BBC BROADCAST WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 2nd (Terry Norwood at the desk)
Rookie Singles Competition
The draw has now been completed for the first round of the Rookie Singles. Given that there were ten entries, the first round will consist of two matches with the remaining bowlers moving through to the second round with a bye. The two first round matches will see Ian Duncan play Graham Hartnup, while Russell Dunstan will face off against Graham Denman. The winners of these two matches will then play off in the second round, with the other second round games being Alex Christlo Vs David Cosgrove, Denis Lees Vs Wal Markow and Bruce Yahl Vs Peter Flight. The two first round matches and the second round game of Bruce Vs Peter will be played on Wednesday October 9th, with the other second round games being staged on Wednesday 16th. Bowl well all you Rookies!
Mixed Pairs Championship
Nominations for the Mixed Pairs Championship will close at 5pm on Saturday October 5th so there is still time for bowlers to organise a pair and list your names on the entry form posted on the notice board. We don’t have a great number of entries yet so come on girls and boys, let’s see if we can lift the entries.
Wednesday Social Bowls
Thirty-seven hardy bowlers turned out for social bowls, including a former President of the Club in Jeff Williams. It was great to see Jeff at the Club and he was pleased to catch up with some of the long-term members and recall some of the past events. The day was fairly chilly with an overcast sky, but strangely, there was very little wind to worry the bowlers. With thirty-seven bowlers on the green, the Match Committee organised two games of pairs and five of triples.
In a pairs match on rink 7, Wal Markow and Richard ‘denman’ Denman took on Alex Christlo and Clive ‘dasher’ Neutze. Clive and Alex had the better of the opening ends to lead 8 – 1 after five. However, on the next end Richard and Wal notched up a mouth-watering six shotter, and when they followed with an impressive four on the eighth, they led 12 – 8! The game then went in short bursts to either side so that after the sixteenth end Clive and Alex led by one shot. Richard and Wal then levelled the score, and followed up with a heavy blow when they snaffled a five shotter with two ends to play. However, there was no white flag waving from Clive and Alex, and they snatched the last two ends with doubles. Unfortunately for them though, they fell a couple of shots short with victory going to the Denman led team by 25 – 23.
The winning duo, Wal and Richard!
In a triples match on rink 8, Bill ‘nonagenarian’ Meredith, Paul McInerney and the wily Owen Williams (great to see you back on the green Owen) battled against Bruce Yahl, Viv ‘first’ Gear and the maestro Robin Staples. Now, this game, like so many, turned out to be one of those matches where the second half is fairly much the opposite of the first. Team Williams made a cracking start with a couple of four shotters and led 9 – 1 after four ends. With Owen finding his feet after his long break, his team continued to dominate and by the eleventh end led 13 – 5. It was then that the pendulum swung and the fortunes shifted! Robin’s team won four of the next five ends, notched up thirteen shots and suddenly led 18 – 14! Now confident and the spinnaker set, team Staples sailed home to a ten shot victory at 25 – 15.
In the 18-ender on rink 9, Bill ‘the’ Pope (good to see you back in harness Bill), newcomer Dave Cosgrove and skipper Paul ‘ricochet’ Rubie faced off against Mike ‘fish’ Hook, Keith ‘foxy’ Edwards and John ‘junior’ Cummins. In a very tight, serious, no quarter given opening to the game, scores were locked at 4 all after six ends. Much to the pleasure of skipper Paul (still smarting after his mauling of the previous week), his team snatched a four on the seventh end, and when they grabbed another on the thirteenth, they led impressively by 13 – 7. Far from done though, ‘junior’ fired up his team, grabbed a couple of four shotters themselves and strode to the lead on the thirteenth end! Game on! But then the game-breaker came on the fifteenth in the form of a six shotter to Paul’s team and they skipped home to a 24 – 17 victory.
Great to see ‘the pope’ back in action . . . and a winner!
On rink 10, Grahame ‘dragon’ Denman was swing bowler to Don ‘gentleman’ Chapman and Harold ‘stentless’ Wall on one side and Neville ‘the’ Tanner and Peter ‘ambi’ Flight on the other. With both teams winning early ends the scores were locked at 3 all after four. Peter’s team then notched up a very welcome four on the sixth end, but when Harold’s team countered that with a sizzling five shotter on the seventh, the lead lay with team Wall at 10 – 7. Harold’s team then won five of the next seven ends to have their opposition gasping and looking to the heavens for inspiration. And it came . . . down 10 – 20, team Flight won the next five ends to reduce the deficit to three shots with two ends to play! In a real nail-biting finish, Harold’s team held on to win 21 – 18. What a good one!
Harold got his team home in a very close one!
In the second of the pairs matches, visitor Jeff Williams and Mick ‘potters’ Flynn butted heads against Terry Norwood and the cobbler himself Gordon Lewis. Now, like all games, the Match Committee expected this to be a competitive, close encounter, but, unfortunately not so. With Gordon in splendid form and his lead chipping in from time to time, they won sixteen ends to a mere five by their frustrated opposition. Many of the ends were tight, but it was team Lewis that managed to get that bowl closest to the jack. And Mick had little luck as he unfortunately gave away the shot a few times as he tried desperately to get into the head. Leading 16 – 8, Terry and Gordon scorched home taking the last five ends and the honours at 28 – 8.
The ‘cobbler’ had another mighty game!
On rink 12, Joel ‘grr’ Hunt, Ian ‘cool’ Duncan and Arnold ‘rosie’ Lenczuk battled against Russell Dunstan, Graham ‘hardnut’ Hartnup and skipper Stephen Day. And this, unfortunately, was another of the games that defied the expectations of the Match Committee in that it was not a close one at all. In a sizzling start to the game, Arnold’s team won five of the opening six ends to lead 12 – 2. Stephen’s team grabbed a couple of ends, but at the halfway point of the match, they were languishing behind the opposition at 6 – 14. And, unfortunately for the team Day bowlers, things didn’t improve in the back half. They did win four ends but could salvage only singles to the multiples scored by team Lenczuk. Arnie’s team came away handsome victors at 27 – 10.
In the final match, Ted ‘Mr Ed’ McPhee, Graham ‘leaning tower’ Hunt and Bob ‘wily’ Edwards struggled for honours against Denis ‘rowdy’ Lees, Barry ‘smerfel’ Werfel and the ‘commodore’ Peter Watson. And again, the Match Committee was surprised that this game was another with a wide margin on the scorecard. Both sides won early ends and the score after six ends at 7 all gave no indication of what was to follow. Bob’s team went on a scoring spree between the eighth and thirteenth ends to set up an enormous lead of 20 – 8. And there was little comfort for team Watson on the run home as Bob and his boys kept up the pressure with some very fine bowling. The final score in favour of team Edwards was 29 – 14.
PS by Robin Staples. The draw for the Rookie Singles is now posted on the notice board in the clubhouse. Should you not wish to visit the Club the draw is also posted on this website under Men’s Bowling Club>Draws and Results.