The Moss Vale Motor Group 2021 Minor Triples started with the first round  (Quarter Finals) on Saturday 14th August.  First game was between Graham Hunt, Owen Williams and Bob Crowley against Alex Lamb, Gordon Lewis and Glynn Phillips.  First blood was to the Bob team with 3 shots on the first end.  A good reply from the Glynn team saw them win the next 4 ends and take a 7-3 lead.  Three shots on the next 2 ends saw Bob reduce the deficit to 1 shot trailing 6-7 after 7 ends.  The Glynn team then established dominance by winning the next 7 ends and pulling away to a 19-6 lead after 14 ends.   Over the next 3 ends Bob scored 3 shots and Glynn 1 shot and the score was 20-9 at end 17,  Three ends to go and both teams scored a 4 shot end and Glynn finished with 3 shots so that the final score was 27-13.  Glynn Phillips seemed to have a strong games, as would be expected from a high grade player, and we all know that Gordon Lewis is having a purple patch at the moment, so a comfortable win along with Alex Lamb.

The second match was Terry Norwood, Mike Holmewood and Robin Staples  versus Keith Edwards, Glen Giese and Peter Morales.  First 2 ends to the Robin team before losing 5 shots on end 3 to trail 5-4.  Advantage with the Robin team over the next few ends so that at 10 ends they lead 14-7.  Slight swing in the game over the next 6 ends with Peter’s team scoring 3 shots ever second end to score 9 shots while the Robin team scored 7 shots in the same period.  This made the score 21-16 in favour of Robin with 5 ends to play.  During the first half of the game the Staples team had benefited from playing  long ends with Terry leading well and Mike adding shots.  In the second half of the match Peter’s team shortened up the ends and the skill of man of the match Keith Edwards turned the match around as he peppered the jack every short end.  So from trailing 21-16 Peter won the next 3 ends to level the score 21 all with 2 ends to play.  Four shots on end 20 virtually sealed the match for Peter and team while losing a couple of shots on the last end still left them winners 25-23.  Over those last few ends Glen followed the lead of Keith and put down some excellent bowls while a unsung hero was probably Peter who added heaps of great draw shots to his repertoire of lovely little niggling “on” shots.   A super come from behind win for the Peter team.  They will now meet Glynn’s team in the semi final.

Unfortunately late on Saturday afternoon we learned of the NSW Covid shut down from 5 pm on Saturday for an initial weeks duration.  This has resulted and the Minor Triples semi final and finals being delayed until such time as restrictions are lifted. At the moment the Club is closed due to these restrictions but I note that in our area  “outdoor activities” are allowed so maybe roll ups will be allowed.  Friday afternoon there were around 20 bowlers having a roll up but note that only 3 names in the book so the new roll up policy seems to be a shambles.  The policy needs to be all inclusive or I for one will not be paying for roll ups.  The lovely late winter weather had a beneficial effect on numbers of bowlers as the Club had 37 on Wednesday and a much better 31 bowlers on Saturday 14th August.  And then comes Covid.  Should there be any news it will be posted.