Week 17 Review

Three way tie at top, Castlefields finally fire at home, Bylet break losing streak

There is a three way tie at the top of the Flowfit Shropshire Premier Bowling League after week 17 with Sir John Bayley, Chester Road and Meole Brace all on 139 points. Meole Brace took advantage of a home game over struggling Hadley USC to record a 13-1 victory, only Steve Homer winning for the Huskies 14 to earn MVP. Captain Mark Thomas said “the result went with form and we need to play to that form to have any chance of improving on our recent league finishes. Hadley missed some of the players who started the season and I feel they have found it hard to retrace them, although their spirit was good the old story was true that everything goes against you when you are struggling.” Darren Wellings won 5 to be best winner while Andy Wigginton won 6 to gain MVP. Chester Road picked up the most eye catching result of the night with an 11-3 win at Wem USC to continue their great run. It was a game of close games, the best card was Andy Moss winning 13 for the visitors. Martin Lloyd earned MVP for his 19 win for Chester Road while for the home side Mike Fielder was best winner and MVP for his 15 win. Visiting captain Paul Fowles commented on a “great result as all 12 played well. It keeps us up there but we now start a hard run of games. Our squad is getting better with KP Jones and Dave Rogers back available and last night was like a home score so who knows what we can achieve.”

Sir John Bayley remain top though after winning 8-6 at Wrockwardine Wood, which delighted captain Spencer Clarke. “We are delighted to sneak a win at what is a granite tough place to go. Our first four played really well to give us a 3-1 lead but the Wrockites stormed back to level at 4-4. Full credit to both sets of players, in what was an electric atmosphere. But thankfully for us we held on to win the agg by 8. In summary probably one of our best team performances this year.” Best winner and MVP for the Bayley was Paul Evans 10 with home skipper Tom Langford leading by example with his 11 win to be MVP also. St Georges are 5 points behind the leading trio but only managed a 9-5 win over Ifton, which away skipper Dickie Jones described as “our best away performance this season. We would have took 5 before the start but with the game all level on aggregate and 6-5 down in games, we feel it was a game that we could have won with Nicky Jones normally reliable for us.”For the visitors Geriant Williams won MVP for winning 18 but Martin Jones and Dave Bond were best winners 12, while Ian Gaut’s and Simon Rhodes’ wins of 12 were best for the home side, but Peter Grimston took MVP for winning 14.

Castlefields responded to joint captain Callum Wraight’s call for bigger home wins with a 13-1 win over Champions Newport. Callum himself led the way winning 5 while Mark Taylor got MVP for his 9 win. Only Wayne Lawrence could stem the Fields’ tide, winning 14 for MVP. Castlefields’ win meant they overtook the Bowring, who got a steady 4 at Hanwood. Andy Jones was best winner 11 for them while Jamie King got MVP for winning 19. For the home side Ashley Wellings and Dave Payne were best winners 10 and Tony Hotchkiss got MVP for winning 14. Bylet finally won their first game since the end of May with a 9-5 win over Burway. The win moves Bylet 11 clear ahead of their game at bottom placed Hadley USC on Friday. Jamie Taylor was best winner for the Islanders with Rob Steventon taking MVP for his 11 win. Shropshire Senior Merit Champion Wayne Rogers won his 12th consecutive game winning 10 to be best winner and earning MVP.

So Sir John Bayley, Chester Road and Meole Brace are all tied on 139 points at the top, while Bylet lead Hadley USC by 11 points at the bottom. Andy Moss still leads the League Averages by one to Alex Jones and Colin Beaman, and Stuart Rutter leads James Duce by one MVP award.