Taylor Support Shropshire Premier Bowls League
Top two meet, Newport face tough home start, North Shropshire Derby
The top two in the Flowfit Shropshire Premier Bowling League meet in week 3. St Georges and Ifton have both enjoyed 10-4 away wins this season but Ifton’s 14-0 home win in week 1 puts them 4 points clear, and they will be looking to go further ahead with home advantage this week. Ifton impressed at Hadley USC last week and captain Dickie Jones says “we will start with the same team as last week as St Georges are in good form themselves so we will have to show our recent good form if we are to get a good home win.” Opposite captain Tony Rhodes will be happy with the start his team have made and will be looking for “four of five winners which would be good for us but recognise we are probably playing the favourites for the league. They were my tip for the title at the beginning of the season and they’ve had a fantastic start. If they can consistently keep putting this team out then they will go close, they virtually have a county side. They beat Hanwood 14-0 in their first home game but we know something about the green and have played there more regularly than Hanwood. There will be games that will be tight and it’s all about finishing games or all of a sudden you come away with a two or three rather than a four or five. We lost a few tight matches in our first fixture at Chester Road, so although we won that it could have been better.” St Georges will have an unchanged side too but, while pleased with his side’s start, he has warned they have room for improvement. We have got a couple of lads that are just fishing for a bit of form at the moment. When they are into their stride as well we look capable of pushing towards the top of the division.”
The other eye catching fixture is between the two of the three most successful teams in the league, Champions Newport and Castlefields. A much changed Newport side got a good 5 winners at Hanwood and will be looking for another good home result against a team tipped to take their crown. New Newport captain Mark Selley knows “it will be a tough game against them as they have Mike Beer back and new recruit Mark Taylor plus they are loaded with class players. But we will go about preserving our home record.” Opposing joint captain Callum Wraight admits results have been misleading after Castlefields’ solid start to the season. The Shrewsbury club lost 10-4 at Bowring but followed it with a 12-2 home success over Wem USC and Callum says “we thought the Bowring score was harsh on us and flattered them quite a bit. We had four comfortable winners but lost four very close games. I thought we deserved more for how well we played. Then against Wem we were maybe a bit more fortunate. A lot of their lads played well but that’s how it goes. On their next game against the champions Callum admitted that “they have lost five or six players but their green is extremely tough, so the more winners we can get the better. They are always extremely good on their home green so it will be difficult for anyone to beat them there. Where they may struggle a bit more is away from home. We will want about four or five winners and anything over that will be a bonus.”
The most important clash of the night could be in North Shropshire where the two clubs who are winless this season so far meet in Whitchurch. Chester Road and Wem USC both suffered opening home defeats and know that they need to get their season started so they are not playing catch-up. Home captain Paul Fowles is “looking for a win on Friday but Wem will be a tough game and I do not think that either side will be at the bottom for long.” Both teams however did win in the Black Tech Ltd Alan Mayhew Trophy last night so will have some confidence going into the game. The two teams they beat in the Alan Mayhew meet each other on Haygate Road. Sir John Bayley and Wrockwardine Wood meet in a clash that has produced some close matches the last couple of years, 3 8 6s and a 9 5, with one of those 8 6s a win on the Bayley by Wrockwardine Wood two seasons ago. And visiting captain Tom Langford knows that “as a team we have always played the green at the Bayley well, we got five winners there last year and we are looking to go there and carry on our form from last week. But it’s going to be a difficult game because they have strengthened. There’s a lot of connections between us and Bayley with the Staffs players so it should be a great match.”
Hadley USC will be looking to bounce back from their home defeat to Ifton when they entertain Meole Brace, a game which ended in a draw last season. Meole enjoyed a good start to the season last week winning 10-4 against the Bayley and will be looking for another win to keep the momentum going. Hanwood will be looking for their first away point of the season against a Bowring side who started their home season well against Castlefields last week. Hanwood will know a lot more about the green then they did at Ifton, having played a playoff and cup game on there in the past, so will be hoping this helps to get a good away result. But Bowring will want to continue their momentum from their their decent start. The final game of the week sees Burway at home to Bylet. Bylet have averaged 3 on their visits to Ludlow so will be hoping for a little more this time around but know Burway are excellent at home, having reversed their only home defeat last season against Wrockwardine Wood in their first home game.
Week 3 Fixtures:
Bowring v Hanwood
Burway v Bylet
Chester Road v Wem USC
Hadley USC v Meole Brace
Ifton v St Georges
Newport v Castlefields
Sir John Bayley v Wrockwardine Wood