BBC BROADCAST WEDNESDAY AUGUST 13th (Terry Norwood at the desk)
Bits and bobs to begin with:
- A final reminder that the Men’s Bowling Club AGM will be held at 10am on Sunday next August 17th. Nominations for all positions on the committee are open until 5pm Saturday for anyone interested in an official role. Hope to see you on Sunday.
- The last of the quarter finals of the Championship Mixed Pairs competition was staged on Wednesday, so more on that below.
- The Women’s Bowling Club will be conducting the Tulip Festival event again this year and it’s set down for Thursday September 11th. Men are encouraged to join in as part of mixed fours, so come on gents, get your names listed on the schedule which is up on the notice board. Nominations close on September 5th so you have a little while to get your agenda organised.
- And a further reminder that the Men’s Club is organising the RSL Shield competition again this year and the schedule for you to nominate yourself is on the notice board. As usual, the competition runs over three weeks with the first week being fours, the second week singles/triples and the third pairs. There is good money up for grabs, so let’s get lots of teams on the green. The first round of this event will be Saturday August 30th.
- A number of our men and women bowlers have entered Region events and doing themselves proud. Last weekend, Barb Wainberg won her first game of the rookie singles which was a great achievement in her first regional hit-out. Good on you Barb!
Championship Mixed Pairs Quarter Final
Wednesday brought on the last of the quarter finals when Barb Wainberg and Mick Flynn took to rink 8 of the Waratah Green to battle out a semi-final place against Reta South and Bob Edwards. And what a battle it was! The opening ends were very tight, but Mick and Barb held sway to lead 5 – 1 after the first five ends. They then pushed this out to 8 – 3, but by the tenth end, Reta and Bob had levelled things up at 8 all. With Barb leading well, she and Mick edged to the lead, but by the fourteenth end, they were down a shot, and, although they regained a slim lead, by the eighteenth the teams were level again. What a game with three ends to play!! Reta and Bob then took singles on each of the next two ends to set up the twenty-first end with the upper hand. However, Barb, with the pressure on, ghosted a couple of shots close on the last end, and she and Mick held three, and game, until Bob cut one out with his last bowl. Phew, all equal after twenty-one ends, so play went into an extra end to find the winner. Winning the toss, Reta rolled a long end and got a shot fairly close, only for Mick to put one two inches in front of the jack. It looked like the honours were going to Mick and Barb until Bob came up with the shot of the day. With his last bowl, Bob scraped past Mick’s bowl and nick the jack to two of his bowls! Jubilation and a place in the semi for Reta and Bob, while it was heart-break for Barb and Mick!! It was a ripper of a game and a credit to all four bowlers. The final score was 20 – 18!
The style that brought the shot of the day and victory; Bob Edwards on the mat!
Wednesday Social Bowls
Thirty-eight eager souls turned out for social bowls on what was a dry and reasonably pleasant Wednesday afternoon. The Match Committee arranged two games of pairs and five of triples. With eight games in all, the Wilson Green was required, so two games were organised for the grass. The general feedback after the games on the grass seemed to be that the Wilson continues to improve being a little quicker and running truly. The grass of the Wilson and the synthetic of the Waratah will always be quite different surfaces to play on and bowlers are always going to have to adjust to the conditions. The incoming Men’s executive will seek ways to make use of both greens as we move into the warmer weather. And so to the games themselves . . .
On rink 7 of the Waratah Green, Ted ‘Barry’ McPhee, Wal ‘speckles’ Markow and Owen ‘wily’ Williams took on Peter ‘senior’ Marshall, Richard ‘bowling ball’ Denman and Dave ‘beanie’ Charlesworth, and Owen’s team leapt from the blocks to lead 5 – 1 after five ends. Dave’s team then went on a winning streak to take the lead by the eighth, and still had the lead by a shot after twelve. It was then that team Williams dominated proceedings and by the seventeenth led 16 – 9. They then held on to win by two at 19 – 17, in what was a good, close tussle!
