Taylor Support Shropshire Premier Bowls League
Two Wellington sides top, Chester Road earn first win
With the two top teams Ifton and St Georges both not playing due to a waterlogged green at St Martins, the two clubs in Wellington took advantage to head the table. Bowring lead the table, for the first time ever, by a single point to Sir John Bayley after beating Hanwood 10-4 at home, but might be ruing a missed opportunity after leading 6-0. However captain Rich Lawson thought it was “another good team performance, considering how the conditions were with the green getting very heavy towards the end. We knew Hanwood weren’t going to be a pushover so I’m more than pleased with the 10-4 result as I saw more than enough from then to know they’ll have a good first season back in the league. Stuart Clee was outstanding to win 8 and Aaron immaculate winning to 5 (and best winner) against Wayne Phillips. I thought for them that Danny Wornell and Phil Lyttle played really well.” On being top of the league he said “it’s nice to look at the league and see us top but realistically I see us second as the top 2 clash wasn’t played but this is just the start to the season I wanted, we’ve got something to build on now and I’ve got a team that is eager to do well. We’re taking each game as it comes and we’ll see where it leaves us at the end.”
Opposition captain, and fellow Baschurch player on a Monday night in the Wem League, Mark Shore commented on how the “green was a similar weight to Baschurch on a very cold and wet night! Bowring got off to a flier taking all 4 games in the front with Stuart Clee bowling immaculate to win 21-8 against Russ Wellings and to win a much deserved MVP. Liam Stevens also produced some great bowls to edge out Glyn Wellings. The closest Hanwood came to a victory in the first four was Dave Burton v Rich Lawson in a close tussle but at 14 across the home skipper produced some great bowls to win 15. Into the middle and the impressive Aaron King scored a massive victory over the Hanwood talisman Wayne Phillips 21-5 with conditions not being to county man’s liking. When Andy Jones had beaten joint captain Mark Parsons and Hanwood were 6-0 down something special was required and Tony Hotchkiss produced a battling performance to beat John Cooke 20 to secure the first away point of the season. This was quickly followed by Greg Smith edging out the underrated Steve Cox (15 and to be best winner). With 2 points on the board Hanwood started to fight for more points and they came from an impressive display from Dan Wornell who had a good game with Glyn Hayward and won MVP. The ‘Pocket Rocket’ Phil ‘the grinder’ Lyttle then produced a fantastic performance to beat Jamie King 17. This left David Lloyd and Mark Shore left on the green with Shore leading 18-15 but David played a 3/4 corner mark to get out 18. The four points were welcome news to the absent joint captain Ash Wellings who is away with work in Vegas.”
Sir John Bayley are in 2nd after an impressive 11-3 win over Wrockwardine Wood, a team that usually play the Bayley green very well. Home captain Spencer Clarke was pleased with the result. “The Wrockites took early control with Martin Williams winning single figures (9 and best winner) and MVP and it took a 21-20 win by Aaron Tapper in a high quality game to level the scoreline at 2-2. We then kicked on and eventually ran out 11-3 winners but the front four outcome went for us and it could have been so much different. We face another big test next week at St Georges, so hopefully we can grab 4 or 5 points.” Best winner and MVP was Paul Evans again winning 2 in consecutive home games. Champions Newport and rivals Castlefields had a close game at Newport where, apart from Dave Rhodes’ 7 win for MVP, the biggest card for either team was 15. For the away side Mike Beer was best winner 16 and Paul Williams got MVP for winning 18, who were grateful for two 20 winners. Another title challenger Meole Brace also had a good win on Hadley USC 9-5 by 8 chalks. Will Tarrell was best winner 9 and MVP for Meole while Dave Price won 7 and MVP for the home side.
Bylet got an excellent 6 at Burway, led by Rob Steventon’s 14 win and MVP for Andy James winning 17. For the home side best winner was Wayne Rogers 8 and MVP went to Nick Lewis. Chester Road won their first game of the season 10-4 against neighbours Wem USC. Les Markham was best winner and MVP for the hosts winning 6 while the away side had two single figure winners, Neil Boxall 4 and Chris Brettell 5 but Colin Smith got another MVP winning 19.
Bowring are top by a point to Sir John Bayley while at the bottom Wem USC are the only winless team in the league a point below Hanwood.
Please note that Meole Brace v Ifton is now being played Thursday due to a funeral taking place on the Friday.
| Won | Agg | Pts | Home Team | Premier | Away Team | Pts | Agg | Won | H | A | CH | PP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ifton | V | St Georges | ✓ | |||||||||
| 9 | 233 | 11 | Sir J Bayley | V | Wrockwardine Wood | 3 | 165 | 3 | ✓ | |||
| 8 | 239 | 10 | Bowring | V | Hanwood | 4 | 176 | 4 | ✓ | |||
| 5 | 200 | 5 | Hadley U S C | V | Meole Brace | 9 | 208 | 7 | ✓ | |||
| 6 | 229 | 8 | Burway | V | Bylet | 6 | 207 | 6 | ✓ | |||
| 7 | 239 | 9 | Newport | V | Castlefields | 5 | 205 | 5 | ✓ | |||
| 8 | 209 | 10 | Chester Road | V | Wem U S C | 4 | 195 | 4 | ✓ |