Taylor Support Shropshire Premier Bowls League
Leaders face champs test, Chester Road face Ifton test, Meole look for repeat
The leaders Sir John Bayley travel to the defending Champions in week 23 of the Flowfit Shropshire Premier Bowling League in hope of succeeding them. The Bayley are two points clear of St Georges, who sit out this week having already played their game, so will be looking to extend the gap at the top. But captain Spencer Clarke, who returns this week, admits “we may well be going well but the league table doesn’t tell the full picture as we finish with 3 out of our last 4 away, all at very tough places starting with the current SPBL Champions Newport. Our aim tomorrow is to come away with a reasonable points haul to keep us in it, but the Fishes are undefeated on home turf so we expect a tough game.” Newport skipper Mark Selley knows “this is a real test at home against the Premier League leaders that are packed full of County players from both sides of the borders. We will try to maintain our home record that’s all we can do!” Chester Road are 7 points behind the Bayley and will be hoping to gain with a home game, but this is against an Ifton side who have a good record there, they won 10-4 last game of last season. Skipper Paul Fowles “is expecting a hard game as they like to beat us more than any other team. They will have a strong side out but its up to us to deal with that and keep our challenge for the title up.” Opposition captain Dickie Jones knows “Chester Road are a different side from the one that we beat there last season with Paul as their captain. But we go there hopeful of getting a good result.”
Meole Brace captain Mark Thomas fears that they will again miss out on the top prize. “I think its a tough ask now to win the league. We have fallen behind over the last couple of games. We have to keep playing and hoping somebody falters and that we can pick up a big win somewhere. But I think we could well end up the bridesmaids again.” They face a visit to Wem USC this week, a green where they won 9-5 last season, the only home loss Wem suffered all season. “We’ve had some good nights at Wem and then the next season a poor one. Whether we get the win I don’t know but they don’t seem to be playing too well at the moment.” Wem skipper Mike Dulson admits “we are playing for pride now as our final league position is unlikely to change dramatically in the last four games. However we will have a big say on how others finish in the league, with Meole and St Georges at home both fighting for the title and in the middle of those Bylet away who are fighting Hadley at the bottom. We start with Meole at home tomorrow who have a good record at Wem so are expecting a difficult fixture. We want to finish the season strongly.”
Castlefields are 6 behind Meole in 5th and 14 points off the top, but joint captain Callum Wraight thinks that only second spot is in reach. “The league is beyond our grasp, which is completely our own fault, but I think we can finish second. For me the league has been sewn up for a few weeks and Sir John Bayley are almost certainly going to be champions. They have 10 county players with seven from Staffordshire and three from Shropshire, no other team can compete with that. If we had played to our full potential we could have given them a run for their money. But we have dropped too many points at home, teams have come down and had far too many winners. We have a nice little run-in so who knows? There’s no reason why we can’t overtake all of them apart from Sir John Bayley. We will look for a good win against Hadley USC and our rivals Meole Brace. Wrockwardine Wood is a difficult place to go and the other away game is at Bylet and they are down there with Hadley. If we could win three out of the four then that could put us in contention to be scraping second spot. We will be looking for an 11-3 against Hadley although they have some decent players and are battling every point to stay in the league. And if we could end up finishing above St Georges that would be very amusing! There were some comments from their captain last week that didn’t go down too well!” Hadley are 9 behind Bylet with 5 games left so know they need a good points haul today to try and close the gap. Bylet travel to Hanwood looking to maintain the gap between them and bottom spot. Hanwood though have enjoyed a great first season in the league and with 3 out of their last 4 at home are still hopeful of a top half finish. Bowring are three points above Hanwood and play Burway, who are 5 points behind Bowring. Both teams will be looking for their best ever finishes this season so know a good result will help them achieve their aim, especially with both coming off disappointing results last week.
Week 23 Fixtures:
Newport v Sir John Bayley
Castlefields v Hadley USC
Wem USC v Meole Brace
Chester Road v Ifton
Bowring v Burway
Hanwood v Bylet