BOWLS NEWS SATURDAY NOVEMBER 5th Terry Norwood Reporting
The big news from Saturday was the final of the Mens Major Championship Fours which rounded off a tough competition from enthusiastic bowlers. The final started at 12.30 with Terry Butt, Dave Coltman, Ash Lewis and skipper, the phlegmatic Mick Spong raring to take on the competition minnows Terry Norwood, Graham Hunt, Glenn Giese and the ebullient Bob Crowley. The day was beautifully sunny with a gentle but quite fluky breeze gusting from between north-west and north-east. The Waratah Green was in tip-top condition running at about 14/15.
The eight to battle it out- Glenn, Terry N, Bob, Dave, Graham, Mick, Ashley and Terry B.
Bob Crowley won the toss and decided to take the mat to open this twenty-one end match. Two roll-up ends seemed to get rid of any nerves and the game opened with a one shot win to team Spong. However, on the next couple of ends team Crowley had the shots in the head and led 4 – 1 after three ends. The next three ends developed quite similarly, and with Graham putting down some fine shots and Bob finishing off well, Bob and his men led 7 – 2.
Graham Hunt watching intently! Bob Crowley in anticipation!
Terry Butt and Dave Coltman then found touch getting shots in the head and, with skipper Mick drawing splendidly, the scorecard was 9 – 9 after eleven ends.
Terry Butt slides one down! Dave Coltman watching the outcome!
After sharing the next two ends, team Spong put two winning ends together and had edged out to a four shot lead after fifteen ends. The pressure was now on Bob and his men, and they responded to take a shot and close the gap to 14 – 11 after sixteen ends.
Glenn Giese riding one home! Terry Norwood rolls one out!
The next end then proved crucial in the match: down two shots in a very tight head, skipper Mick killed the end with a superb drive. This, followed by a 4 shot haul to team Spong on the replayed end, seemed to suck the life out of team Crowley. To add to the challenge, Ash Lewis had found quite brilliant touch and was drawing to the jack with great precision.
Ash Lewis bowled brilliantly in the back half! Mick Spong was rock solid all game!
With all four now confident and bowling well, Mick and his men won the remaining ends. The final score in favour of Terry, Dave, Ash and Mick was 23 – 11; a resounding victory deserving of hearty congratulations.
Mens Major Fours Champions — Terry Butt, Mick Spong, Ashley Lewis and Dave Coltman
SOCIAL BOWLS
In the first of the social games, Richard Denman and skipper Owen Williams took on Barry Werfel and Harold Wall. And what a close match this turned out to be. Richard and Owen won ten ends, Barry and Harold eleven. So tight was the game that the match was 11 -11 after twelve ends. Team Wall the strung some ends together and with three ends remaining led by six shots. Richard and Owen won the last three ends but fell short of their opponents by two shots. The final score was 19 – 17 in favour of Barry and Harold.
On rink 10, Graham Hartnup, Andy Connor and skipper Gordon Lewis butted heads with Peter Cornwell, Alastair McGhee and Kevin Gould. Team Gould got off to a flying start and led 8 – 1 after five ends. And, despite dropping a three shot end, they pushed on to a comfortable 13 – 5 lead by the halfway stage of the match. Despite valiant attempts by skipper Gordon to rally the troops, things didn’t change much as the ends ticked over. Team Lewis did manage a little flurry of points towards the end to put some respectability into the final score, but victory went to Kevin and his men 24 – 14.
In the final match, Rick Reynolds and skipper Bob Edwards took on Graham Denman and Don Chapman with evergreen Keith Edwards as swing bowler for both teams. And, as usual, Keith was right on the jack most of the game! Team Chapman got the better of the early ends and led 8 – 3 after seven. However, a four shot haul on the ninth meant that Bob and Rick, with the help of Keith, had leveled the match 10 – 10 after twelve ends. A monstrous six shots on the next end put team Edwards in the box seat, and they went on to win 22 – 16.