BOWLS HAPPENINGS WEDNESDAY JULY 26th     (Terry Norwood at the desk)

A few bits of info for a start:

1. The RSL Shield will continue and conclude on Saturday July 29th with the playing of the pairs games. Currently, the team of Graham Hunt, Ian Crow, Stephen Della and skipper Dugald Braithwaite leads the competition on 95 points. These boys are 21 points ahead of second placed team Lewis and will surely take some catching. But who knows what will happen; it’s all up for grabs on Saturday afternoon.
2. Nominations for the Rookie Pairs competition will close on Saturday July 29th so any eligible bowlers (bowlers who joined the Club after 1-1-2019) have until 5pm to place their names on the notice board entry form.
3. Both the grade two and grade four Pennants teams for the opening round on August 5th have been posted and players notified. Anyone not available to play should notify the Bowls Committee asap.
4. Bowral will host some Zone 5 Reserve Singles matches on Sundays August 6th and 13th at 9.45am. Four markers will be needed for the 6th and two markers for the 13th. Volunteers can mark their names on the sheet on the notice board.

Social Bowls Wednesday 26th

Thirty-six eager bowlers nominated for social bowls with this number including a visitor Greg Davis. The weather was perfect with very little cloud or breeze to dampen the enthusiasm or give reason for wayward bowls. The games were played on the Wilson Green which was running at a reasonable 14/15. Given the numbers, the Match Committee organised six games of triples.

On rink 1, Jill Harwood, Col Stone and skipper Peter Morales took on Greg Davis, Bill Meredith and Russell Dunstan. An unknown to start with, visitor Greg soon showed that he was a bowler of quite some quality. Constantly on the jack, Greg led his team in a dominating fashion. The two teams shared the first nine ends but from that point Russell’s team was completely on top. Overall, they won fifteen of the twenty-one ends and stormed to a massive win of 30 – 9. Always trying to arrange close matches, the Match Committee did not anticipate this score-line.

On the next rink, Barry Werfel, Mark Rundle and skipper Owen Williams battled it out against Graham Hartnup, Keith Scriven and Mick Flynn. And this was another game that did not finish with a close result! Although they dropped two shots on the opening end Mick’s and his men won the next five ends to be looking good at 7 – 2. Then the wheels fell off completely for them! Owen’s team won the next eleven ends on the trot to set up a winning lead of 25 – 7! Mick’s team did win three of the last four ends but went down to team Williams by 27 – 11.

Owen led his team to a solid victory!

On rink 3, Ted McPhee, Joel Hunt and skipper Gordon Lewis jostled for supremacy against Ian Duncan, Neville Tanner and Chris Forrester. Gordon and his team made a very solid start winning three of the opening four ends to lead 7 – 1. Chris’ team then hit back immediately and by the seventh end they led 8 – 7. Gordon’s team then wrestled the initiative from them as they hit top form and went to a lead of 16 – 9 on the fourteenth. Chris’ team got the score to 11 – 16, but found the consistency of the opposition too hard to break and Gordon’s team continued on to a solid victory 23 – 15. Man of the match was the very likable Joel Hunt who, having his first game bowling second rather than lead, kept his team in just about every end.

Bowler of the match Joel Hunt!

On rink 4, Ken Looke, Graham Denman and skipper Harold Wall took on Wal Markow, Viv Gear and Richard Denman. And this turned out to be another game that was anything but close! In a very one-sided affair, Richard’s team won sixteen of the twenty-one ends. With all three bowlers out-bowling his opposite number, team Denman won end after end. At the close of the match, they had amassed 35 shots to 6 by their opponents. Richard, in his first game a skipper in a while, had a particularly solid game, as did the ‘Gibraltar Park’ duo of Wal and Viv.

Back as skipper, Richard had a great day!

On the next rink, Graham Hunt, Terry Norwood and skipper Steven Day took on fellow Pennants aspirants Arnold Lenczuk, Ian Crow (Cros!) and skipper Tony Oakes. And what a monumental tussle this was! Completely out-bowling their opposite numbers, Tony’s team made a blistering start to lead 11, yes 11 to nil after three ends! On the fourth end, team Day finally scored a shot, but after eight ends, were still languishing at 4 – 16. However, a four shot haul on the next end got them going and by the fifteenth end, they trailed by only one shot and had their opponents on the back foot. And then, with a three on the seventeenth end and out-bowling their opponents, they hit the lead at 19 – 18. The game then tightened and, with one end to play Steve’s team still led by a single shot. And then, in an astonishing end, Steve’s team bagged six and ran out winners 27 – 20!

Arnold and Graham had a great battle as leads!

In the customary 18 – ender, this time on rink 6, John Fleming, Denis Lees and skipper John Cummins had a very serious tussle against Keith Edwards, Bill Pope and Paul Rubie. Although they gave away five shots on the first end, Paul’s team were soon on top, winning the next six ends and taking the lead at 8 – 5. John’s team then hit a purple patch of form and, by the twelfth end, had taken over to lead 18 – 9 and were looking good for a win. However, far from done, and with skipper Paul the inspiration, team Rubie then won end after end and had their opposition very nervous. In the end however, John and his men held on in the closest game of the day to win 19 – 16. To the casual observer, everyone in this match seemed to be in fairly good form.

As usual, Keith Edwards made things difficult for the opposition!