BBC BROADCAST WEDNESDAY MARCH 27th (Terry Norwood at the desk)
Some general information for a start:
- As it’s Easter, there will be no Pennants games on Saturday March 30th. The rounds will continue the following Saturday with the Grade Three team at home and the Grade Six team travelling to Camden.
- Again because of Easter and the members of the Match Committee having Easter commitments, there will be no organised social bowls on Saturday March 30th.
- There will be an after bowls BBQ put on by the Match Committee following social bowls on Wednesday April 3rd.
- On Women’s bowls, congratulations to the Bowral four who made it through to the semi-final of the NSW Women’s Fours at Dubbo. Unfortunately they found the team from Soldiers Point just a little too strong and went down 22 – 27. Hearty congratulations to Rowena Coode, Reta South, Margaret Lawless and Gail Fraser on a wonderful achievement.
- Howard Lewis, long time member and much admired bowler had a birthday last week and turned 99! Congratulations Howard, and may you be around for a long time yet.
Howard Lewis, 99 years young!
Social Bowls Wednesday March 27th
Twenty-nine bowlers turned out for social bowls on Wednesday, on what turned out to be a very pleasant afternoon after a dull start to the day. There was no wind of any consequence and the Waratah Green proved a consistent surface; no excuses for any wayward bowls. With an odd number of bowlers, there needed to be a swinger in one of the five triples matches.
On rink 8, Denis Lees, Charles Coode and gentleman Jim Starkey faced off against Ian ‘cool’ Duncan, Dave Charlesworth and wily Bob Edwards. Bob’s team made much the better start to lead 7 – 1 after five ends, but three ends later were behind 7 – 10! However, team Edwards dug in and had another short spurt of success to lead 14 – 11 after thirteen ends. They then pushed this out to 17 – 13, and were holding sway. However then Jim’s team struck better form and started to get on top. In fact, they dominated from that point to win the last five ends and take out the match 22 – 17 in a cracking finish. All bowlers had their moments, but Denis and Ian as leads had a monumental battle where neither could get the better of the other.
Gentleman Jim was cool under pressure at the end!
In the 18-ender on rink 9, Keith ‘the fox’ Edwards, Terry Norwood and Paul ‘ricochet’ Rubie battled against Bill ‘the’ Pope, Barry Werfel and John ‘junior’ Cummins. From the outset, there was a smell of big scoring ends in the air! Paul’s team had much the stronger start to lead 10 – 1 after seven ends and they had broad smiles to show for it! However, through gritted teeth junior’s team got the score back to 7 – 10, only to give up ten shots over three ends including a six shotter on the fourteenth! Then however, junior’s team wiped the smiles from their opponents’ faces scoring eleven shots on the next two ends! From thirteen shots down they were suddenly within two, and another shot on the seventeenth put them only one behind. In a gripping last end, Paul’s team prevailed to score three and take out the match 23 – 19. The evergreen Keith was back to his best form, Barry had a fine burst in the second half and junior had some excellent ends.
Barry had a good game while Keith kept sliding them onto the jack!
Grahame Denman was the swing bowler on rink ten to Don ‘gentleman’ Chapman and the maestro Robin Staples on one hand, and Peter ‘virgin’ Flight and Mick ‘potters’ Flynn on the other. This game turned out to be one of those where one team really hits solid form and the other never quite finds a way into things. Robin’s team dominated the first half of the match and, unfortunately for Mick’s team, nothing much changed in the second half. Overall, team Staples won fourteen ends including a mouthwatering five on the sixteenth. Mick’s team could win only seven ends, but to their credit, kept the opposition to singles in the second half except for the five shotter. Grahame had some useful ends as lead, but man of the match was gentleman Don who bowled at a high level all afternoon.
On rink 11, Joel ‘Grr’ Hunt, Joe O’Donnell and skipper Owen ‘wily’ Williams took on Mike Hook, Richard Denman and skipper Clive ‘dasher’ Neutze. With Joel in good touch, Owen’s team won the first four ends to lead 5 – 0. However, Clive’s team won four of the next five ends to be trailing by only two shots at 5 – 7. A four shotter on the tenth end then extended the lead for Owen’s team, but team Neutze hung in well to be in touch with Owen’s team after the sixteenth end at 11 – 14. With both sides putting down some fine bowls, they each won a couple of the following four ends for the gap to be still three with the last to play. In a tense last end, Owen’s team scored two shots to prevail and run out winners by 18 – 13. In a close encounter, all put down some fine bowls, with Joel and Mike having a good tussle as leads.
Owen keeps getting the better of opposing skippers!
In the final match, Ted ‘Mr Ed’ McPhee, Arny ‘man in black’ Lenczuk and Peter ‘miraculous’ Morales faced off against Mark Rundle, Graham ‘jockey’ Hunt and Gordon ‘evergreen cobbler’ Lewis. And against all expectations of the Match Committee, this game turned out to be a very one-sided affair. In an opening that set the trend for the game, Gordon’s team won the first four ends, and by the halfway stage led 15 – 4. The back half of the match was no different and team Lewis scored heavily as they dominated most of the ends. Overall, Gordon’s team won sixteen ends to five by their opponents and they raced away to a huge 34 – 7 victory. Graham and Gordon both had fine games for the victors but man of the match was lead Mark who had an absolute blinder.
The ‘jockey’ rides another bowl, but conceded that Mark Rundle was ‘man of the match’.