BBC BROADCAST WEDNESDAY APRIL 3rd (Terry Norwood at the desk)
Some bits of information to start with:
- Weather permitting, Pennants resumes this Saturday April 6th after a break for Easter. The Grade Three team will play host to Blacktown Workers and another victory would see the Bowral team remain undefeated. Go get ’em! The Grade Six team travels to Camden to take on the ‘Ghosts’ on their own turf. After a win in the previous round, the ‘sixers’ are hoping to build on that and put great pressure on the locals. Go get ’em sixers!
- With only one Pennant team at home on Saturday, there will be a couple of rinks available for social bowls should anyone wish to play.
- The latest participation in bowls [July 23 to March 24] figures have now been posted on the notice board. Seven bowlers have now reached the magical ’50’ and, as a consequence, are entitled to play social bowls free of the green fee until the end of the financial year. Another four, including Bob Edwards, Ian Duncan, Owen Williams and Robin Staples are in the high forties so are only a few weeks from joining the ‘fifty’ club.
- An after bowls BBQ was held for the social bowlers on Wednesday and seemed to go down well with bowlers. Special thanks are due to Ted McPhee for organising the snags etc, and to Brian Bailey, Graham Hunt, Ted and Richard Denman for the majority of the work on the plate and the table.
Wednesday Social Bowls
Thirty-three bowlers turned out for social bowls on what was an afternoon of pleasant weather. The Waratah Green was its usual self and didn’t offer up any excuses for the wayward bowls, especially those couple that snaked their ways across a couple of rinks! It was great to have Julie Hayden back with us, and it was also a pleasure to welcome newcomer John Bragg for his first game. With thirty-three bowlers, the Match Committee opted for one game of pairs and five of triples, with a swing bowler in one of the triples games.
On rink 7, Joel Hunt, Don ‘gentleman’ Chapman and skipper Gordon ‘evergreen’ Lewis faced off against Mark Rundle, Graham ‘jockey’ Hunt and Mick ‘potters’ Flynn. In a dazzling opening, Gordon’s team blitzed the opposition to lead 13 – 0 after four ends and there were calls for oxygen, defibrillators and mercy! None came however and the score-line moved on to 22 – 2 after eleven ends! To their credit, Mick’s team rallied to have the better of the scoring in the second half of the match, but, unfortunately for them, the genie was out of the bottle. The final score in favour of Gordon’s team was 30 – 17. All reports were that gentleman Don was again bowler of the match.
In the pairs match on rink 8, Bill Meredith and skipper Owen ‘wily’ Williams took on Col ‘Hawaii’ Stone and Dave Charlesworth. Although they dropped two shots on the first end, Col and Dave won the next six ends to lead 6 – 2. However, Bill and Owen then found much better form to take three ends and the lead at 8 – 6. From that point, Bill and Owen remained on top and when they scored a four shotter on the fourteenth end, they had the opposition under real pressure at 14 – 8. In fact, try as they might Col and Dave just couldn’t quite match it with Bill and Owen and managed to win only a couple of ends in the run home. The final score was 20 – 11 to team Williams.
In the 18-ender on rink 9, Bill ‘the’ Pope, Graham Hartnup and John ‘junior’ Cummins battled for bragging rights against Keith ‘foxy’ Edwards, Harold ‘stentless’ Wall and Paul ‘rowdy’ Rubie. In a scintillating opening, junior had his team well and truly on fire and raced to a 10 – 1 lead after six ends. There were calls for oxygen and defibrillators on this rink too! And they must have found them because rowdy’s team got cracking and, by the fifteenth end on the back of consecutive fours (ouch), hit the lead! Stung into action, junior’s team came back to win the next two ends and, with one end to play, led by a shot. Drama! In a gripping last end, team Rubie scored two and took the match 17 – 16. Oooh, sweet victory!
On the next rink, Ted ‘Mr Ed’ McPhee, Julie Hayden and Bob ‘wily’ Edwards challenged Denis Lees, Arny ‘man in black’ Lenczuk and Clive ‘dasher’ Neutze. In a storming start to the match, Clive’s team monstered team Edwards to lead 17 – 4 after ten ends! Clearly, there was never going to be enough oxygen and defibs on this momentous bowls day! Well, maybe there was because Bob’s team replied with a five shotter, six shotter and a three over the next three ends to hit the lead! Amazing stuff! Bob’s team then still held the lead by a shot after fifteen ends, but, far from done, Clive’s team regained composure and retook control of matters. They won four of the final six ends to win by 27 – 21.
On rink 11, Grahame ‘pop’ Denman was swing lead for Paul McInerney and Joe O’Donnell on one side and Neville Tanner and gentleman Jim Starkey on the other. Both sides got on the card early for the score to be 5 all after five ends. With the ends being tight and scoring low, the game remained very close for Joe’s team to lead by a shot at 10 – 9 after eleven ends. At this point however, Jim’s team got the better of the opposition to win five of the next six ends and lead 18 – 13. And then team O’Donnell turned the game on its head; they notched up a five shotter and then with the scores equal, they scored a three on the last end to snatch victory at 22 – 19! What a great match!
In the final match, newcomer John Bragg, Peter ‘Virgin’ Flight and the maestro Robin Staples faced off against Ian ‘smooth’ Duncan, Terry Norwood and Mike Holmewood. In a low scoring start, both sides won early ends for the score to be 2 all after four ends. Mike’s team then took the lead but by the ninth end, held the lead by only one shot. It was at this point however that the game became very one sided. With Ian leading well, Mike dropping shots into the head with precision and the opposition struggling, the score-line really started to blow out. The final score was 28 – 7 in favour of team Holmewood.