon the pun), with team Morales running out winners 31 – 13.
The Denman brothers, Graham and Richard, played Col Stone and Jim Starkey on rink 18. Col and Jim got the early jump on the Denmans to lead 13 – 4 after nine ends. Col and Jim kept the pressure on with some fine bowling to run out winners 25 – 11 when stumps were drawn after eighteen.
On rink 19, Arnold Lenczuk, Neville Tanner and skipper Clive Neutze took on Keith Edwards, Viv Gear and Bob Edwards. Team Neutze got away to an excellent start to lead 8 – 0 after five ends. However, the wily Bob pulled his team together and they fought their way to a six shot lead by the fifteenth end. Far from done, Clive and his team mounted a very strong finish to take the remaining ends and a 21 – 17 victory.
Wal Markow, Barry Werfel and Harold Wall played Graham Hartnup, Joel Hunt and Joe O’Donnell on rink 17. Another game with a quick starting side saw team O’Donnell out by eight shots after five ends. Despite Wal, Barry and Harold finding some better touch, they found it difficult to peg back the lead and Graham, Joel and Joe ran out 23 – 15 winners.
In the final Wednesday game, Ted McPhee, Kevin Gould and Mick Flynn took on Terry Norwood, Glen Giese and Gordon Lewis. With a haul of 5 on the third end, and another 5 on the tenth, team Lewis raced out to lead 18 – 5 after eleven ends. “I need shots in the head boys, shots in the head,” was the cry from frustrated Mick. With Gordon playing his usual excellent game and Glen and Terry chipping in helpfully, the pressure was maintained. The final score of 30 – 9 put team Lewis in a good mood for the after game skiting session.
GRADE FOUR PENNANT TRIAL GAMES SATURDAY 6th August
Picton Club kindly agreed to travel to Bowral for pennant trials against the grade four teams. The Wilson green, closest to the clubhouse, was selected for this challenge. The Wilson green hadn’t been used for competition or social bowls by the Bowral boys for a couple of months, so was ‘new’ for them as well as the Picton lads. The green was quite ‘heavy’, running at about 12, and matters were made even more challenging by a stiff, very cold wind coming out of the west. Sometimes gusting very strongly, the wind shifted between south-west and north-west having the bowlers guessing just where it was some of the time.
On rink 5, Bowral was represented by Arnold Lenczuk, Graham Hunt, Glen Guiese and skipper Bob Crowley. Unfortunately for Bowral, the boys got away to a slow start. Conceding a couple of fives and a three, team Crowley was trailing 19 – 7 after eleven ends. Failing to get much traction, they continued to struggled to get on the score board on the run home. The Picton boys were the better bowlers on the day and ran out 33 – 13 winners.
Ted McPhee, Richard Denman, Terry Norwood and Robin Staples comprised the Bowral team in the game on rink 4. Despite scoring two shots on the first end, the Bowral boys struggled to hold out the better bowling Picton four, and found themselves down 20 – 7 after fourteen ends. At this point, the bulls found some form conceding only one shot over the final seven ends, and cutting the loss to six shots.
On rink 3, the Bowral team consisted of Peter Cornwell, Mick Flynn, Tony Oakes and Gordon Lewis. Getting off to a solid start, the Bowral boys were equal with Picton at six all after seven ends. Although losing the next three ends, Bowral then secured seven shots to set up a slender lead of 13 – 11 by the fifteenth end. At the nineteenth end Bowral had secured a three shot lead, only to have Picton come over the top to secure a one shot victory for the visitors. Disappointment for Bowral, but congratulations to the Picton boys for their strong finish.
Overall, it was a very successful day for the visitors from Picton. Had it been a competition day, Picton would have secured all 10 points with the three victories and the overall score of 71 – 44. Congratulations to the Picton sides who proved too good on the day. The Bowral teams will travel to Picton next weekend for the first round of the competition proper. No doubt the Bowral bowlers will do some practice and soul searching before taking on Picton on their home green.
Finally, there was one game of social bowls on Saturday, when Graham Hartnup and Ian Crow took on Keith Edwards and Barry Werfel with Graham Denman as swing lead for both teams. Despite being down over the first few ends, Graham and Ian raced out to a huge 16 – 4 lead at the twelfth. When the game ended after eighteen, the final score in favour of team Crow was 21 – 9.