MEN’S BOWLS INFO SATURDAY JANUARY 14th (Terry Norwood reporting)
A few items of information to begin with
- The Wilson Green came back into use on Saturday after its Spring renovation. A couple of social games were staged along with some bare-foot bowling. Understandably, it’s still some way off being ready for competition bowling but progress has been made.
- With the Wilson Green now back in use, the Lewis Green has been top-dressed to give it a freshen-up. It’s hoped the Lewis will be out of action for only three weeks, but no doubt the weather will have an influence on this.
- The shade cloths around the greens will be redone in the next couple of months. The Board has ensured that Bowral Club is on the repair schedule of the official contractor for this work.
- Members are reminded that the Chris Benton Memorial event is set down for Saturday February 4th. This is a fours event so get your teams organised bowlers and make this a ripper of a day. For this event, bowlers are asked to wear the blue uniform to make that connection with Chris.
- The Bowls Committee has decided that the Club will enter teams in two divisions of the Pennants competition commencing in February. Teams have been entered in the division two and division six competitions. Training for bowlers who’ve nominated for Pennants will commence in the very near future.
- Nominations for the Men’s Major Triples Championship will close on January 27th. This competition will then commence on Saturday February 11th.
BOWLS NEWS SATURDAY JANUARY 14th
Men’s Minor Singles Competition
It was a pleasantly warm day that provided the setting for the opening day of the Men’s Minor Singles competition. The Waratah Green provided a very good surface and with the breeze not much above gentle, the conditions were very close to ideal. There were five first round matches to complete and these got underway at 12.30.
In the match on rink 7, our St Ives import, Steven Goddard, took on the energetic leftie Clive Neutze. Both these bowlers have fine credentials, so the outcome of this game was difficult to predict. In the end though, it was a fairly one-sided affair with Steven quite dominant. Although Clive won 9 of the twenty-one ends, it was the heavier scoring by Steven that saw him lead throughout the match. Steven notched up 3 threes and a four along the way while Clive didn’t score more than two on any end. The final score was 25 – 12 in Steven’s favour.
Steven was in excellent form!
On rink 8, Paul McInerney went head to head with the ebullient Bob Crowley. Bob made the slightly better start but by the seventh end the score-card read 5 – 5. It was then that Bob strung four ends together and established a six shot lead. And, although Paul hung in tenaciously, Bob pushed his lead to 20 – 12 by the twentieth end. Paul clawed back five shots over the next three ends to get right back into the match. However Bob then steadied and in fairly close ends went on to win 25 – 18.
Bob Crowley steers one home!
Fellow Committee members Ted McPhee and Terry Norwood battled it out on the next rink. Ted was very consistent to begin the match and took the early lead. The ends were very tight and the scoring low as they finished the eighth end level at 5 all. Terry then strung three ends together to set up a lead of 12 – 7. They then exchanged ends and when Ted notched up a three on the seventeenth end he had reduced the deficit to 13 – 15. Terry then pushed out to lead 22 – 14, but Ted’s never say die attitude kept him in the game. In the end though, a couple of single shot ends saw Terry prevail at 25 – 17.
On rink 10, it was a match between the grey bowls and the yellow: Tony Oakes versus Andy Connor. Every now and again there is a game when Lady luck seems play a role, and this was one of those games. Andy conceded after the match that any luck there was in the game went his way. The bowls just didn’t seem to fall the way of Tony as time and again he’d miss by millimetres or fall the wrong way. Andy was quick to agree that the final score of 25 – 13 wasn’t a true indication of the closeness of the bowling. Anyway, that was the result, and Andy moves on to the quarter final match next week.
The Andy Connor delivery!
In the last of the competition singles it was the battle of the Grahams; the up-and-coming Graham Hartnup against the resolute Graham Hunt. Both bowlers got off to a steady start and after seven ends the scores were locked at 4 – 4. G Hunt then won a couple of ends to double his score, but G Hartnup kept in touch to be down by only one at 7 – 8. G Hunt went out to lead 14 – 7 only to have G Hartnup overtake him to lead 15 – 14. It was then that experience seemed to come into play as G Hunt forged ahead and went on to win by 25 – 16. (I hope these two blokes don’t play each other in singles too often because writing this up was a nightmare!)
G Hunt prevailed in the battle of the Grahams!
Social Bowls
Three games of social bowls were also staged on Saturday, a game of singles of the Waratah Green and two games of pairs on the Wilson Green.
In the singles match, a semi coaching situation, Don Chapman and Denis Lees had a very good hit-out. Stephen Della kindly joined in as marker and helped in the schooling of Denis in the thinking and tactics of singles play. The score-line after 21 ends of 25 – 19 indicated that Denis was fairly much holding his own. He will face a baptism of fire though when he goes up against Bob Crowley in a competition singles quarter final on Wednesday.
In a pairs match on the Wilson Green, Keith Edwards and skipper Peter Morales went up against Barry Werfel and Mike Holmwood. Mike and Barry made much the better start to lead 8 – 0 but by the eleventh end there was only one shot difference at 9 – 8. When time was called after 19 ends, it was Peter and Keith in front 15 – 13. In the other pairs match, Graham Denman and skipper Gordon Lewis battled against Richard Denman and Don Coleman. Again, a quick start by one team was then matched by the other for the scores to be equal at 9 – 9 after nine ends. When time was called after thirteen ends, the scores were locked at 12 all. All bowlers found the going on the Wilson Green fairly difficult with the surface being very sluggish. Obviously more time is needed for this green to be back in really good condition.