SOCIAL BOWLS WEDNESDAY AUGUST 17th
What an absolute cracker of a day with bright sunshine and the temperature in the mid teens! The breeze was a very gentle south-wester and could not be blamed for any wayward bowls. Unfortunately, the grass of the Lewis Green was still showing the negative effects of the wet, sunless winter and was, on some rinks, a fairly tricky surface to bowl on. That said, the green ran at around 14 which made the longer ends more comfortable for some us than they had been in recent past. At the call of the cards, thirty-two players had registered to play, a very good number indeed.
On rink 8 (Waratah Green), John Fleming, Gary Mitchell and Paul Rubie took on Laurence Vipond, Harold Wall and Bill Pope in the first of the triples games. Despite a brilliant opening bowl from opposing lead Laurence (a foot from the kitty on the ‘T’), team Rubie got away to the better start to lead 8 – 3 after 8 ends. Unperturbed, team Pope got their heads down and bowled their way back into the match. By the fourteenth end they had drawn level at ten all, and pushed on to a four shot victory.
Arnold Lenczuk, Don Coleman and Steve Day battled against Owen Williams, Graham Hunt and Keith Edwards on rink 19 of the Lewis Green. Scores were close (6 – 5) through the first six ends despite a monstrous 5 on the third end to team Day. Both sides put down some very good bowls to remain close on the scoreboard until team Edwards netted a five shot haul on the fifteenth end and a three shot lead. Unfortunately for them, their glory was short-lived as Steve and his team came over the top of them to take the final five ends and a five shot victory.
Rink 18 saw a cracker of a game with Ian Crow, Paul McInerney and Clive Neutze against Joel Hunt, Viv Gear and ‘Miraculous’ Peter Morales. Overall, Clive and his team won the ends twelve to nine, but apart from a 2, a 3 and a 6 (how ugly is that for the opposition!), scored only singles each end. On the other hand, team Morales scored only two single shot ends, some twos, a couple of threes and a thumping 5 to amass their total. After a seesawing game, Peter and his team held on for the narrowest of wins 21 – 20. Any pain for Clive’s team was erased, however, when they shared the after-game jackpot!
Richard Denman, Glen Giese and skipper Robin Staples took on Jim Starkey, Eric Willacy and Gordon Lewis on rink 17. With Richard Denman leading especially well, team Staples won four of the first six ends to set up a two shot lead. Undaunted, and with the indomitable Gordon leading the way, team Lewis scored four, one, two and three on the next four ends and streaked away to lead by eight shots. Despite sharing the ends in the second half of the match, Richard, Glen and Robin were unable to pull any shots back and went down 23 – 15. On the day, bragging rights went to Jim, Eric and Gordon.
On rink 15, Graham Denman, Col Stone and Wal Markow played Mike Hooke, Graham Hartnup and Barry Werfel. With an excellent 4 shot haul on the first end, Barry and his team shot out of the barriers and then stormed away to lead 13 – 1 after nine ends. With Barry in especially good form, and Graham and Mike chipping in when most needed, they were showing the opposition bowlers no mercy. However, Wal and his team finally got some traction to win five out of six ends and get to within eight shots by the eighteenth end. Their run fizzled then however, and Mike, Graham and Barry ran out comfortable winners 23 – 10.
In the final game, Ted McPhee and Chris Forrester took on Terry Norwood and Mick Flynn in a pairs challenge match. Ted and Chris, the club minor pairs champions had their reputation to protect and Terry and Mick were happy to take them on. Ted and Chris dropped the first couple of ends, but then grabbed the next two. With the lead switching back and forth, Terry and Mick eventually pushed out to lead 11 – 6 by the ninth end. At this point, their form faded somewhat, (or the green started to play tricks or the wind became gusty!) and, with Ted and Chris bowling extremely well, the game turned. Conceding an horrendous 5 shots on the fourteenth, and two shots on the next end, Terry and Mick were really under the pump and down by five. Despite hanging in over the last six ends, they could only claw back a single shot. Ted and Chris ran out very deserved victors by 20 – 16.
