BBC BROADCAST WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 20th (Terry Norwood at the desk)
Some gristle to chew on for a start:
- The Club Singles Championship was completed last weekend with Ashley Lewis coming out on top. The score in the final against Al McGhee was a decisive 25 – 13, and from all reports Ash was in red hot form. Congratulations to both players on reaching the final, but especially to Ash who has now prevailed in three of the last four years.
- The Club Pairs Championship will get underway on Saturday the 23rd with the playing of four of the first round matches. More matches will be staged on Sunday so there should be some good bowls viewing over the weekend.
- The Southern Highlands Cup between Bundanoon, Robertson and Bowral will be staged this year across the three clubs on December 7th (Bundanoon), 8th (Robertson) and 14th (Bowral). Any bowler interested in being considered for selection has until the 30th November to add your name to the schedule on the notice board. Come on fellows, as current holders of the cup, we need a strong team to retain it.
- The 24/25 Pennants competitions, open to both men and women, will commence in February and run for ten weeks. BBC will need to notify Region about teams in early December, so we are now calling for nominations. The schedule is on the notice board ready for you to enter your name if you are interested in being selected. Closing date for nominations is December 6th.
Social Bowls Wednesday November 20th
Thirty-three bowlers turned out for a roll on what was a very pleasant afternoon. The temperature was just about perfect for bowls, and the breeze, such as it was, presented little problem as it puffed out of the north. Because of the odd number, one of the triples matches had a swing lead bowler.
On rink 7, Joel ‘grr’ Hunt, Charles Coode and the wily Owen Williams battled against Rowena Coode, Barry ‘Ted’ Werfel and Steve Day. Steve’s team cracked a three on the first end, and, as things unfolded, were never headed. This was one of those games where one team gets stuck in first gear and the other cruises along in top gear. Despite the leads Joel and Rowena having a ding dong battle, team Day kept cruising along end after end and coming out on top. They led 16 – 2 after eleven ends and rolled on to a comfortable 22 – 8 victory. Ahh, the ups and downs of bowls.
Skipper Steve had those yellow bowls talking!
In the 18-ender on rink 8, John Fleming, Terry Norwood and John ‘junior’ Cummins tussled for honours against Keith ‘the fox’ Edwards, Bill ‘the’ Pope and Paul ‘ricochet’ Rubie. Now, all bowlers know that there is always a little (sometimes a lot!) of luck in any match, but that the luck usually evens itself out. Not so in this match!! All the luck, oodles of it, went one way, to team Cummins! Anyway, despite the luck, junior’s team, especially the skipper himself, was in pretty good form and managed to get bowls in good places consistently. They led 15 – 2 after ten ends, and although Paul’s team had the better of the latter stages, team Cummins took victory by 19 – 11.
‘junior’ was in good form all afternoon!
In a pairs game on rink 9, Graham ‘leaning tower’ Hunt and Steven ‘suave’ Goddard took on Arnie ‘dickie knee’ Lenczuk and the affable cobbler himself Gordon Lewis. In a blistering start, Graham and Steven led 6 – 1 after four ends and were all smiles. Not to be denied, Gordon and Arnie hit back so that it was 6 all after six and both teams were on the front foot. However, it was team Goddard that then gained the ascendency blitzing the opposition over the next six ends to lead 18 – 6. Dominance!! But, as we keep reporting, never write off Mr Lewis. With some high quality bowling, he and Arnie stormed back into the game and a five shotter on the nineteenth end had them within reach. In a nerve-wracking finish, Graham and Steven held on to win by a single shot 20 – 19. What a cracker of a game!
With Graeme ‘dragon’ Denman as swing lead, Denis ‘rowdy’ Lees and Clive dasher’ Neutze battled for honours against Alex Christlo and Mick ‘potters’ Flynn. And this turned out to be one of those matches where the first half gave no indication of what was likely to happen in the second. Both sides made their way onto the scorecard early, but it was team Neutze that led 5 – 2 after six ends. Mick’s team had then levelled things at 5 all, and then it was 6 all after ten ends. And then the cyclone hit – a team Flynn cyclone!! With Alex getting his wide benders on track and Mick’s black devils behaving well, team Flynn blitzed the opposition in the back half to romp home comfortable winners at 24 – 9. Mick just wishes Stoke City football team could romp home once in a while!!
Alex has those wide swingers working well!
On rink 11, newcomer Mark Barrow, Graham Bond and Bob ‘wily’ Edwards faced off against Shane Harvey, Jill Harwood and Dave ‘pot black’ Charlesworth. And, against expectations of the Match Committee, this was one of those matches where one side dominates the other. Bob’s team grabbed the initiative immediately and led 8 – 1 after four ends. Dave’s team got the score to 3 – 8, but by the tenth end were down 4 – 14. And, unfortunately for team Charlesworth, matters didn’t improve in the back half of the match. With skipper Bob in fine touch and Mark and Graham chipping in, team Edwards ground out the ends consistently. The final score to Bob’s team was 27 – 9.
In the final game on rink 12, Jim Larkin, Graham ‘hardnut’ Hartnup and ‘Mr Unflappable’ Chris Forrester battled against Ted ‘Barry’ McPhee, Bill ‘nonagenarian’ Meredith and the maestro Robin Staples. With Ted in good touch as lead, team Staples had the better of the opening five ends to lead 6 – 2. With Chris leading the way, team Forrester then won four of the next six ends but still trailed by four shots at 6 – 10. It seemed that anything that Chris’ team came up with was matched by Robin’s men, so that by the fourteenth end there was still a four shot difference. It was at that point that Robin’s team finally gained the upper hand and pushed on to a fairly comfortable victory. 25 – 13 was the final score.
Bill, ninety-two years young and still getting them on the jack!