Week 9 Review

Hanwood horror for Bylet, Hadley and Castlefields in stalemate, Super six for Bowring and Newport

Hanwood stole the headlines in week 9 of the Flowfit Shropshire Premier Bowling League as they won only their third ever away game in the history of the league. After wins at Wrockwardine Wood and Meole Brace when they were originally in the league, they sealed a 10-4 away win at Bylet, a long way from their opening day whitewash at Ifton. Joint captain Ash Wellings commented on a “really good team performance by the boys and our best of the season so far. Right from the start we put them under pressure taking all of the first four. Tony Hotchkiss was superb over the middle as was Nick Davies on longer marks. Glyn Wellings win over Scott Harries was the best game of the night and was a real bonus as he was behind all game until the last end. Middle four we managed to keep the pressure on as Ben Talbot (who won MVP) and Russ Wellings both went 13-1 up and got over the line 12 and 14 respectively. My game was a strange one, 13-3 down to 14-13 up and ended up with just winning 20. One winner for us in the back four, Greg Smith at his usual best beating Rob Steventon 10 (to be best joint winner with Tony Hotchkiss) but the Bylet lads battled well to take the other three games. Rob Renke playing particularly well for them to win MVP against Mark Parsons.” Best winner for Bylet was Jamie Taylor 12.

The closest game of the night was Hadley and Castlefields, which ended 6 games all and 211 chalks apiece, each team having 2 winners in each four. Hadley captain Rob Burroughs was a “happy captain as we battled hard last night against a great Castlefields side on and off the green. We were under pressure throughout and it was our best home performance of the season to battle back and get a draw. We all played our part but Phil King getting 15 from 20-7 down against Keith Walton, who fully deserved MVP for playing exceptionally well to the middle of the crown, was a big comeback in the end first four, along with James Duce finally finding the green to his liking winning MVP and being best winner 7. Justin Pegram won a vital game in the middle 19 to make us 4-4 and 8 shots down and keep us in the game after Mike Beer had won 9 on a round peg to be best winner for them. It was up and down in the back as Mark Taylor for them played some exceptional bowls on a round peg to win from 20-14 down with John Potter being very unlucky with a couple of excellent strikes. But after Nick Mullinder came off winning 13 we got our noses in front by one and Steve Homer edged out Andy Duckett 20 after being game down to put us 2 in front. John Price showed his battling qualities last on against Paul Williams as he came back from 13-6 and 16-10 down to go 19-17 up and draw us the aggregate. But fair play to Paul who showed his class and got out 19.”

Bowring and Newport both earned a super 6 winners at Burway and Sir John Bayley respectively. But Bowring skipper Rich Lawson was disappointed as it “was a game that could’ve gone either way so to just miss out on an away win was disappointing, but it was a good 6 points earned and I would’ve taken that before the start so all in all I have to be pleased.” Rich himself was best winner and MVP winning 4 while for the home side Kiah Roberts was best winner 7 and Chris Dovey MVP for winning 10. Newport didn’t go quite as close to winning the aggregate at the Bayley so will be very happy with 6 winners. It was a night of single figure wins, with half of the cards being winners to less than 10. Bayley’s four made sure of the aggregate, Paul Evans winning single figures for the fifth home game on the trot, his 5 win being matched by Chris Ward to be joint best winner. Tom Roden also won 8 to finally win a MVP. For the visitors Dave Rhodes continued his return to form winning 6 to be best winner while Mick Jones won 9 to be MVP. Newport captain Mark Selley also praised “Wayne Lawrence as he was awesome in the first four against Spencer Clarke. We were 2 all after 4 and then shared both the middle and back so it was a great result.”

Chester Road’s good record at Ifton continued as they got a fab five there to continue Ifton’s poor run. Chester Road captain Paul Fowles commented on a “very good game played in a competitive way as both teams played well. I’m happy with the five winners which could have been better or worse as games were mostly tight. Les Markham was by far the best player of the night (winning 7 and MVP).” Gary Beff was best winner winning 5 for the away side, while for the home side Carl Roberts was best winner 7 and Brian Hayes got MVP winning 16. St Georges have gone 8 clear at the top of the league after beating arch rivals and neighbours Wrockwardine Wood 11-3. Best winner and MVP for the home side was Lewis Scott 4 and for the away side Stuart Rutter 10.

St Georges are 8 clear of Ifton, with the two Wellington clubs, Bowring and Sir John Bayley, in behind both on 67 points. At the bottom Wrockwardine Wood and Wem USC are on 51 with Hadley USC moving off bottom on 52. Aaron King continued his unbeaten record at the top of the League Averages while Stuart Rutter added another MVP to move onto 5 and 2 clear of the rest of the pack on 3.