Taylor Support Shropshire Premier Bowls League
Hanwood return after 19 years, dark horses Ifton & SJB start at home
1st April marks the 1st games in the 23rd Season of the Flowfit Shropshire Premier Bowling League in 2016. And the big story tomorrow is the return of Hanwood back in the league after 19 long years. It’s took a lot of effort and trying in the last six seasons trying to get in but they persevered and were rewarded last October with a 46 chalk win over Archibald Worthington. And one of the leaders from last season, Mark Shore, who along with Ash Wellings and Mark Parsons form the captaincy line up this season, can’t wait! “It doesn’t seem that long ago since we finally secured are place back in the SPBL such has been the feel good factor amongst all connected with the club. It has been a long 19 years since we were last in the league and now on the eve of our return it’s time to turn our attention to the reality of facing the best teams and players in Shropshire. It’s with great pride that we have lead the club back to the top of The Shropshire bowls tree and I’m sure my players will do this club proud this season. I have said all along that I want us to avoid the wooden spoon, enjoy the season and to begin to build this club to be a force in Shropshire bowls in the future. The latter may take time but I feel with the team we have assembled which is a great mixture of experience and untested players at this level, and the great green we play on we have every chance of having a successful season. In our first five fixtures we will be facing fancied teams such as Newport, Bowring, Ifton and my old club SJB. In between those games we will host Burway who have a lot of experience on our green, for me this represents a tough baptism into the league. That said there will be other tough tests against our local rivals Meole Brace who have many players with much experience at Hanwood and also the might of Castlefields who in my book are the team to watch this season. St Georges are looking strong and Wrockwardine Wood could well be knocking out a few good results with some of their new signings.” But first up is Ifton away, which Mark says will be “very tough” for his team. “I never like to predict a score but I am hopeful that we can take something from this game which is on par to what others may expect to get from the game. We will have a few who have never played this green before but this will be the case for a lot of our away trips.” Ifton have been tipped to do very well this season, and having been the most improved team last season, will be looking to improve again with the full time capture of Carl Roberts and Dave ‘Rocky’ Jones and signing Martin Jones from Hanmer. Captain Dickie Jones is looking for “more bigger wins at home after having good away form last season” and will be looking to take advantage of Hanwood’s inexperience to get a good start to the season.
Another team tipped to do well this season is Sir John Bayley. Captain Spencer Clarke acknowledges that “we have a stronger squad this year with more strength in depth, which we hope will enable us to finally challenge the big teams. It has been a weakness of SJB in recent years that our squad lacks depth so fingers crossed the signings we have made will help bridge this gap.” Their green has not been in the best condition the last couple of seasons but this year it is much better. “Our groundsman Arthur Morris has done wonders for our green, putting in a lot of hard work in post season, and I have not seen the green as good for years and it’s still improving – it’s a pleasure to play!” They face Bylet at home first game, and with Bylet making four signings, including the return of Scott Harries and Andy James, Spencer knows they are “a much stronger side. They have some great signings and have to be respected as they will be eyeing a healthy points haul on Friday. However I am pleased with our starting line-up so I hope we can get a decent result, but you never know. Overall the squad is buzzing but being realistic you still have to favour the team’s who have been there and done it.” One of those teams who have done it are St Georges, and with some key signings they are being tipped to be back at the top of the team. They do face a tough trip to Chester Road first game, where they lost 10-4 last season. Captain Tony Rhodes says “all very early year this year so may come down to which team has players who have put a bit of time in practising. Recent years got us a few points so similarly expectant of a decent return this year. We could do with building early momentum as the league is wide open and we’ll be with about 4 or 5 teams up the table.” Chester Road suffered their worse season last year, but with some new additions from neighbours Archibald Worthington, should be improved and looking up the table under new captain Paul Fowles.
Burway suffered one home defeat last season, in their last home game against Wrockwardine Wood, and have an instant chance to put that right as they face them first home game. Burway have signed Pete Griffiths and Nick Lewis which will increase the strength of their squad and know if they can match their excellent home form last season, apart from that one game, will have a good chance of breaking into the top 6. Wrockwardine Wood nearly broke into the top 6 last season before missing out last game but despite losing Andy Jones and last year’s captain Stuart Clee have recruited well in Mark Clayton and Mark Picknell from Staffordshire. New captain Tom Langford will have his boys up for the season like they did last year and will hope they can repeat that great win again this season in order to make the top 6 for the first time since 2011. The last game of the first night is the battle of the United Services Club. Wem are at home and will be looking forward to playing on their green that’s back up to standard thanks to Graham Dulson after a couple of rough years. Despite this they’ve lost one game in two years there and will be looking to keep this great record up so they can move up the table, especially with a couple of new signings. Hadley endured a poor 2015 season after doing well the season before, and know they will have to at least improve to that standard if they are to avoid being in trouble. They have made a couple of signings from Staffordshire to and will be hoping these will help improve the team and look up rather than down.
There are two games that have been postponed as fixture concessions; Bowring vs. Castlefields and Newport v Meole Brace, with dates to be announced soon.
Week 1 Fixtures:
Ifton v Hanwood
SJB v Bylet
Wem USC v Hadley USC
Chester Road v St Georges
Burway v Wrockwardine Wood
Newport P-P Meole Brace
Bowring P-P Castlefields