PENNANTS COMPETITION ROUND ONE – SATURDAY AUGUST 13th
FIRST GRADE
An overcast, cold Bowral day greeted the team from Austral for the opening of the Men’s pennant competition against Bowral. The breeze was coming, in general, out of the west, and the Wilson Green, with very little sun for the previous weeks, was running at a sluggish twelve. The conditions were certainly going to present challenges for all bowlers.
In one game, the Bowral four of Gordon Lewis, Ashley Lewis, Mick Spong and Mick Armstrong did the team proud with a fine exhibition of controlled, accurate bowling. With evergreen Gordon leading steadily, and Ashley and the two Micks on top of their opponents, the Bowral four ran out strong winners 23 – 14.
In another game, Andy Connor, Alistair McGhee, Steve Della and Dugald Braithwaite took on another highly rated Austral four. With all bowlers on both sides having their high moments, the game could have gone to either four. Unfortunately for Bowral, they went done by two shots in a very tight finish 16 – 18.
In the final game, Terry Butt, Carl Spilker, Gary Brown and Mick Anderson represented Bowral with distinction. With another fine exhibition of excellent bowling, this extremely well-balanced four achieved a solid win over the Austral four of 23 – 17.
What an excellent day and a great start to the season for the Bowral Bulls in first grade! With two points from the match wins and seven points for winning the Master Board score by 62 – 49, the Bowral team came away with an excellent 9 points. Brilliant stuff fellows! Next Saturday, the Bulls travel to Penrith which, no doubt, will be a very tough challenge. We wish you excellent form and a safe trip.
FOURTH GRADE
The Bowral team travelled to Picton to start the grade four season. Very pleasant weather, and a beautiful playing surface greeted the players. The south-west breeze, and the green running at about 14, gave the players little cause for concern. All the players had a good warm-up on the non-competition rinks and were raring to go at 1.00pm. The Bowral team had only one change from the trials against Picton the previous Saturday with Dave Coltman returning to skip one of the sides. Picton, however, made changes bringing in three bowlers who had been unavailable for the trials.
On rink 8, Arnold Lenczuk, Graham Hunt, Glen Giese and skipper Bob Crowley took on the first opposition four. Bowral made a very good start, especially with a five shot haul on the fifth end, and pushed out to a 9 – 4 lead by the eighth end. However, Picton came back at our boys strongly to snatch the lead 18 – 15 on the eighteenth end. Unfortunately for the Bowral side, they conceded a five on the next end and ultimately went down 25 – 19.
On the adjacent rink, No 9, Peter Cornwell, Mick Flynn, Tony Oakes and Dave Coltman took on the next Picton four. The Bulls got away to an excellent start and led 12 – 3 after eleven ends. Picton then grabbed eight shots on the next three ends to charge back into the game and be down by only a single shot. At this point, skipper Dave settled his team nicely and they steadied to win five of the remaining seven ends and run out 24 – 17 victors.
In the final game, on rink 10, the Bowral team of Ted McPhee, Richard Denman, Terry Norwood and skipper Robin Staples battled against Picton’s four. In the beginning, the game was tight and the score 4 – 4 after six ends. However, with a haul of 5 shots on the tenth end, Robin and his team had moved to a two shot lead. Bowral then pushed out to a five shot lead, but an ugly 4 against them on the thirteenth end reduced that lead to only one. Although each end was tightly contested from then, Picton edged ahead to lead by three shots at the eighteenth. Four shots put Bowral back in the lead with two ends remaining, but single shot ends to Picton saw them home by a single shot. The final end was an absolute ripper – with Bowral holding two shots very close to the kitty, Picton Skipper Peter Ive sent down a brilliant last bowl to snatch victory – and that needed a measure for the win to be confirmed.
On the day, Picton scored two competition points for match wins and Bowral one. Surprisingly, the Master Board finished up 61 – 61, so the seven points for the final totals were shared. Overall, Picton won the day by a single point, five and a half to Bowral’s four and a half. This was a vastly improved performance from the Bulls compared to the trials of the previous week. The previous week, Bowral would have scored zero if it had been competition. This improved form will no doubt be put to the test when Bowral hosts Bundanoon next Saturday.