Gameweek 17 Review

Newport win away again, Hanwood earn super 7, Bowring finally earn away win

Newport earned a great away win in Gameweek 17 of the Salop Leisure Shropshire Premier Bowling League as they won up at St Georges. They had 5 winners but won the aggregate thanks to 3 single figure winners led by ex-homesters Pete Farmer 6 and Kevin Keary 7. Captain Mick Jones commented “any sort of win is a good one, 3 single figure winners got us home against a side without two good regulars.” Best for the Dragons was Peter Grimston 12, who suffered their second home defeat of the season as Newport bounced back from their second last week. Hanwood also had a great win but it could have been so much better. Joint captain Mark Shore explained “it was a  game full of comebacks on Friday. The match got off to a typical feel with the Wrockites taking an early lead 3-1 but that ended after Jon Mansell won 21-19 in the middle. We had 3 cards which were all down 17-13 18-12 & 18-14 but the lads dug in to win all of the games in the middle four to lead 5-3. In the back Phil Lyttle continued his fine season to sweep aside Steve Broome 4 (to be best winner) to put us back in contention. Glyn Wellings then provided the fourth comeback of the night to beat Andy Jones 18 from 17-9 down. This left me and Martin Williams on the green. After a great start and leading 15-3 the final comeback of the night showed Martin dig in and turn the game on its head to win 21-20. Happy to have got such a good return but ultimately disappointed to not have won 10-4.” Stuart Rutter was best winner for Wrockwardine winning 6.

Bowring finally won their first away game in two seasons as they won at Bylet 10-4. Skipper Jamie King said “really happy for the team to get an away win, we have come close so many times over last season and this one but never quite got over the line! We played the green well and maybe could of even sneaked 2 more winners that lost 20! It’s a good win for the last and a lift in confidence going into some big fixtures over the next few weeks.” Reece Farr, Glyn Hayward and Rich Lawson all won 12 to be best winner for the Bowring while Jason Groom played very well to be best winner to be 9 for the home side. Chester Road took advantage to move further clear of trouble with a 10-4 win over Burway at home. Alex Lockett was the best winner while Wayne Rogers was for the Ludlow side, winning 12. Wem USC are still down there even win a good 4 at Meole Brace. Derek Wright was their best winner 11 while Julian Cooke starred again winning 7 for the home side, who are two points behind Newport in 4th now.

Castlefields stretched their lead by a point at the top of the table with a 12-2 win over Hanmer. It was a good result considering it was 2-2 after four with Graham Bennett winning 15 and Andrew Armstrong 17. Paul Williams was best winner for the home side 3. Sir John Bayley still earned a good 11-3 win over improving Ifton, but the result keeps the Miners bottom. Bayley captain Tom Roden commented “Friday was another sound result for us. We aren’t setting the world alight at the moment but we’re getting solid results that keep us in touching distance with the top teams. Ifton are a very good side and I have no idea why they are struggling at the bottom of the league but I’m sure they’ll get themselves off it before week 26. The two 20 losers were a shame but Ifton deserved their 3 winners and we’ll just keep doing what we do.” Tom himself was best winner 5 while Curtis Metcalfe was superb to win 7 for the away side.

Castlefields are 9 points clear at the top of the table to Sir John Bayley while only 4 points separate the bottom four, with Ifton the bottom side. Callum Wraight is still top of the League Averages on aggregate.