WEDNESDAY BOWLING APRIL 26th (Terry Norwood reporting)
A few items of information to begin with:
- The Grade Two Pennants team will host the competition leaders Penrith in round nine on Saturday April 29th. With two recent wins under their belts, the Bowral fours will be keen to take it up to the men from the foot of the mountain. Penrith has only been beaten once this competition so they will definitely be a hard nut to crack. Go well Bulls!
- The Grade Six Pennants team has the bye in round nine so most of the team members will probably be on the green for some much needed practice. The team is currently trailing the rest of the field and will need a win in the final round to get off the bottom of the ladder.
- The Men’s Bowling Committee will hold its next meeting on the morning of Saturday 29th. One of the items on the agenda will be whether to bring the AGM into alignment with the Bowls NSW calendar and hold the meeting late June/early July.
- The Wilson Green is now open for roll ups and general play. The men’s Wednesday bowling was played on this re-surfaced green which was running very slowly. So slow was the green that all the games finished about an hour earlier than would have been the case on the Waratah Green! Predictably, during play most of the bowlers opted for short ends but, even so, there were many short bowls on a lot of those ends.
Social Bowls Saturday April 22nd
Nine hardy bowlers turned up for game on what was a pleasant afternoon. They were organised into a fours match and headed to rink 13 on the far side of the Waratah Green. With Grahame Denman as swing bowler for both sides, Peter Cornwell, Keith Edwards and skipper Jim Starkey took on Barry Werfel, Arnold Lenczuk and Richard Denman. Although Jim and his team won the first four ends and held a fine lead of 10 – 0, the others hit back scoring five shots on the next four ends. On the tenth end however, team Starkey scored a massive six and by the thirteenth end led 22 – 5. Although Richard and his team then won six of the remaining ends, they could only close the gap by a couple of shots. The final score in favour of Jim’s team was 28 – 13.
Social Bowls Wednesday 26th
Thirty bowlers signed up for a game on what was, in terms of the weather, an excellent autumn afternoon. Thirty is one of the perfect numbers because the committee was able to organise five matches of triples. As mentioned above, the games were assigned to the Wilson Green and, because bowlers had spent most of the last twelve months on the synthetic surface of the Waratah Green, it was going to test their ability to adjust to a slow surface.
On rink 2, Jill Harwood, Paul McInerney and ‘the cobbler’ Gordon Lewis battled against Joel Hunt, Graham Hunt and ‘Mr Miraculous’ Peter Morales. Gordon’s team dominated the opening ends and surged to a lead of 11 – 2 by the seventh end. Team Morales then found better form and by the thirteenth end had reduced the deficit to 10 – 13. They still trailed after seventeen ends, but they won three of the last four ends to sneak home winners by 19 – 17. Never write off a team skippered by ‘Mr Miraculous’!
Graham Hunt came good as the game progressed!
On the adjacent rink, Grahame Denman, Richard Denman and skipper Ted McPhee took on Keith Scriven, Viv Gear and Ian Crow. In the end, this was a game that turned out to be nowhere near as close as the match committee thought it would be. Ian’s team won fourteen of the twenty completed ends and left Ted’s team in their wake. With nonagenarian Keith leading splendidly and both Viv and Ian chipping in as required, they led 11 – 2 after ten ends and then stormed home to an impressive 29 – 7 victory.
On the second last end, Ian trailed the jack with the shot of the match!
On rink 4, the usual 18-ender saw a replacement skipper as John Cummins was unavailable and John Fleming was also ‘on leave’. So, Bill Pope, Harold Wall and skipper Paul Rubie took on (the Wilson Green!) Keith Edwards, Bill Meredith and Terry Norwood. And what a cracker of a game this was! With both teams struggling somewhat to come to grips with the slow surface to begin with, the scoring was even and stood at 5 all after eight ends. Terry’s team then strung together some ends and led 12 – 9 after fourteen. In the end, a lucky wick on Terry’s last bowl saw his team get home 14 – 12. Bragging rights equal!
Both Harold and Paul had some really good ends in a close match!
In the match-up on rink 5, Denis Lees, Arnold Lenczuk and Tony Oakes battled it out against Graham Hartnup, Neville Tanner and skipper Don Coleman. And this was another really close game! The scores were level at 4 all after four ends and, although Don’s team edged ahead, by the tenth end the scores were locked at 9 all. Don’s team then edged to the lead again only to have team Oakes level them on the seventeenth end at 13 – 13. Tony’s team then got the better of their opponents over the final four ends to run winners at 19 – 13. This was a close, hard-fought game that was either team’s to win until the last couple of ends.
Don and Tony had a close battle as skippers!
In the final game, Ian Duncan, Brian Bailey and skipper Owen Williams battled wits and skills against Mike Hook, Joe O’Donnell and Jim Starkey. Although Owen’s team won the first couple of ends, they found themselves behind 3 – 7 after six ends. Team Williams then got cracking to win four of the next five ends and set up a lead of 12 – 8. It was then that the next two ends provided the turning point of the game; Jim’s team scored ten shots on those ends and suddenly led 18 – 12! With the sides then sharing the remaining ends, team Starkey ran out fairly comfortable winners at 24 – 16.
Jim Starkey shows his winning form!