BBC PENNANTS BROADCAST SATURDAY MARCH 22nd         (Terry Norwood at the desk)

Saturday saw the Bowral Grade Six Pennants side play host to the Taralga Tigers rolling off at 1pm. At the start of play, Bowral was holding down second position on the competition table with Taralga one point behind in third. Competition leaders, the Picton Razorbacks, had to play bottom placed Bargo so the Bowral battle was seen as a tussle for second position after round eight. On the day, the temperature was kind although a little humid, and the breeze was somewhat fluky coming mainly out of the north-east. So, the results of the three matches were:

Bruce Yahl, Terry Norwood, Dave Coltman, Al McGhee   22   Vs   Taralga   22

With Taralga on the jack early, Taralga won the first three ends and led 4 – 0. Bowral then got moving and by the seventh end the scores were locked at 7 all. Then Bowral had a dip in form failing to get enough shots in the head and behind the jack, and when they conceded a six on the twelfth, were in trouble at 9 – 17 down. This became 9 – 18, and after the eighteenth 13 – 22 . . . dire trouble. In a great turnaround, all Bowral bowlers dug deep, were on the jack on the nineteenth and netted a five shotter. Hope glimmered! Another two on the twentieth, and then with the shot of the match from Al McGhee to trail the jack, another two on the last saw Bowral roar home for a draw.

Still in great form, skipper Al played the shot of the match on the last end to snatch a draw.

 

Noel Fraser, Jim Neely, Gail Fraser, Robin Staples   17   Vs   Taralga   16

With Taralga skipper Glenn Elliot in brilliant form, the Tigers blitzed the opening to lead 8 – 0 after four ends. However, with the calming influence of skip Robin prevailing, Bowral steadied to win eight of the next ten ends to be within one shot. In an extraordinarily tight match, Taralga crept out to 15 – 11 with three ends to play. Bowral then grabbed two on the next end but lost one on the twentieth so were behind by three with one to play. In a grand finish, Noel, Jim and Gail surrounded the jack and skip Robin was able to pocket his last bowl and take victory with four shots! Behind all day, Robin’s team charged home on the last end. Great stuff!

With the team under pressure all day, Noel had a blinder as lead to constantly have his side in the head!

 

Reta South, Chris Forrester, Steven Goddard, Ash Lewis   27   Vs   Taralga   14

Bowral opened brightly in this match taking the first three ends and leading 4 – 0. Taralga then fought back and the score was 5 all after seven ends. This became 10 all on eleven and things were very tight. With skipper Ash leading the way with great skill, Bowral had a fruitful run to push the score to 18 – 11 on the sixteenth. Taralga got it back to 14 – 18 but a monstrous six shot haul to Bowral on the nineteenth gave them a ten shot margin and Ash was never going to let this one slip away. Keyed up, all Bowral bowlers finished off well to take the honours by 13 shots.

Skipper Ash had a great game, pulling his team out of trouble time and again!

So, given the match results, Bowral gained 9.5 competition points from the encounter to the 0.5 of a point to Taralga. Down at Bargo, the Picton Razorbacks picked up 8 points in a close one against the Bushrangers and so retained the overall lead on the table. Picton is five points in front of Bowral with Taralga 10.5 points behind Bowral in third place. In the next round, Bowral will travel to Picton to take on the leaders while Taralga will tackle the side from Bundanoon. It’s all up for grabs!!