BBC BROADCAST WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 11th BOWLS     (Terry Norwood at the desk)

Some general info for a start:

1. The new shade cloth has now been installed around the Wilson and Waratah Greens. Bowlers are reminded that whoever rolls the cloth out has the responsibility to roll it back when finished bowling.
2. All members are reminded that the AGM of the Club Ltd will be conducted at 10.30 next Sunday morning October 15th. All members are welcome to attend.
3. The Mixed Pairs Competition gets underway on Sunday October 22nd with the staging of round 1. If it’s a sunny day, you might want to drop in and check out the form.
4. Bowlers are reminded of the BBQ to be held on Wednesday next October 18th. This will follow the social bowls that afternoon.
5. The participation in bowls (social, competition and pennants) by BBC members and visitors on the Bowral greens for the first three months (July – September) of the Bowls Year has now been posted on the notice board. Several bowlers have made more than twenty appearances and so are well on the way to the target of 50 which will make them eligible to not pay green fees.
6. The participation figures for September alone saw a total of 229 appearances on the green. In all, sixty-five bowlers, including visitors took part; pretty healthy numbers so hopefully we can keep it rolling.

Social Bowls Wednesday October 11th

A cracker of a day weather-wise saw forty bowlers turn out for social bowls. The number included visitor George Hindy from Melbourne and a familiar friend of the Wednesday bowlers Julie Hayden. It was great to have you with us George and Julie. With the Wilson and Lewis Greens still out of commission, the social bowlers headed for the synthetic surface of the Waratah Green. Given the numbers, the Match Committee organised six games of triples and one of pairs.

The pairs match on rink 7 saw Peter ‘QANTAS’ Flight and Robin ‘maestro’ Staples take on Terry Norwood and the ‘cobbler’ himself Gordon Lewis AM. With Norwood and the cobbler scratchy at the start, team Staples ripped the opening to lead 8 – 1 after four ends. However, team Lewis found some better form and snatched five of the next six ends to square the game at 9 all. Peter and Robin then kept edging ahead only to have their opponents pull them back. So tight was the game that after the twentieth end the scores were locked at 20 – 20. And then the maestro stood tall! Two shots down to bowls twelve inches from the jack, Robin put the perfect bowl through a gap to move the jack and snatch two shots and game. Brilliant!

Robin had a great game digging his team out of deep trouble several times!

In the 18-ender on rink 8, Keith Edwards, John Fleming and skipper Paul ‘Rowdy’ Rubie did battle against Phil Payne, Bill ‘the’ Pope and ‘junior’ Cummins. And what an extraordinary game this turned out to be. Team Rubie won the first end but then the drought set in and they were hardly to be seen again until the fifteenth end. After fourteen ends, team Cummins led 24 – 5 and had their opposition on their knees. The Paul led team then won three ends and breathed a sigh of relief on reaching double figures. However, team Cummins then scored three on the last end to complete a whopping seventeen shot win at 27 – 10. ‘Junior’ was in such terrific form; he then pulled the boys together, picked a team and issued a challenge to be taken on next week! Challenge accepted – stay tuned!

Junior Cummins had a blinder, and now wants the challenge!

On rink 9, Mike Hook, Harold Wall and skipper Owen ‘wily Scot’ Williams took on Graham ‘grouper’ Hunt, Ian ‘the’ Crow and Mick ‘potters’ Flynn. Team Flynn made a scorching start in this match winning the first six ends and notching up 14 shots. Owen’s team won the seventh end, but by the ninth end were still well behind at 3 – 16! At this point, fortunes changed somewhat and Owen inspired his men to win the next six ends. Still holding onto the lead though, Mick’s men grabbed a shot on the sixteenth to be 17 – 11 up, but when they had a shocker on the next end, their lead had been reduced to a single shot. However, with plenty of chat, team Flynn held firm and rolled out a 22 – 16 victory.

On rink 10, Joel ‘Grrr’ Hunt, Ted ‘Mr Ed’ McPhee and Chris ‘unflappable’ Forrester battled against Bill Meredith, Arny ‘black feet’ Lenczuk and skipper Steven ‘unruffled’ Goddard. Steven’s men took a shot on the first end but quickly found themselves under pressure. Scoring solidly, Chris’ team led 8 – 1 after four ends and then 12 -4 after seven. With Joel Hunt having one of his familiar blinders and putting his team in great positions, the score then became 14 – 6 after ten. However, the opposition was Goddard led and he sparked a comeback! They won the next four ends and suddenly it was 14 all. Team Goddard then continued to get the better of proceedings so that with two ends to play they led 20 – 16. What a comeback … was it enough to win? Not quite! In a gripping finish, Chris’ team scored a three and then a two to snatch a thrilling victory from the jaws of defeat 21 – 20.

Joel ‘Grrr’ Hunt had another blinder!

On rink 11, Graham ‘bananas’ Hartnup, Paul McInerney and skipper Don Coleman took on Grahame ‘smurf’ Denman, Neville Tanner and skipper ‘gentleman’ Jim Starkey. The Don led team hit the ground running to lead 5 – 0 after three ends. However, as is so often the case the opposition then found some better form. Jim’s men won the next five ends and raced to a lead of 9 – 5. From then it was an end for end battle until team Starkey notched up four shots on the fifteenth end to lead by 16 – 10. They then followed with two shots, but, far from done, Don’s men scored a couple of twos of their own to stay in touch at 18 – 14. Jim’s team then edged to a six shot lead with one end to play and looked to be home … and they were, but only just as Don’s men notched up four shots on the last. 20 -18 in a close one!

In the next game, Ian Duncan, Alex Crowther and Clive ‘dasher’ Neutze battled for supremacy against Keith Scriven, Joe O’Donnell and Bob ‘wily’ Edwards. The match committee saw this game as the battle of the ‘leftie’ skippers when they drew up the cards. The first half of this game was a very low scoring affair as there were only thirteen shots scored on the first eleven ends; a couple of twos and the rest singles. Clive’s team had the better of this first half and led 9 – 4. By the fourteenth end, they had increased their lead to 12 – 5, and then the scoring became heavier. Over the remaining ends, Bob’s team scored a couple of threes, but were more than matched by a couple of fours to team Neutze. In the end, the final score was 22 – 13 in favour of Clive’s team.

In the last match, Denis Lees, Charles Stewart and skipper George Hindy took on Brian ‘misère’ Bailey Julie Hayden and skipper Stephen ‘bundy’ Day. This was another game which turned out to be a fairly low scoring encounter. Apart from three shots on the first end, there were only four scores of two shots and the remainder singles. And, against the expectations of the match committee, this game was quite one-sided. The George led team won fourteen ends to the seven by team Day. Team Hindy won eight of the first eleven ends to set up a solid lead of 12 – 3. And, unfortunately for Stephen’s team, things didn’t change in the second half. They did win four ends but only scoring singles meant that they failed to peg back the opposition. The final score was 20 – 7 in favour of George’s team.