Championship matches

Major Pairs Championship matches continued over the past week with five matches concluded, with the Championship now rolling into the second round.

Mark Glasheen and Tony Riordan had a slow start in their match against Rodney Ford and Wilbur Harris, but emerged victorious by 3 shots.

Mark and Tony struggled early, they however found their mojo on the 8th end, by scoring a 5 shot end win to take the lead, and from that end they were never headed.

Rodney and Wilbur were always in striking distance on the scorecard, but were unable to close the margin beyond 2 shots. Mark and Tony advance to the next round after they won the match by 18 shots to 15 over a gallant Rodney and Wilbur.

Steve and Alec Bateson nearly pulled off a major upset win in their match against the veteran pairs duo of Ian Simpson and Brian Hampton. The Batesons’ scored 6 shots on the penultimate end, to trail by just 1 shot.

On the final end, the result came down to the last bowl by Brian, with Team Bateson holding 2 shots in the head.

Delivering the last bowl with experience, skill and nerves of steel, Brian disturbed the head enough to promote one of Ians’ bowls, to win the end by 1 shot.

Ian and Brian escaped with a narrow 2 shot win over crowd favourites Steve and Alec Bateson.

Bruce Orr and veteran Col Mudie were outclassed by their younger opponents in Scott Allen and Jock Townsend. Team Townsend dominated the match from the first end to the last end, winning the match by 27 shots to 14.

Nathan Reynolds and Dave Reilly defeated the experienced duo of John Wright and Brian Townsend, winning by 16 shots to 13 in a tight tussle in which the margin between the teams didn’t exceed 3 shots all match. The match turned in favour of Team Reilly after they scored 5 shots on the 13th end, creating a nice 3 shot buffer that they were able to defend and hang on to win, by 3 shots over Team Townsend.

Rob and Eathan Lacey drew the red-hot pairing of Mick Simpson and Mark Dwyer in a match in which Mick and Mark showed little mercy. Rob and Eathan played solid bowls but were outclassed by the skill of Mick and Mark who always had bowls in the head. Mick and Mark won the match easily, recording a win by 24 shots to 8.

Social Bowls

Thursday social bowls attracted 22 Bowlers who played 1 game of triples and 4 games of pairs.

Village Mayor Mr nice guy Rob Irving led in his triples game for Bob Freeman and Tony Riordan against the Bowler with the oldest Bowls hat west of the sandstone curtain John Ward, who led for Graham Dixon and Gary McPhee. Team McPhee started the game with 4 shots on the first end, but trailled on the scorecard when the teams turned for home. Team Riordan again proved the old adage correct about champion teams beating a team of champions. Tony skipped brilliantly as he, Rob and Bob scored 4 shots on the last end to overcome a 3 shot deficit to win the game by 1 shot, winning 23 shots to 22 over Team McPhee.

Colin Hayward and Steve Ryan played out an exciting draw against John Chew and Brian Townsend, with each Team finishing on 19 shots each.

John and Brian had the game in the bag as they led by 18 shots to 12 with just 3 ends left to play, however Colin and Steve scored 7 shots over consecutive ends to lead by 1 shot with the last end to play. John and Brian won the last end by 1 shot, to tie up the final scores at 19 shots each.

Mark Glasheen and John Wright held a massive 19 shot lead at the halfway mark of their game against a strangely quiet Ian Simpson and a less than impressed Graham Davis. Mark and John didn’t ease off over the remainder of the game, winning the game 28 shots to 10.

Mike Valentine and Mick Tonkins enjoyed a solid win by 4 shots over Max Tomkins and John Corcoran, winning the game by 16 shots to 12. This dour low scoring only saw one end score higher than 2 shots, with the near consistent lead bowls of Mike Valentine proving the difference between the 2 teams.

Greg Fisher and Peter Fisher enjoyed themselves, making a nice welcome back to the greens, against Dave Parker and Warren Bevan. The Fisher duo bowled too well for their more fancied opponents. Greg and Peter had a good win by 22 shots to 8 over Team Bevan.

Saturday social bowls featured just 2 games as most Bowlers were bowling at a Regional Bowls event.

Jo Simpson, Bob Freeman and Gary McPhee had a close win by 25 shots to 23 over Col Woods, John Ward and John Wright.

Mike Valentine, Rob Irving and Mick Simpson defeated John Carr, Mark Glasheen and Guy Ellery by 27 shots to 13. Winning the second last end by scoring 5 shots ensured Team Ellery reached double figures, who were out-bowled all game by Team Simpson. Despite the low number of Bowlers, each of the 12 Bowlers enjoyed their games played in good Bowls spirit.

Friday evening and Sunday morning social Bowls are proving extremely popular with both events well supported by new Bowlers and a few old hands as well.

Anyone in the community, near or far, who would like to try rolling down a few bowls will be made most welcome. Just phone the Club or turn up and look interested!