The weather gods who have controlled so much of our bowls this year again kept us on our toes. Wednesday 16th March 2022 and bowlers were in attendance for round one of the Consistency Singles and for Social Bowls. Light drizzle and threatening skies meant play as usual was confined to the synthetic green. Four Consistency games and three social games started but did not last long before the heavens opened more and more and the green started to flood and play was abandoned. Social bowler’s next game is to be free for those rained off due to the short game. Consistency bowlers all agreed to return on Saturday to finish their matches all of which managed around 10 ends or a third of the game. First rink was Graham Hunt and Terry Norwood. Just the one shot difference in handicap with Graham starting of minus 4. (Handicap difference multiplied by four) As expected nothing between the players with the score 27 all at 5 ends and when rain stopped play Graham leading 39 to 35 shots. Bob Crowley off handicap of 9 and Peter Morales off 12. After 5 ends Bob had clawed back his handicap and lead 21-17. Continuing to pull ahead slightly Bob lead 42-36 shots when the rains halted play. Brian Porter on 12 and Robin Staples on 8 handicap. Robin started to erase the handicap but then some excellent play by Brain with a couple of 8-2 scores had him firmly on top so that the score was in Brians favour 48-24 when they stopped. Final match was Viv Gear and Peter Cornwall starting all even with both on 14 handicap. At 5 ends 20 shots each and still almost together at end of play 46 to Peter and 44 to Viv.
Drizzle persisted on Saturday but play was possible and the weather gradually improved with even a dash of sun by the end of play. Just 5 social bowlers turned up for play with a good win for the Richard Denman team over the Gordon Lewis team. Their play was not helped by having the end rink with almost no room beyond the rink marker. Must have made play very difficult with the synthetic back up to full lightening fast speed and wide to boot.
In the Consistency Singles play resumed with, in the first game, Graham Hunt leading by 4 shots. The game remained close but Terry Norwood never managed to take the lead and Graham held a slight margin all the way to the end winning 150-134. Match two was Bob Crowley against Peter Morales and Bob holding a 6 shot lead. Bob continued to score the better and eased away to what was a comfortable 150-106 win. Brian Porter held a 22 shot lead over Robin Staples after his great play on Wednesday. Unfortunately he found it hard to maintain that excellent standard and Robin slowly nibbled away at his deficit drawing level after 20 ends and moving on to a 150- 120 win. Final match was that ultra tight game between Viv Gear and Peter Cornwall. Peter resumed with a 2 shot lead. Over the next few ends the lead swung back and forth so that after 19 ends Peter lead 97-92. Then a bit of a disaster from Peter’s point of view losing the next 2 ends by 9 shots to 1 on both and suddenly he was down 99-110. Peter fought back and closed the gap to Viv to 5 shots. This was as close as he got and Viv held his nerve and won a close match 150-146. Wednesday 23rd March will see the quarter finals of this event. Matches are Mick Flynn and Glen Giese, Viv Gear and Bob Crowley, Bob Edwards and Graham Hunt and finally Robin Staples and Gordon Lewis.
Sunday, 20th March was much brighter, in fact a lovely warm Autumn day. The Mixed Pairs competition got under way with three matches. Play was on the grass of course as the event featured senior bowlers. Alice Moore and Terry Butt took on Bob Crowley and Elizabeth Hall. Early advantage to Bob and Elizabeth taking a 7-3 lead after 5 ends. Giving away five shots next end saw their lead disappear but scores were level 10 all at 9 ends. Bob ‘s team regained the lead 13-11 after 12 ends. However, from here to the end of the match Terry and Alice had the better of the game and pulled out to a 23-15 shot win. Lynne Boshier and Brian Porter played Julie Hayden and Kevin Stafford. Julie and Kevin scored 2 shots first end to lead and were never headed during the 18 ends of p[lay required. At the half way point it was still tight with Lynne and Brian only trailing 7-9. A 5 shot end on the 12th end and a 6 shot later in the game sealed it for Julie and Kevin with a final score of 24-9. Final match was a rematch of the final when this event was last played. Jim Neely and Gail Fraser against Elaine Jones and Bob Edwards. Last time it was a one shot victory to Jim and Gail. The first half favoured Elaine and Bob who by end 11 held an 11-5 lead. Then the game swung towards Jim and Gail who proceeded to win 9 ends in a row scoring 23 shots in those 9 ends to be comfortable winners 28-11 shots. Next Sunday the event moves onto the quarter final stage and should feature some good matches with a 10 am start.
