Gameweek 9 Review

Bayley stage comeback, St Georges back to form, Wrockwardine whitewash

Sir John Bayley staged one of the best comebacks seen in Gameweek 9 of the Salop Leisure Shropshire Premier Bowling League as they came from 6-0 down against a rampant Castlefields side to claim the aggregate with 5 winners. It keeps them in touch with the Fields who threatened to strike a terminal blow to the Champions. Bayley captain Tom Roden explains how the night went. “An amazing atmosphere for a league match and I doubt the larger than normal crowd left disappointed. It started quite evenly, Glyn Herbert going 9-0 up against Alex Jones, Ade Rowe just leading Norman Harvey and Steve Burroughs and Ant Bracken both well up against Luke Jones and Mike Beer. Castlefields finished the games off better though as Mike Beer won to 18 and Luke Jones came back from 15-5 down to win 19. Herb always stayed ahead of Alex to win 16 and Rowe got over the line after getting stuck on 20 for a while. Callum then played very well over 19m to beat Scott and Paul Williams played the corners superbly to beat Gary Cooper(10 to best winner). We were in big trouble at 6-0 down at home and 30+ shots behind. But we’re a strong side 1-12 and somehow the back managed to turn the game around. Chris Worthington finished off his game very well from 17-11 down to win 20 which at the time was vital. Chris Ward beat Andy Judson 14 and the deficit was 25 after 8. The back 4 really stepped up and although Rob Burroughs lost 18 to Andrew Duckett from 18-12 up, Paul Reeves and Tom Roden won 9 and 7 (to be best winner) against Mark Taylor and Adam Jones leaving Gordon Hawkins on and needing to win 20 to win the agg. It happened very quickly though as Gordon counted 2 as we were adding up the agg to win 16 against Keith Walton. I think Castlefields will be happy with the 7-7 score, but we were fearing the worst at one point and we’re relieved we’ve come out of that match without losing badly to the team we’ll have to catch if we have any chance of winning the league. Overall, an amazing match to be involved in and we always look forward to playing Castlefields because we know how hard they play and support around the green.”

St Georges bounced back to form by beating Meole Brace 12-2. After a couple of disappointing results the Dragons roared back with Peter Grimston leading by example winning 2, with Colin Beaman using his green knowledge to be best winner 12 for the visitors. Chester Road also bounced back from their poor last couple of results with a 11-3 win over Bylet, fighting back from 3-1 down to have the last 8 winners. Best winner for them was Martin Lloyd 8 while for the visitors Nick Powner was best 13. Wrockwardine Wood continued their impressive form with a 14-0 home win over Wem USC. which “was a good performance against what we considered to be a decent Wem side with notable names” according to skipper Rob Jones. “Very good performances in particular from Mark Jones for us who must of scored 30 points only be struck off the green multiple times. It’s always nice to have a 14-0 result and the green was perfect for us, quick but not stupid.” Best winner for the Wrockites was Andy Jones 3.

3 teams scored good away results with Hanmer scoring their best of the season so far, 4 winners at Hanwood. Captain Dave Ellison commented “We came into this game hoping to get a couple so to get 4 was a great result for us and kick starts our season. The 4 young guns for us all winning with Lee Peate outstanding in the first 4 beating Tony Hotchkiss. The middle 4 saw us gain another 3 with the 2 Jacks (Hewitt and Butler) adapting to the green well. This was followed up by the return to form of Andy Armstrong reminding us of how good he can be. This left the match at 4-4 but Hanwood then showed their class on their own green by taking the last 4 games but for us it felt like a ten at home. I thought Ash Wellings was superb for Hanwood and clearly deserves his county call up on this form.” Best winner for the home side was Danny Wornell 2 while Jack Butler was best for the visitors, 14. Bowring gained another 5 points away from home this time at Newport. Josh Bradburn was best winner 7 for them, while for the 5 time champions Pete Cookson and Pete Farmer were best for their 11 wins. Ifton also scored 5 on an emotional night for them following the sad news their player Simon Tyler had last week, and captain Dickie Jones gave a heartfelt speech before the game. Their players did them all proud with Dickie commenting “Getting five there was a good result as we had two 20 winners, with our best winner being Ade Humphreys 15 who has settled in well in his first season in the Prem.” Best winner for Burway was Roy Crowther 5.

Castlefields now lead the table by 7 to Meole Brace, with Sir John Bayley a further point behind. At the bottom and Bylet and Hanmer are both on 53 points. Callum Wraight and Paul Reeves lead the league averages with 8 wins and an aggregate of 67.