ON a dry but very cold Friday afternoon saw the next round of the Mixed Triples being played at the Falmouth Club, writes Ron Medlyn.

Top of the table Falmouth’s Allsorts skipped by Richard Rowe, Mike Pheby 2 and Margaret Gaunt at lead were against the inform Falmouth’s Diehards skipped by John Maunder, Carol Taylor 2 and Nick Fletcher at lead.

The Diehards looked in good form as they won the first two ends to go 2-0 up. The Allsorts Margaret Gaunt and Mike Pheby then got together to form an excellent combination and from this point on they took control of the game. Mike was in outstanding form with some excellent drawing bowls to turn ends around and with Margaret setting the head up, they put so much pressure on the Diehards number two and skip which resulted in the Allsorts taking a 14-2 lead after 11 ends.

On ends 14 and 15 we witnessed some crazy bowling, excellent ends but huge scores. On end 14 the diehards captured five shots to reduce the arrears to 8-17, but the very next end the Allsorts replied with a seven to go into a 24-8 lead and the game was over from that point on.

Eventually the Allsorts won the game 25-10 and look certain to take the championship again this year.

Stithians Marauders skipped by Harry Barnes, Sheila Harris 2 and Margaret Barnes at lead were against Mylor’s Lemonaders skipped by Sylvia Morris, Colin Bowden 2 and Jan Barnard at lead. After five ends both teams were level at 4-4 and the Lemonaders moved ahead then to take a 7-4 lead, but they were to remain on seven for the next four ends as the Marauders moved ahead to take a 9-7 lead after ten ends.

The Lemonaders were holding the fancied Marauders to a tight game as after 11 ends there were only two shots in the game, but disaster struck the Lemonaders and the Marauders suddenly let loose to take a 1-8-1-2-1 to finish the game off in style and win 24-10. This score did not reflect how well the Lemonaders tried, unfortunately all in vain.

Falmouth’s Optimists skipped by Linda Amos, Bob Hay and Trevor Pooley at lead were against Mylor’s Creeksiders skipped by Ken Parke, Jean Parke 2 and Heather Ward at lead. The Creeksiders won the first end, but did not score again for the next seven ends as the Optimists now went into a 10-1 lead after eight ends. The Creeksiders managed a 1-2-1 to bring the score to 16-5, but from then on they were outclassed and the Optimists ran away with the game to win 22-5.

The most exciting game of the day was the match between Falmouth’s Smarties skipped by Marion Ozard, Derek Kneebone 2 and Judy Warren at lead and Penryn’s Saracens skipped by Mike Walker, Ken Kerslake 2 and Pat Hocking at lead.

The game was “nip and tuck” all the way through as both teams were level at 6-6, 8-8 and 14-14 after 15 ends, so it was all to play for in the last three ends. The Smarties won two single shots on ends 16 and 17, so went into the last end two shots up.

Judy Warren got her lead bowl very close to the jack, but Ken Kerslake with two outrageous “wicks” came off a front bowl to nudge the shot bowl out and the very next bowl repeated the “wick” to now hold two shots.

However, justice was done as Marion Ozard with her second bowl hit both shot bowls, turning one bowl out to now lie in second place. Despite all Mike Walkers efforts he was unable to alter the head, so this left the Smarties just losing the one shot – winners 16-15 after a cracking game played in a good spirit and the Smarties just about deserved their win, but it was very close.

Results: Smarties 16, Saracens 15; Allsorts 25, Diehard 10; Optimists 22, Creeksiders 5; Marauders 24, Lemonaders 10.

                       P   W  D L   F     A   Pts
Allsorts           14 12 0 2 323 138 24
Underdogs     13 9 0 4 254 160 18
Marauders      13 8 0 5 217 198 16
Diehards         13 8 0 5 195 208 16
Optimists        13 7 0 6 216 172 14
Saracens        13 5 1 7 187 230 11
Smarties          13 4 0 9 164 232 8
Creeksiders    14 3 0 11 165 260 6
Lemonaders    14 2 1 11 161 263 5

 

The Underdogs team, league leaders for the majority of the season, have had a big setback as their team manager and their number one skip, Melville Angel, has developed cartilage trouble in his legs and is due to go into hospital shortly for key hole surgery.

On behalf of all the league bowlers and club bowlers, we wish Melville a speedy recovery and hope he will be back bowling again at the start of the summer season.