BBC BROADCAST PENNANTS SATURDAY APRIL 11th           (Terry Norwood at the desk)

Grade Six

Bowral Grade Six bowlers ventured to Camden to take on the locals in round six of the ten round competition, and were seeking a win to get the season back on track.

In the first game, Noel Fraser, Jim Neely, Oscar Whalin and Ash Lewis started very strongly to lead their Camden counterparts 13 – 0 after six ends. With Ash leading the way, they then pushed the lead out to 22 – 7 by the eleventh and had a strong hold on the match. However, the home team responded and a comeback began. Camden pushed hard dominating the back half and clawing back the deficit end after end. Fortunately for Bowral, the lead from the first half proved to be enough for them to hang on for a 30 – 24 victory.

In the next game, Mick Fisher, Dennis Beatty, Peter Martin and Dugald Braithwaite also began strongly to lead 6 – 1 after five ends, and then 11 – 2 after nine. The Bowral four then advanced the score to 14 – 6 after twelve and had the home team under pressure. However, Camden dug in to win the next five ends and came over the top to grab a one shot lead. Not to be outdone, Dugald fired up the Bowral team and they regained the initiative to take the last four ends and victory at 21 – 15. So, another competition point notched up for Bowral.

In the final match, Mick Flynn, Peter Flight, Dave Coltman and Al McGhee made a slow start to be 1 – 4 down after the first three ends and this became 3 – 10 after eight. However, the Bowral boys then settled into a better rhythm and began to slowly peg back the opposition. By the thirteenth, it was 8 – 12, then  14 – 16 on the seventeenth and 16 all with two ends to play. Unfortunately for Bowral, the local boys finished the stronger taking those last ends and getting home 21 – 16.

So overall, it was a good day for Bowral as we came away from Camden with 9 competition points and some much needed confidence. With the next two games at home, Bowral will be gunning for a couple of strong wins to set the comp alight!

Grade Seven

Bowral played host to the Robertson team for the commencement of the second half of the season of pennants, and, like the grade six team, was looking to get back on the winning track.

On rink 8 of the Waratah Green, Graham Hunt, Terry Salter, Terry Norwood and Robin Staples failed to get enough shots in the head over the opening ends and trailed 2 – 10 after seven. They finally found some better form to reduce the score to 8 – 10 three ends later, only to then have the Robbo boys re-apply the pressure and scoot away to 18 – 9. Four ends later Bowral had clawed back to 15 – 18 and were, at least on paper, still in the battle. However, playing the better bowls, as they had all day, Robbo cleaned up well and went to the clubhouse 26 – 16 victors.

On the next rink, Arnie Lenczuk, Ross Barber, Gordon Lewis and Chris Forrester were under the pump from the outset to be 0 – 10 after four ends, but then welcomely, found touch to be back in the game at 8 – 10 by the tenth. In what then became a really tight battle, the scores were 12 all on the thirteenth, then 13 all and then 14 all as the teams traded singles. Unfortunately for Bowral, from there, Robbo gained the upper hand to take the last four ends and victory at 22 – 14. It was a great fight-back from Bowral, but Robbo was just a bit too tough on the day.

In the final match, Ian Duncan, Clive Neutze, Reta South and Bob Edwards dropped some big scores at the outset to be 4 – 13 after the first five ends and under the pump. However, they steadied to take five of the next six ends and reduce the deficit to 9 – 14. It was at that point that Robbo took control of the game, and seven ends later they held sway at 25 – 10. Bob and the team managed to salvage seven shots over the last three ends, but by then the game had slipped beyond their reach, and the final score was 26 – 14 in favour of Robertson.

So, what was a great day for the Robertson bowlers was not a good day for Bowral! All 10 competition points were notched up by Robbo and Bowral was left to lick wounds and think about the next round. Bowral is not completely out of the running, but a much improved performance will be needed next week at Camden to turn things around.