SUNDAY NOVEMBER 27th BOWLS NEWS with Terry Norwood
A few reminders to start this bulletin:
- As from this week, social bowls will commence at 12.30pm, and this starting time will remain constant throughout the year from now on. The final time for phoning in names for social bowls will be 11.30.
- Bowlers and life members are reminded that there will be Xmas BBQs following social bowls on Wednesday December 14th and Saturday December 17th.The BBQs are being put on by the Men’s Bowls Committee, and there will be hams as prizes in the raffles.
- The Pennants nomination form will be posted on the notice board shortly, so bowlers are encouraged to think about availability for pennants teams in autumn 2023. This competition is open to both men and women bowlers, and the Committee is hoping to be able to nominate three teams.
- Commencing in January, mixed (and non-mixed) Friday afternoon bowls will be re-introduced. This will be of an alternative format eg including power plays. Green fees will be $10 for this shorter program.
- The Mens Major Pairs Championship gets underway this coming weekend commencing on Saturday. Some very strong teams have been nominated, so members are encouraged to have a look at what should be high quality bowls.
SOCIAL BOWLS WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 23rd
Thirty-seven bowlers nominated for social bowls on what was a very pleasant afternoon. The Waratah Green was running at around 14/15 and there was a gentle breeze gusty from west, north-west; not really enough for bowlers to blame for those wayward shots!
The usual 18-ender took place on rink 7 with the excellent pre-bowls news that Lawrence and Carol Vipond had extended their Aussie stay. This had Lawrence in such a relaxed and positive mood that his bowling reached the highest peak since his arrival. Teamed with John Fleming and skipper Paul Rubie he grabbed the initiative early against Kel Limbrick, Bill Pope and John Cummins and led 8 – 7 by the ninth end. With skipper Paul adding to the count set down by Lawrence, team Rubie was never headed. They went on to win by an impressive 11 shots, 21 – 10.
An uneven number of bowlers always brings the need for a swing bowler in one of the games, never the ideal situation for a game of bowls. However with Graham Hartnup as swinger, Tony Oakes and Steve Goddard battled against Col Stone and Don Coleman. No details are available of how the game evolved, except to report that the final margin was 4 shots in favour of team Goddard.
On rink 9, Ted McPhee, Chris Forrester and skipper Kevin Gould went head to head against Noel Fraser, Arnold Lenczuk and Clive Neutze. And this game got away to an astonishing start – a six, yep, a six shot haul to Clive and his men on the first end! Shaking off their trauma however, team Gould won the next two ends and everyone started to breathe easily again. Things progressed fairly evenly from then until the tenth end when again it was team Neutze which gained four, and took their lead to 14 – 7. And a five shot haul on the 14th end put Clive, Noel and Arnold well in front. Never really threatened from that point, they went on to a handsome victory of 27 – 15.
In a fours match featuring some fairly new bowlers, Geoff Williams, Mark Rundle, Denis Lees and skipper Owen Williams battled it out with Garry Mitchell, Barry Werfel, Mike Hook and skipper, the mercurial leftie Bob Edwards. Both teams got on the scorecard early, and the scoreline was 6 – 5 in favour of team Williams after six ends. It was at this stage that Bob and his men strung together five successive ends to push out to a lead of 13 – 6. All bowlers had some good moments, but in the end it was team Edwards that got shots in the head a bit more consistently. The final score was 21 – 15 in favour of Bob and his boys.
In the triples game on rink 10, Richard Denman, Neville Tanner and evergreen Bill Meredith were challenged by Joel Hunt, Jim Starkey and the unflappable skipper Don Chapman. Don and his men won five of the first six ends to set up a solid lead of 6 – 1. However, Richard, Neville and Bill all found their touch together at that point, grabbing twelve shots in four ends and hurtling to a lead of 13 – 6! By the 14th end, team Meredith had extended their lead to 19 – 9 and looked to be in a strong position. It was then that Joel, Jim and Don hit their straps and stormed back into the game. Winning five consecutive ends, team Chapman shot to a lead of 22 – 19 with two ends remaining. Despite losing the next end, Don and his men took the last with two shots and held on to win 24 – 20.
In the last game, a triples match on rink 12, Graham Denman, Graham Hunt and skipper, Gordon Lewis took on newcomer Dennis Cilia, Terry Norwood and Robin Staples. Team Staples began well winning four of the first five ends and taking a lead of 14 – 3. It was then that Gordon and the two Grahams found better touch to win five of the next six ends and so reduce the lead to five shots. By the sixteenth end, team Lewis had closed the gap to four shots and it was either teams game to win. However with Dennis, Terry and Robin all bowling well, team Staples won all five remaining ends to run out convincing winners 27 – 14.