Owen, the wily one, is rolling them out well at the moment!
In another triples game on rink 9, Joel ‘ac/dc’ Hunt, Neville ‘the’ Tanner and coach extraordinaire Robin Staples battled against Terry ‘pep’ Salter, Jill ‘Hollywood’ Harwood and Viv ‘third’ Gear, and although Robin’s team won the first two ends, team Gear had the scores back on even terms by the sixth. Robin’s team then edged to the front again, but Viv’s trio hauled them in and by the sixteenth end had set up a four shot advantage. Far from done, and with Joel and Neville on song, team Staples again hit the lead and held on to win 20 – 17 in another great encounter.
On rink 10, Barry ‘smerfel’ Werfel, Don ‘gentleman’ Chapman and Steve ‘makeover’ Day tussled for honours against Grahame ‘dragon’ Denman, Paul ‘ricochet’ Rubie and Gordon ‘cobbler’ Lewis, and with a juicy four shotter on the first end, team Day was up and running. By the fifth end, they led 8 – 2 and were still six in front by the eleventh. It was then that Gordon nudged his team into action, and they ran together six of the next seven ends to take the lead by a shot. However, they then ran out of puff for Steve’s trio to swamp them on the last three ends, and they finished on the low end of the score-line of 24 – 17.
Sometimes incognito, sometimes made-over . . . Stephen’s team rolled the opposition!
In a pairs game on rink 11, Arnie ‘dickie knee’ Lenzcuk and the exuberant Chris Forrester tried to stare down Ian ‘Mr Cool’ Duncan and Steven ‘suave’ Goddard, but it was Ian and Steven who did the staring down to greater success. They led 8 – 2 after five ends and 10 – 4 after nine and had plenty of spring in their step. However, Chris and Arnie upped their game, nabbed some ends and by the thirteenth were on even terms. Ian and Steven then steadied to shoot out by seven shots, but Arnie and Chris reeled it back to two shots down with three ends to play. However, Steven and Ian hung tough and with Arnie and Chris mostly in the ditch, they cracked a three on the last to get home 22 – 17.
The ‘cool one’ Ian Duncan had a fine game for the victors!
In another pairs match on rink 12, Mark ‘wheel’ Barrow and George Hindi took on Charles and Rowena ‘morse’ Coode, and in a tight opening Mark and George led 3 – 2 after four ends. They then strung together some fine ends, taking seven of the next eight to lead handsomely at 15 – 4. And then, a turnaround came! Charles and Rowena won six of the next seven ends, netted twelve shots and had the scores locked with two ends to play. To their relief, George and Mark banked a single on the twentieth, but the comeback was complete for Charles and Rowena when they netted a three on the last end! Wow, what a comeback! 19 – 17!
Charles and Rowena snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in a great comeback!
On rink 4 of the Wilson green, Alex ‘wides’ Christlo, Peter ‘junior’ Martin and Terry ‘PNE’ Norwood took on Graham ‘leaning tower’ Hunt, Paul ‘mac’ McInerney and Clive ‘dasher’ Neutze, and in a tight start to the game, Clive’s team led 5 – 3 after six ends. The lead was then only one shot after nine, until team Neutze strung together six ends to leave the opposition in their wake at 18 – 5. Team Norwood then found some better form to win five of the remaining six ends and put some respectability into the final score of 19 – 15. All bowlers had some very good ends, but Graham had a blinder and Paul and Clive edged their opposite number overall.
Graham, the ‘leaning tower’, had a blinder on the grass!
On rink 5, Mark ‘midshipman’ Shelvey, Mike ‘grappling’ Hook and Joe ‘rusty nail’ O’Donnell took on Shane Harvey, Graham ‘hardnut’ Hartnup and Peter ‘miraculous’ Morales. Without the card no rundown can be provided, but the final score was 22 – 17 in favour of team Morales.