Taylor Support Shropshire Premier Bowls League
Top two face tough tests, 3rd & 4th aim to take advantage
The top two of the Flowfit Shropshire Premier Bowling League face tough tests this week. Ifton aim to bounce back from their defeat at Bylet but face a tough home task in taking on Castlefields. Skipper Dickie Jones wants his team to respond from that defeat. “We have players in our team who have played county bowls and won tournaments, so they can handle being top. Of course, other teams will raise their game against the team top of the table but we just had an off night last week and Bylet played very well. We have to put that behind us and bounce back. Castlefields are a good side and know our green well, so I would be happy with a 10-4 win.” Castlefields haven’t really got going yet this season and only beat Sir John Bayley 8-6 at home last season so know that they need to score more than the 3 they did at Ifton last season to start moving up the table and be a threat at the top of the table. St Georges, level with Ifton, face that Bylet side who beat Ifton 11-3 last week. But after coming off an impressive 12-2 win over Meole Brace, captain Tony Rhodes knows his team “need to continue in the positive vein of last couple of weeks. Bylet are playing well at home as demonstrated last week so nothing should be taken for granted but we shall still look to be on the front foot and pick up as many points as we can. The top is changing so regularly so we need to stay in and around the mix.” With both teams having great results last week, it will be a game played in high confidence by both teams, with Bylet aiming to extend possibly their longest unbeaten run at home in the league.
The two teams in 3rd and 4th will be looking to take advantage of the top two facing tough games as they both have home games. Meole Brace in 3rd will aim to bounce back from their 2 at St Georges last week when they take on Wrockwardine Wood. They would love a repeat of their 14-0 whitewash of Wrockwardine two years ago but Wrockwardine Wood are made of sterner stuff and will be looking to build on their good 11-3 home win over Hadley USC last week. Sir John Bayley in 4th play Wem USC at home, with both teams having come off good results last week, Bayley getting 6 at Castlefields and Wem beating Burway 11-3. Wem scored 6 there two years ago but apart from that had only scored one or two in the other seasons since 2010. Champions Newport face a tough task in travelling to Burway, a green where they only got 3 last season. Captain Mark Selley will be looking “for as many points as they can there,” while Burway captain Chris Dovey will be “going out with 12 players and hoping to win them all. We are still unbeaten at home and hope to continue that!”
Bowring have had a couple of poorer results the last two weeks, although were unlucky to score only 3 at Newport where all their players scored 14 or above, and travel to Chester Road who come off just scoring 1 at Hanwood last week. But in their last home game they did beat the Champions 13-1 so will be looking for a similar performance. Hanwood will look to build on those 11 winners when they travel to bottom placed Hadley USC, a team who earned their first home win two weeks ago at home to St Georges. Hadley know that they need to start producing bigger home wins if they are to get off the bottom of the table quickly.
Week 7 Fixtures:
Hadley USC v Hanwood
Chester Road v Bowring
Burway v Newport
Sir John Bayley v Wem USC
Meole Brace v Wrockwardine Wood
Bylet v St Georges
Ifton v Castlefields