Round 2 of the Southern Highland Cup was held at Bowral Bowling Club on Saturday 26th February 2022.  This round was between Bowral and Robertson Bowling club.  Those who follow sport tend to love to see the underdogs beat the favourites.  Certainly Bowral would have gone into this match as favourites as their team featured Zone players and was laced with Grade 2 players, while Robertson, albeit with good players can struggle to find 12 players for a Grade 6 pennant match.  So did the underdogs find a win?  The format was as per the first round  and since the Bowral team was the same it was probably deemed unnecessary to post the team on the Notice Board for other club members  information.  Fortunately the rain held off during the playing hours and while the green was very slow it was certainly playable. The Bowral Pairs team of Stephen Della and David Coltman started slowly to trail 2-7 after 6 ends in a 9 end game. A strong recovery had them win the last 3 ends and tie the game 7 shots all.  Game 2 again had Robertson with the better star to lead 5-0 after 4 ends.  Another recovery by Bowral but not quite strong enough as they lost this game 5-8 shots.  The Bowral Triples team of Alistair McGhee, Dugald Braithwaite and Garry Browne  were 2 all after 2 ends but then, whoops, they lost 6 shots the next end to trail 2-8.  Winning the next 4 ends with one a 4 shot end reestablished equilibrium and Bowral lead 9-8.  Unfortunately they then lost the final two ends to lose the first game 9-12.  All Bowral in the second game with a strong showing resulting in a 14-5 win.  With games one each it was into a tie break of three ends which was won by Robertson 3 shots to 1 shot.  Final match was the fours with Terry Butt, Bob Crowley, Carl Spilker and Nathan Boyers.  Bowral was away the stronger with a comfortable win in the first game by 13-5 shots.  Second game and they trailed 2-6 after 4 ends.  Bowral won the next 3 ends but with only 1 shot per end and trailed by 1 shot 5-6.  Robertson responded by winning the last 2 ends and taking a 8-5 win.  Once again a tie break to be played.  With two matches already won would Robertson make it a clean sweep?  That tie break resulted in another Robertson win, also by 3 shots to 1 shot and a fine win to Robertson.  Next week Bundanoon play Robertson at Robertson before the final the following week also at Robertson.  Should Robertson beat Bundanoon, and they will have the advantage being at home and on their synthetic green then it will require a dominant display by Bowral to wrestle the trophy from current holders Bundanoon and out of the hands of a rampant Robertson team.

The SHC bowlers shared the green with the social bowlers of which there 18 members playing.  These players got their monies worth as all games managed the full 21 ends before the rains returned.  No Jackpot this week and despite there being 36 bowler present no raffle which you would have thought would go a long way towards paying for the SHC bowlers snacks and free game.  The previous Wednesday’s bowls was a victim of the wet weather and was cancelled.

Glen Giese has requested that I should encouraged a few more bowlers to enter their name on the sheet for the Beecroft Day next weekend the 5th March 2022.  We currently have 21 names and he would love to see this number grow to around 35 bowlers of both genders.  There has been a degree of confusion over this event but I will try to clarify.  Firstly the first entry sheet only had space for 20 names.  We now know the bus will hold 44 bowlers so this is no longer any restriction.  Some bowlers were worried by the 6.30 pm departure time from Beecroft and a resulting very very long day.  We now know the bus will be on call and will return as soon as a call is made for it to return to collect bowlers and this should see us leaving no later than 5.30pm  and back in Bowral around 7pm.  Many have requested a later start than the scheduled 0730 but management is adamant this is the correct departure time.  There is a trophy at stake which will be hard to prize from Beecroft fingers especially  as they will have some of their top bowlers present.  However, remember Robertson, I am sure with a good turnout we could reclaim the trophy and bring it back to Bowral.

Lastly, the Consistency Singles entries have closed.  Entry date was extended to the 26th February but in fact closed when sufficient numbers were registered.  First matches will be played Wednesday 2nd March and we are promised a draw and the handicaps on the Notice Board by Tuesday evening!  The Mixed Pairs are also now closed according to the entry notice and first round is due to be played on Sunday 13th March with a 10am start time.  Some excellent teams have nominated and this should be a first class competition.