Week 23 Review

Bayley end record run, Chester Road move 2nd, Castlefields and Hanwood earn whitewashes

Sir John Bayley took a huge step to their first ever Flowfit Shropshire Premier Bowling League title as they ended Newport’s 90 match unbeaten streak at home in week 23. They beat them 8-6 and by 8 chalks , exceeding captain Spencer Clarke’s expectations. “We were hoping to come away with 5 or 6 points so to grab 8 points, at Newport, is a real bonus. We started off well sharing the front 2-2, but then Newport asserted their authority to lead 5-3 and by 10 on the agg after eight. Into the back four and Scott Simpson bagged us a 21-6 win (to be best winner) to give us hope and with Tom Roden and Will Plant also winning it gave us the perfect result. It was a good match with many close games so the result, in fairness, could have gone either way.” Best winner for the Champions was Dave Rhodes 15 while one match got the MVPs, Chris Grocott beating Chris Ward 16. Chester Road moved into second 6 points behind the Bayley after beating Ifton 9-5 at home. Andy Moss won his 17th consecutive game 21-5 to be best winner but Paul Williams got MVP for his 13 win. For the visitors Craig Griffiths was best winner 14 with captain Dickie Jones getting MVP for winning 16. Dickie said it was “a good performance to get 5 winners, it could have been 6 with Kieran at the end but it was a fair result.”

There were two whitewashes in week 23 of the league. Castlefields beat Hadley USC 14-0 to move into 3rd place and just 2 behind Chester Road and 8 behind Sir John Bayley. Andy Duckett and Glyn Herbert were best winners 8, with the former getting MVP. For the visitors John Newey got MVP for his 14. Hanwood earned their first ever whitewash in the league over Bylet. Joint captain Mark Shore comments “last night our green was not its usual sharp pace given the heavy overnight rain but our lads performance was excellent 1-12. We were missing three players due to a wedding and Nick Davies was away on his Saga cruise round the Norwegian Fjords. This gave us the opportunity to give Jon Mansell a much deserved home debut and Phil “Mr Hanwood” Talbot his first premier game in more than 20 years. Both stepped up and delivered brilliant displays. Credit to Bylet who gave their all in the first four but couldn’t get a point on the board. Tony Hotchkiss had a cracking game with Scott Harris and it was very much in the balance at 15-15 across but tony found that little extra to run out and earn MVP. Ash Wellings led from the front to beat Tom McGill. Tom played well for his 5 and probably “wishes” he had drawn someone else. The middle saw some dominant displays from Glyn Wellings, Greg Smith and Ben Talbot all winning single figures (Greg the best winning 2). At number 6 Tim Ealey had the Tussle with Russell Wellings with Russ edging the game 21-19 and not coming off until after game 9. In the back Phil Talbot played superb to beat Mick Harries, as did Phil Lyttle did to beat an entertaining Rob Renke. Last on at 6-6 with the entire green to ourselves was myself and Rob Steventon. With the threat of the now traditional shot of chilli for the only loser hanging over me I managed to see off the now full time Bylet star. A thoroughly satisfying result to take 24 chalks combined (they won 10-4 at Bylet) off the team that blocked our entry to the league two years ago. The ghosts of Sinclair have finally been put to rest and we feel we are in with a real chance of a top 6 finish in our debut season.” Jamie Taylor earned MVP for the visitors for his 17.

Meole Brace’s quest for another title looks to be over now as they went down 10-4 at Wem USC. Scott Thomas was best winner 8 with Mike Fielder winning MVP for his 16 win. For Meole Darren Wellings earned MVP for winning 17 while Craig Wilson was best winner 16. Home captain Mike Dulson said “the game felt like a typical end of season clash with very little atmosphere on the side. It was a good performance from the lads who have played two excellent games against Meole Brace this year.” Bowring are level with Hanwood in 6th place after beating Burway 11-3. Captain Rich Lawson was “very pleased at the way we’ve bounced back after last week’s results. It was a very good home performance as Burway made us work very hard for our win. I thought they bowled our green very well and I suspect they were probably a little disappointed with just 3 winners. But they brought out the best in some of my players. For me the game of the night was Jamie King and Mark Rogers, both bowling superbly with Jamie managing to pull clear right at the end. Our back four were impeccable though picking up 58 chalks to give us the good home win I wanted. The aim for the next 3 games is just to go out and try our hardest, and to try and beat last year’s points total and secure a top 6 finish.” Best winners for the Bowring were Glyn Hayward and Liam Stevens 4 with John Cooke getting MVP for winning 17. For the visitors Duncan Pressley was best winner 10 but Kiah Roberts got MVP for winning 20.

So the Bayley are 6 points clear of Chester Road with Castlefields a further 2 back. It’s as you were at the bottom with Hadley USC 9 adrift of Bylet. Andy Moss is still two ahead in the League Averages and has won the Most Consecutive Wins award as he is on 17. Stuart Rutter still leads the MVPs 0n 7 awards.