BBC BROADCAST WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 12th (Terry Norwood at the desk)
Some gristle to chew on as a start:
- Pennants will continue on Saturday as the Bowral side ventures to the south to take on the current competition leaders the Taralga Tigers. The Tigers are a very tough unit especially at home, but the Bowral twelve are determined to take it up to them. The Tigers are a great bunch of blokes, but Bowral won’t let friendship get in the way of having a real go. May it be a great match!
- Social bowls will continue on Saturday despite many of the Match Committee being on call for Pennants at Taralga. Make sure you get your name listed by 11.30 so that the organisors can get things set up for a 12.30 start.
- The Wilson Green is still under a minor makeover and out of play. The Greens Committee (greenkeeper Dale, GM Tony, Peter Flight, Robin Staples, Chris Forrester, Gail Fraser, Carl Peterson) met to bring everyone up to date and determine priorities. For the Men’s Bowling Committee, Peter will keep close contact with the greenkeeper so that bowlers are kept up to speed.
- The Men’s Bowling Committee met on Wednesday February 12th and the draft minutes of that meeting should be posted on the notice board in the next couple of days. The next meeting will be in two weeks time on February 26th so that we can keep things rolling.
- All financial bowling members should now have received a copy of the survey being conducted by your Men’s Bowling Committee. It would be appreciated if you could get your response back asap so that Ian Duncan can collate the info and pass it to the Committee for its next meeting (the one on the 26th).
Social Bowls Wednesday
An excellent number of forty bowlers turned out for a roll on a humid but pleasant Wednesday afternoon. With the Pennants encounter looming on Saturday on the very slow Taralga green, the Match Committee decided to run a couple of trial games of the Pennants players on the Lewis Green, while the usual social games were allocated to the synthetic surface of the Waratah Green. And the bowlers extended a warm welcome to Ann and Terry Salter who joined the group for the first time.
On rink 8, Bill ’emeritus’ Meredith, Keith ‘fox’ Edwards and Paul ‘mac’ McInerney took on Barb Wainberg, Jim Larkin and the wily Owen Williams. In a great start as first-time skipper Paul’s team took the opening end, and when they grabbed a four shotter on the sixth, they led 8 – 4. They continued to get the better of the opposition until they hit a six shot brick wall on the tenth! Shaken, but still in front, the McInerney trio took over the running again, and had the better of the run home. First-time skipper Paul must have been fairly chuffed to enter the Club victor at 23 – 15. Congrats!
In the 18-ender (come 20-ender with tag teamer the Pope in the wings!!) Bill ‘jockey’ Dodwell and junior Cummins puffed chests and faced off against John ‘classical’ Fleming and Mr ricochet Paul Rubie. Both sides chalked up wins early but it was the Fleming/Rubie combination that led narrowly at 8 – 7 on the sixth end. However, a three shotter on the eighth clicked the Dodwell/Cummins ship into action, and, tagging the Pope into action, set sail for victory. A massive five shotter on the fifteenth totally becalmed the Fleming/Rubie canoe and the jock and junior (and the tagger) drifted home back-slapping winners.
On rink 10, Jill ‘hollywood’ Harwood, Barry ‘smerfel’ Werfel and mid-shipman Peter Watson battled against Alex ‘wides’ Christlo, Denis ‘rowdy’ Lees and Viv ‘top’ Gear. Viv’s team had the better of the opening ends and raced to a lead of 8 – 2 after seven ends. The mid-shipman was having a little difficulty getting his crew co-ordinated, but a three shotter on the eighth was a start and by the eleventh they were within two shots of team Gear. However, Viv and his boys then took over, stepped on the gas and took control of the run home. The final score was 22 – 12 to the top Gear trio.
In the next game, Ann Salter, Mark ‘wheel’ Barrow and Joe ‘skip’ O’Donnell faced off against Terry Salter, Mike ‘grappling’ Hook and Dave ‘pot black’ Charlesworth. With the ‘skip’ cracking the whip, team O’Donnell jumped from the blocks to lead 6 – 2 after five ends. From that point, ends were tight and scores low as both sides fought for supremacy. At the eleventh end Joe’s team led 9 – 5, but by the fourteenth, Dave’s team had clawed their way to a one shot lead. In a see-sawing back half, the sides exchanged single shots with Dave’s team still clinging to a slender lead with two ends to play. In a terrific finish, Joe’s team swamped the opposition with a three shotter to run out victors 15 – 13. Great one!
In the clash on rink 12, Graham ‘dragon’ Denman, Shane ‘knee’ Harvey and Wal ‘speckles’ Markow traded shots with Joel ‘grr’ Hunt, Mark Shelvey and Graham ‘hardnut’ Hartnup. In a hard-hitting opening with lots of chat and some serious bowling, Graham’s team got the jump on the opposition to lead 7 – 2 after six ends. And with a five shotter on the tenth end they were in a very strong position at 14 – 6. The genial Wal tried to fire up his team, but the opposition was in a ‘take no prisoners’ mood and clamped on the pressure. In the run home, Graham and his boys maintained their form and ran out deserved winners at 25 – 11. And the victorious skipper wasn’t half pleased handing in the card!
In the first game of the ‘heavy green’ trial, a 25-ender two-bowl triples, Ian ‘mr cool’ Duncan, Richard ‘denman’ Denman and the maestro Robin Staples tussled against Graham ‘leaning tower’ Hunt, Mick ‘potty potters’ Flynn and Bob ‘old bowls’ Edwards. The grappling with the green was about equal at the start so that the scores were 3 all after four ends and then 6 all after eight. Bob’s team then seemed to muscle-up better and they drove out to a lead of 19 – 8 after sixteen ends. And then, the turnaround came . . . Robin’s team grabbed the initiative and the scoring, and so poured on the pressure. Over the last five ends, the teams went head to head for Bob’s team to finally get home by a single shot 22 – 21.
The other ‘heavy green’ encounter of two-bowl triples saw Bruce ‘scratched’ Yahl, Terry ‘puff’ Norwood and and the venerable nonagenarian Gordon Lewis flex muscles against Peter ‘Virgin’ Flight, Chris ‘ebullient’ Forrester and Steve ‘makeover’ Day. Despite dropping a double on the second end, Steve’s team showed the opposition they had the muscle and the guile for the heavy going and led 12 – 2 after seven ends. And things didn’t change as the game went into the back half with team Day leading 26 – 6 after sixteen. Out of the blue, Gordon hit a purple patch and four consecutive three shotters gave team Lewis a glimmer of hope at 18 – 26. The hope was fleeting, however, as Steve and his boys swamped team Lewis at the end to the tune of 38 – 19! And don’t mention the full house of six shots dropped on the way home! Ouch!