BBC BROADCAST SATURDAY JANUARY 3rd (Terry Norwood at the desk)
Selected morsels for quick consumption:
- The Consistency Singles Competition, with a slightly spluttery start, got underway on Saturday, but more on that below . . . not the spluttery start but on the comp!
- A couple of our members, Mick Flynn and Col Stone, are struggling a bit with medical issues at the moment and we wish them well for successful outcomes. We miss you, and look forward to seeing you back on the green.
- And another reminder that the annual Chris Benton Brain Cancer Charity Day will be held on Saturday February 7th, so, come on bowlers and get your fours organise to enter this important event.
- As mentioned in the last report, the Match Committee has been struggling to get the social bowls match cards organised because some of the names are not in by the 11.30 cut-off time. It’s very helpful to have the cards done by 12.00 so your co-operation is needed. We don’t want to turn people away, but it’s frustrating to be re-organising games at 12.15!
- The latest participation figures have now been printed off and are posted on the notice board for interested eyes. As mentioned in the last report, nonagenarian Gordon ‘cobbler’ Lewis heads the list with forty-six appearances in the six months to December 31st! Amazing!
- Vice-President Peter ‘Virgin’ Flight has almost completed the distribution of the new uniform to bowlers. If you haven’t received yours yet, Peter’s the man to see.
Consistency Singles Competition
There were two forfeits from the first round of matches, so Rikki Wilson and Peter Flight had easy passages through to round two. Five first round matches were then played using a handicap system which meant that some bowlers were starting from behind scratch. To explain, prior to the event kicking off, each bowler was allocated a handicap so that more experienced/higher ability bowlers would concede a start to lesser experienced competitors. For example, a bowler on a handicap of 2 would start on minus twelve (-12) when playing a lesser experienced bowler on a handicap of 5 (ie four times the difference between the two handicaps, a time honoured way of arranging things). With the more experienced bowler starting on minus, both bowlers are then aiming for the same 130 total, considered to be a simpler process. And of course, this is a consistency competition, so it is all about drawing to the jack with the closest four bowls scoring 4, 3, 2 and 1 points respectively. So, to the matches . . .
On rink 7, the higher ranked Arnie Lenczuk started on minus sixteen (-16) against the lesser experienced Peter Marshall and quickly found that he had a real dogfight on his hands. For eighteen ends, Peter, surprising the more experienced Arnie, kept his nose in front and it took a nine pointer on the nineteenth end for Arnie to finally hit the lead. Peter then hung in, but Arnie eventually got the better of him on the twenty-sixth end. So, despite a fine performance by Peter, Arnie moves into the second round.
On rink 8, Denis Lees had to start on -12 against Tisi Lear and by the the eighth end had made up the gap to be level on 34 points. However, Tisi then had the better of the ends to lead by 8 points on the sixteenth, and was still in front on the nineteenth. Finally, Denis managed to square the match at 99 all, and then went into overdrive playing four consecutive superb ends to get him home 130 – 103! This was a high quality game with many splendid ends played by both bowlers. So, Denis moves to round two.
With Graham Hunt as marker, Mark Barrow took to the green against Terry Norwood with a twelve point advantage, but it took Terry only three ends to erase the deficit and be in positive territory. For the first half of the match, Mark bowled quite well, but as the game wore on, experience showed and Terry began to dominate. Drawing well, and with Mark not on his game, Terry ground out the ends to finish victor at 130 points to 60. Terry advances then to round two.
Marker Clive Neutze officiated on rink 11 where Richard Denman conceded a 4 point start to Paul McInerney, and a shared five points each on the first end meant that Paul led 5 – 1. These two then settled into a solid battle with the scores level on 38 after eight ends. It was at that point that Paul started to out-draw Richard, so that he led 98 – 58 after sixteen and was looking the more solid. Richard did then have a better run to cut the lead from 40 to 28, but Paul struck the final blows on the twenty-third end to win 130 – 93.
In the final match Ross Barber started on -4 against Gordon Lewis, but hit the lead on the third end. Ross then, despite dropping a ten point end, had the better of proceedings to lead 58 – 48 by the eleventh. He continued to lead, but Gordon hung in tenaciously and would not let him get beyond reach. Both bowlers passed the 100 point mark, and by the twenty-third end Ross looked close to victory at 121 – 105. However, like all Northampton Town kids with their backs to the wall, Gordon found inspiration to blast 9, 4, 9 and 10 over four ends to come from the clouds and seize victory! 130 to 129 is as close as it can get!
And so to the second round matches which will be played on Saturday January 10th . . .
Shane Harvey Vs Clive Neutze Barb Wainberg Vs Wal Markow Graham Hunt Vs Graham Hartnup Cameron New Vs Robin Staples Denis Lees Vs Arnie Lenczuk Peter Flight Vs Paul McInerney Gordon Lewis Vs Bob Edwards or Terry Salter Rikki Wilson Vs Terry Norwood
Saturday Social Bowls
Two games of triples occupied the twelve bowlers who turned out for a roll, and these games were assigned to the Wilson Green.
On rink 5, Grahame ‘dragon’ Denman, Barry Werfel and Don Chapman grabbed a three shotter on the first end against visitor Dave Martin, Brian ‘misère’ Bailey and Peter Martin but only led 6 – 5 after six. The scores were then 7 all, 9 all and then 10 all on the thirteenth before ‘gentleman’ Don’s team gained the ascendency and ran away to a comfortable victory at 24 – 13.
In the other match on rink 6, Peter ‘featherless’ Flight, Barb Wainberg and Al McGhee were monstered on the first four ends to the tune of 11 shots by Steve Day, Cameron New and wily Bob Edwards. However, they eventually found their line and length, hung in and by the sixteenth end, hit the lead. And when they snaffled a five shotter on the nineteenth, the comeback was completed! 27 – 22 was the final score.