Week 18 Preview

Top two clash, 3rd and 4th face tough clashes, bottom two clash

The top two in Week 18 of the Flowfit Shropshire Premier Bowling League play each other tonight as Sir John Bayley host St Georges. St Georges lead by 4 points, but have played a game more, and will be thinking they should be more ahead after three disappointing results. But captain Tony Rhodes knows it “is a tough one at SJB. They have been occasionally irrational with their results but I believe them to be in the driving seat. Tough ask but we’ve picked points up there before and must hope for the same again.” Sir John Bayley are the form team in the league though, having won their last 6 games on the bounce, but skipper Spencer Clarke acknowledges “St Georges are a dangerous side so it will be difficult to match the 10-4 loss against the Dragons earlier in the season, although that is our aim. The lads are playing well so hopefully we can bag a 7th successive win to remain in the hunt.”

Chester Road and Meole Brace, in 3rd and 4th, would usually look to take advantage of the teams above them playing each other but face tough games at home to Castlefields and away to Ifton respectively. Chester Road are the surprise package and few would have guessed they’d be above Castlefields at this stage of the season, so it will be an extremely tough game for the Fields despite their 13-1 win over the Champions last week. And Chester Road “are at full strength” according to captain Paul Fowles. “I respect Castlefields more than any other team and it will be a very good test for us if we can pull off a good result. It would stand us in good stead for the rest of the season.” Meole Brace face a tough trip to Ifton, despite Ifton sitting 19 points off them. Many thought Ifton would be challenging for the title this season, but a good run could move them into contention like they did last season. But skipper Dickie Jones knows “Meole have probably been one of the most consistent teams in the league up to now, they usually bowl our green well so we are expecting a tough home game. We haven’t lost at home yet so we will hope to continue that.” Before last year’s 11-3 win for Ifton over Meole they had a good record there so Meole will be looking for one of those results rather than last season’s.

There is a bottom of the table clash as bottom placed Hadley USC take on Bylet, the team directly above them in the table by 6 points, albeit having played a game more. Hadley will be buoyed by their 5 at St Georges on Wednesday, and know “we will need to produce another great performance like that to gain as many points on them as possible. It really is a 28 pointer so we need to play well, like we did last home game against Wem! But Bylet play our green well so we are expecting a tough game, they know a good result at ours will really put the pressure on us!” Bylet picked up their first win last week since the end of May, beating Burway 9-5, and hope they can keep that good run going, they have already won away at Wrockwardine Wood so know how to produce a good performance on the road. Wrockwardine Wood are the team directly above the two, but will be looking up the table rather than down despite a poor first half. But they face a tough trip to Bowring, which, with many former players making their move over the Winter to Haygate Road, will be a spicy game. Wrockwardine won at Bowring a couple of years ago but know they will be hard pushed to get close to that with Bowring having improved with those signings. Bowring have dropped away from the teams at the top but will be hoping to take advantage of their tough games with a good home win.

Burway are only 6 points behind Bowring and will be looking for another home result like the 12-2 against St Georges in their last game to gain on them. But Hanwood have adjusted well in their first season in the league, and have done well away after their initial whitewash, and will be hoping their Tanners League knowledge at Burway will help them gain a good result there. Newport have two home games against the two North Shropshire teams, with Wem USC the first to come. Wem suffered a disappointing 11-3 home loss against Chester Road last week and will be hard pressed to improve on that score despite Newport not matching the standards of the last few seasons. They have only had 6 winners there in 5 seasons so Newport will be hoping they’ll repeat those big home wins so they start moving into the top half of the table.

Week 18 Fixtures:

Hadley USC v Bylet

Sir John Bayley v St Georges

Ifton v Meole Brace

Newport v Wem USC

Bowring v Wrockwardine Wood

Burway v Hanwood

Chester Road v Castlefields