BBC BROADCAST SATURDAY MAY 17th (Terry Norwood at the desk)
BBC Major Triples Championship
Saturday saw the playing of Round 1 of the Club Major Triples Championship with the teams rolling off at 12.30. Because of the number of entries, most sides received a bye in this first round, so there were only two games to be decided. The format was two-bowl triples over twenty-five ends, and so, to the matches . . .
On rink 8 Charles Coode, Rowena Coode and Mick Flynn battled against Mark Barrow, Stephen Della and Dugald Braithwaite. Both sides won early ends for the score to be 4 all after four. Mick’s team then won five of the next six ends to lead 14 – 7 and have the opposition under some pressure. However, Dugald’s team responded well to take five of the following six ends to lead 18 – 15, and when they notched up a five on the eighteenth, they looked to be in a strong position. However, Mick’s team dug deep, won four of the next five ends and reduced the deficit to four with one end to play. They then dominated the last end but were held to three shots, so victory went to Mark, Stephen and Dugald in a tight one at 27 – 26. Charles, Rowena and Mick won fourteen of the twenty-five ends, but that five shotter they dropped on the eighteenth end might just have been their downfall. Congrats to Team Braithwaite on getting the job done.
With astute captaincy, Dugald got his team home in a very tight one!
In the other match, Noel Fraser, Jim Neely and Gail Fraser went head to head with Graham Hunt, Terry Norwood and Robin Staples. And what an extraordinary game this turned out to be! One shot down on the first end, skipper Gail killed the end which then was replayed . . . and so began the run. Team Fraser won end after end . . . after end . . . after end! Fifteen ends on the trot in fact, with Gail in quite extraordinary form. If her team was holding shot, she always added to the tally, while if they were down in the head, she would manage to snaffle something for her team. For fifteen ends, Gail just couldn’t miss a shot. Twenty-five shots up after fifteen ends, Jim, Noel and Gail were never going to lose this one, and they led 29 – 8 when stumps were pulled after twenty-two ends. Team Staples was left to do some soul searching and drown their sorrows, while the victors will roll up their sleeves against Dugald and Co in round 2.
In an astonishing display of brilliance, Gail buried the opposition!
Saturday Social Bowls
Alongside the triples championship games were three social games, a pairs and two triples.
On rink 10, Brian ‘misère’ Bailey and Steve ‘makeover’ Day took on Ted ‘that’s my beer’ McPhee and Chris ‘live-wire’ Forrester. Ted and Chris had the better of the start and led 8 – 2 after five ends. Brian and Steve then hit their straps and when they cracked a five shotter on the eighth, they led 11 – 8. They were still in front on the thirteenth, but a strong run of six ends gave Ted and Chris the upper hand. Eager to get their moneys worth, this group decided to extend the battle to twenty-five ends. This didn’t help team Day though, as Ted and Chris kept winning ends and ground their way to a healthy win at 34 – 20. These four bowlers were a generous lot though . . . they gave team Staples a huge cheer when they finally won an end, the sixteenth of the championship game on the rink beside them!! Thanks guys!!
On rink 11, Jill ‘Hollywood’ Harwood, Peter ‘Virgin’ Flight and Arnie ‘dickie knee’ Lenczuk tussled against Peter ‘senior’ Marshall, Peter ‘junior’ Martin and Ian ‘Mr Cool’ Duncan. In a big scoring opening, the score was 4 all after two ends. Shots in the head guys?! Anyway, the game settled into a rhythm of singles or doubles as these two nibbled away at each other. However, it was Arnie’s lot that was doing slightly the better and they led 13 – 8 after eleven ends. New skipper Ian then nudged his team into better action and a solid run saw them all square at 15 all with four ends to play. Arnie’s team edged in front, but team Duncan weren’t to be denied and steamrolled them to finish on top! Great work Ian in your first hit-out as skip!! Ouch, my dickie knee hurts even more!!
In the final game, Grahame ‘dragon’ Denman was swing lead for Barry ‘smerfel’ Werfel and the evergreen cobbler Gordon Lewis on the one hand, and Graham ‘hardnut’ Hartnup and Richard ‘bowling ball’ Denman on the other. Richard’s team won the opening to lead 4 – 1 after four ends, and then pushed the advantage out to 11 – 6 after eleven. However, it’s never wise to write off a team led by the venerable ‘cobbler’, and with the whip cracking, Gordon urged his team into better action and they responded well. By the seventeenth end, they had squared the scores at 14 all, and a double on the next end gave them the lead. Richard’s boys responded with a three, but team Lewis ground out three shots of their own on the last two ends to get home 19 – 17. What a great game!