First round of the Bowral Minor Pairs was played on Wednesday 2nd October 2019.  A rather thin entry of only eight teams fronted the starting gun.  However, eight is a good number as there are no split rounds, just quarter and semi finals.

Play was on the synthetic green.  Rink eight hosted Ted McFee and Chris Forrester against Kevin Jones and Harold Wall.  Six ends and the score was 4-4.  Next three ends to Chris and the score 9-4.  A swing and the next seven ends to Harold saw them with a comfortable lead 17-9 on end fifteen.  Bowls can be a cruel game (or kind if you are winning).  That nice lead slowly evaporated as Chris won all the remaining ends to finish winners 22-19.  Both Ted and Chris are newish bowlers, so a good win.

Next rink was Robin Staples and Mike Holmewood against John Edmonds and Peter Morales.  Peter Morales has been having some good results lately, notably fourth in the recent Tulip Festival, so a close match was anticipated.  Mike started with a 4 shot first end which was good for his team as John and Peter dominated the early part of the game.  However, Peter’s scores were kept minimal so that at 8 ends the score was 6-6. Another tide turn with Mike achieving 9 shots in the next three ends,  This was enough for the initiative to stay with Mike who went on to a 28-11 win.

Graham Hunt and Bob Edwards had a fairly comfortable win over Kel Limbrick and Brain Porter by 36-19.  Every time I looked across to this rink it seemed that Graham had another bowl on the jack.  Sure this contributed to their win.  With Brian Porter playing you expect to hear the rattle of bowls being vigorously disturbed.  Fourteen of their nineteen shots resulted from these drives, but not enough for a win.

Finally T DeGreenlan was substituted by Dan Ticehurst and he played with Bob Crowley against Richard Denman and Dave Riddell substituting for Carl Spilker.  Daves team was never headed always keeping just slightly ahead of Bob’s team.  Leading 16-12 at the half way point they moved on to a 8 shot win of 29-21.

Next Wednesday sees Ted McFee and Chris Forrester against Robin Staples and Mike Holmewood and the second semi final of Graham Hunt and Bob Edwards versus Richard Denman and Dave Riddell.