BBC BROADCAST WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 7th
Some reminders and bits of info to start with:
- The Major Singles Championship has moved to the semi-final stage with the completion of the quarters on Wednesday. Check below for the details of the quarters and the semi match-ups.
- The Gordon Lewis sponsored FOSS Trophy competition for mid-week bowlers continued on Wednesday when forty bowlers turned out on a perfect day to be on the green. Details of the games and who leads the competition are below.
- Another reminder that the annual RSL Shield competition will be played over three Saturdays 7th, 14th and 21st of November. There is still time for bowlers to get names on the schedule which is posted on the notice board. As was the case last year, the Match Committee will organise the teams of four and attempt to share the talent around.
- And another reminder that the AGM of the Bowral Bowling Club Ltd will be held at 9am on Sunday October 25th, so that’s a date for the diary of anyone who wants to hear what happened over the past year and what’s planned for the future.
- And the next episode of Coach’s Corner by Robin Staples can be found below. Hope you were right about whether it was preferable as lead to be just in front of the jack or just behind!?!
Major Singles Championship
The rain-delayed quarter finals were played out under great sunny conditions and a minor breeze, and, as all were three parts through, it didn’t take long to round them off.
On rink 8, Dugald Braithwaite led Oscar Whalin 18 – 6 and a double on the next end moved the score to 20 – 6. Three ends later the score became 24 – 7, but Oscar held on with a double on the next. However, Dugald delivered the final blow on the twenty-third end to move to the semi with a 25 – 9 score-line.
On rink 9, play resumed at 17 – 16 to Peter Flight over Denis Lees, but a single to Denis to open proceedings had things all square. Peter then notched up two singles, only to see Denis move to 21 -19 in what was a very tight battle. Peter then broke the shackles with a three only for Denis to hit back with his own three and a lead of 24 – 22. Under real pressure, Peter found the jack and another three shot haul saw him home at 25 – 24. What a great finish!
In the final game, Robin Staples trailed Terry Norwood 15 – 20, but a fine draw on the first saw him pull back a shot for 16 – 20. However, Terry settled into things to put three on the jack on the next end for 23 – 16, and then found the jack again on the next two ends to round out the match 25 – 16.
So, the semi-final matches will feature
Mick Fisher Vs Terry Norwood (Marker: Robin Staples) Saturday October 10th
Dugald Braithwaite Vs Peter Flight (Marker: Graham Hunt) Wednesday October 14th
FOSS Trophy Mid-week Competition
Forty bowlers turned out for the second round of this popular competition on a wonderful day for bowls. The Match Committee sent out one game of randomly drawn pairs and six of triples with the winning team members to be awarded 2 competition points and any draws 1 point. After the first round, the leaders on 3 points (including a bonus point for a win by more than 14 shots) were Clive Neutze, Jill Harwood and Terry Salter.
Although they dropped a single on the first end, visitor Matt Todd, Russell Dunstan and that wily leftie Bob Edwards hit the GO button and FIVE shotter on the fourth gave them a lead of 12 – 1 over Grahame Denman, Owen Williams and Viv ‘first’ Gear. However, Viv’s team found form to win eight of the next nine ends and close to within a shot. Things were tight down the back straight until consecutive FIVE shotters to Bob’s trio settled matters for a 28 – 18 victory. So, 2 competition points to each of Matt, Russell and Bob.
On the next rink, Peter Marshall, Paul ‘ricochet’ Rubie and the dasher Clive Neutze dropped a double on the first against Mark Barrow, Wal Markow and Neil ‘rowdy’ Puckeridge but then roared ahead to lead 22 – 3 after thirteen! Where were the smelling salts and the oxygen!?! Well something was on hand apparently, because Neil and co came charging back and started to bring the opposition back to earth. However, the deficit had been too big, and Bob’s team made it to the Clubhouse 25 – 15 victors. So 2 competition points to each of Bob, Paul and Peter.
On rink 9, Steve Bennett, Graham Hartnup and Steve Day dropped a triple on the first end against Terry ‘pep’ Salter, Neville Tanner and Peter ‘Virgin’ Flight but were quickly into stride to lead 8 – 4 after six. This became 12 – 6 after eleven, and despite dropping a juicy four shotter, it was 17 – 10 after fifteen. Three ends later it was 21 – 11, and despite dropping doubles on each of the last three ends, team Day slipped home 21 – 17 winners. So, it was 2 competition points to each of Steve, Graham and Steve!
On the next rink, Peter Hall, Mike Holmewood and Terry Norwood bounced from the blocks against Barry Werfel, Shane Harvey and the ebullient Chris Forrester to lead 9 – 1 after six. However, and massive FIVE followed by a four to Chris’ trio saw them jump to the lead and it was game on! Terry’s team quickly regained the lead but a solid run had team Forrester 18 – 16 with one end to play. And then for the leaders, disaster struck . . . no shots in the head meant trouble, and team Norwood grabbed a FIVE and victory at 21 – 18!
On rink 11, Graham ‘Pisa’ Hunt, Paul McInerney and Richard ‘gazelle’ Denman could manage only a single in the first five ends against Mark Holdsworth, Mark ‘rowdy’ Rundle and Mick Flynn to be 1 – 6. However, they then found the jack and by the eleventh were only two shots down at 6 – 8. With Mick handing out the advice, team Flynn started to get on top and with three ends to play led by seven. They dropped a couple of the closing ends but made it home 18 – 12 to the good. 2 competition points then to Mark, Mark and Mick.
In the last triples game, Alex Christlo, Ian Duncan and Gordon ‘cobblers’ Lewis dropped two of the opening ends against Joel Hunt, Jill ‘Hollywood’ Harwood and coach extraordinaire Robin Staples but by the seventh were comfortably in front 10 – 3. Robin’s team then hit a purple patch grabbing eleven shots over the next five ends to hit the lead by three, but then a welcome four shotter to Gordon’s trio swung the pendulum back and when they moved to 21 – 16, they looked solid. Not so, as Robin’s team ground away and a double on the last earned them a very hard-fought draw. Alex and Joel had a fine battle as leads, as, of course, did the skips! 1 competition point then to all bowlers.
In the pairs game on the Wilson Green, Denis Lees and Oscar Whalin came up trumps over Don Chapman and Dugald Braithwaite to the tune of 16 – 7, and so Denis and Oscar each take 1 competition point from the encounter.
And so, at the conclusion of Round 2 of the FOSS Trophy event, Clive Neutze leads the field with 5 points, closely followed by Jill Harwood, Russell Dunstan and Terry Norwood on 4 and a host of bowlers on 3 and 2 points. However, there are still two rounds to play, so there are plenty of opportunities for bowlers to get themselves amongst the prize winners!
Coach’s Corner No 17
Showing commendable flexibility, one last true story on the leads and delivering the jack.
Player A and B are playing a game of four bowl singles. Level for the first few ends and then player A has a purple patch and builds a good lead. As so often happens with a good advantage, player A’s concentration slips a bit and player B comes back with a roar, taking successive ends and narrowing the gap dramatically.
Part of Player B’s resurgence has been on the back of longer ends. Player B to reinforce his advantage goes for a very long end planning to place the jack near the T. Unfortunately, the jack just trickles into the ditch leaving Player A to roll the jack. This he does with a minimum length end. So much so that the umpire is called to confirm the length is sufficient.
Player A plays the short end better and gets two shots and effectively breaks the good run of player B.
Note that had player A been a couple of centimetres shorter with his roll then the jack would have been placed on the T and the advantage returned to player B.
The moral, jack rolling can make the difference in a game.