SOCIAL BOWLS WEDNESDAY AUGUST 31st
Well, what a cracker of a day greeted the thirty-six social bowlers on this last Wednesday in August! Although there was a gusty breeze coming generally out of the east, the appearance of the sun made it a real pleasure to be on the green. It was a real pleasure also to have Julie Hayden back to join the men for the first time in a while.
Three games were staged on each of the Lewis and Waratah greens. The Lewis was running at about a very sluggish ten, and not playing all that easily for the bowlers to always maintain the line. Playing north-south, the Waratah green was running at about sixteen, and provided a consistent surface for confident bowling.
On rink 19 (Lewis green) Mike Holmwood, Julie Hayden and skipper Peter Morales were matched up against Jim Starky, Tony Oakes and Bob Edwards. This rink made the bowlers work extremely hard to keep the line to the kitty and try to bowl confidently. That said, Peter and his team managed to come to grips with it better and surged to a 13 – 3 lead by the halfway mark. Things didn’t change much in the run home and team Morales went home winners 20 – 7.
On rink 16 (Lewis green) the wily Gordon Lewis and the equally wily Robin Staples pitted their wits and their skills against each other for the second week in a row. Teamed with the two Dons, Coleman and Chapman, Gordon was very slow on the scoreboard over the first seven ends against Viv Gear, Richard Denman and Robin. Down 7 – 2, team Lewis then leapt to life over the next three ends with hauls of 5, 3 and 1. This took them to the lead and they were not to be headed for the rest of the afternoon. Although struggling on the sluggish surface, team Staples hung in to be only five shots down with two ends remaining. It was then that Gordon and the Dons delivered the knockout blows with hauls of four and three, and final victory went to them by twelve shots 26 – 14.
In the final game on the Lewis green, skipper Harold Wall, Graham Hartnup and visitor S. Goodall took on Mike Hooke, Gary Mitchell and skipper Arnold Lenczuk. The first few ends saw the scores fairly close (5 – 3), but then Harold and his men really applied the screws, including hauls of six and five, to race to a lead of 21 – 5 by the eleventh end. Arnold rallied his team and they fared slightly better from then on. When time was called after eighteen ends however, Harold and his team were well ahead and claimed victory 26 – 8.
In the first of the games on the Waratah green, skippers John Cummins and Paul Rubie faced off in their usual 18 end super confrontation. Teamed with Kel Limbrick and Barry Werfel, John was out to reclaim bragging rights over Paul who was teamed with Laurence Vipond and John Fleming. Paul began the day with a stern team talk to his men who responded by playing beyond expectation. This left John, who’d also revved his team up, Kel and Barry well behind at 12 – 5 after eight ends. With team Cummins often holding good positions, Paul responded with super drawing. Behind 22 – 9, John and his men rallied to take the final four ends and closed the gap on the scorecard to a respectable 22 – 17.
In another game, Wal Markow, Joel Hunt and skipper Glenn Giese took on Graham Denman, Col Stone and Paul McInerney. Glenn and his team charged out of the blocks to race to a lead of 19 – 4 after eight ends. With skipper Glenn roaring encouragement, and Joel Hunt responding with some brilliant drawing, they continued on their merry way in the lead. When time was called after eighteen ends, team Giese was in front by 29 to 12 on the scorecard. Good on you Glenn for all the support and guidance you gave all bowlers in this match.
In the final game on the Waratah green Graham Hunt, Eric Willacy and skipper Mick Flynn took up the challenge of Ted McPhee, Terry Norwood and Chris Forrester. With the green running very truly, Chris and his team made the better start to lead by 10 – 4 after eight ends. The ninth end then proved to be very influential in the entire game. With the skippers still to bowl, Ted McPhee had three bowls for team Forrester within 12 inches of the jack, and Terry two. Holding five, skipper Chris then put his three bowls into the head to make it 8 shots. With some other bowls partly blocking the head, opposing skipper Mick was unable to split the head, and team Forrester collected the eight shots and went to a commanding 18 – 4 lead. It was then that a fight-back started! With Graham, Eric and Mick each out-bowling their opponent, team Flynn dominated the remainder of the match taking eight of twelve ends. Unfortunately for them, team Forrester managed to salvage enough shots in the run home to run out winners 25 – 20. That 8 shot haul on the ninth end attracted quite some comment in the after game discussion!
