PENNANTS AUGUST 27th
DIVISION ONE
The Bowral Club hosted third placed Glenbrook on a fairly miserable day weather-wise. With the Lewis and Wilson Greens suffering under the protracted poor weather, the games for this round were played on the synthetic surface of the Waratah Green.
Last week’s winners Andy Connor, Alastair McGhee, Steve Della and Dugald Braithwaite took on the first of Glenbrook’s fours. Unfortunately for Bowral, the Glenbrook team got away to a much better start to lead 9 – 1 after five ends. Despite a determined effort, Dugald’s team found the going tough and were down 19 – 4 at the twelfth. The Bowral boys then rallied somewhat, but found the Glenbrook lead too much to haul in. The final score was 26 – 14 in favour of the visitors.
In the second game, Terry Butt, Carl Spilker, Gary Brown and Mick Anderson comprised the Bowral Bulls team. Glenbrook proved to be an impressive four and got away to the better start. Despite being pressed very hard, the home team was still in touch with the opposition at 9 – 3 after eight ends. However, the Glenbrook four then really hit their straps and forged to a 16 – 4 lead by halfway. The Bowral boys failed to get any traction in the second half of the game and went down in a final score-line of 27 – 9.
In the third game, Gordon Lewis, Ashley Lewis, Mick Spong and skipper Mick Armstrong took on another highly fancied Glenbrook four. Glenbrook leapt out of the box and raced to a 7 – 0 lead after five ends. The Bowral Bulls then steadied, and worked their way back into the game to be down by four shots at the halfway point 12 – 8. With heads down, the fight back continued and Bowral had levelled the scores 16 – 16 by the seventeenth end. With the Glenbrook skipper firing, his team then progressed to a two shot lead with one end remaining. Not to be denied, and with shots in the head, Bowral grabbed a magnificent five shot haul and victory on the last end. The final score was 22 – 17.
With the Master Board reading 72 – 45 in favour of Glenbrook, and with two match wins, the visitors took 9 competition points from the day. With their one match victory, Bowral managed to gain one competition point. On the Division One competition table, Bowral is now in third position on 11 points. Next week, they travel to take on last placed Austral in the hope that they can repeat their first round victory over the Sydney team. Safe travel, and good form Bulls.
DIVISION FOUR
The Bowral team travelled to the edge of the Zone Five area to take on the Taralga Tigers on their home turf. With a fairly solid cloud cover and a nippy south-wester, the conditions were not as welcoming as the local bowlers. Playing east-west, the Taralga green was fairly heavy and running at around nine – tough going for all bowlers.
On rink 3, Bowral was represented by Peter Cornwell, Mick Flynn, Tony Oakes and Dave Coltman. The Bulls jumped out of the blocks and dashed to a 7 – 0 lead. Not to be denied, the Tigers then found excellent line and length to haul our boys in. Try as they might, the Bowral bowlers found the going really tough for the remainder of the game which finished 25 – 12 in favour of Taralga.
Ted McPhee, Richard Denman, Terry Norwood and Robin Staples comprised the Bowral four in the second game. Although the Tigers held a slight lead, the match was fairly even over the first five or six ends. At that point, Taralga found greater consistency and pushed out to a fairly healthy lead by about halfway. Not to be denied, the Bowral four grabbed a five shot haul and cut the lead to one shot. However, despite their best efforts the Bowral four could only win a couple of ends in the run home. The final score favoured the home team 31 – 13.
In the final game, Arnold Lenczuk, Graham Hunt, Glenn Giese and Bob Crowley battled against Ian, Tim, Isaac and Ken from Taralga. And a real battle it was! Undaunted, the Bulls got off to a very solid start and were a match for their opponents. With all Bowral bowlers having their moments, the Bulls had forged to a narrow lead by the halfway stage. The two sides exchanged the lead in the second half, and the Bulls clung to a one shot lead with a few ends remaining. Unfortunately for Bowral, the Taralga Tigers finished the better and ran out winners 21 – 17.
With the Master Board reading 77 – 42 in favour of Taralga, and with the three match wins, the Tigers collected all 10 competition points from the encounter. Congratulations to Taralga who were the better players on the day. Taralga now leads the Division Four competition table with 19 points, followed by Bundanoon on 18, Bowral on 14.5 and Picton on 8.5. Next Saturday, Bowral will host Picton, and, no doubt, the Bowral bowlers will be looking for some better form on their home turf.