Taylor Support Shropshire Premier Bowls League
Leaders meet dark horses, Bottom two meet, Burway look to keep up form
Teams will be hoping to beat the weather in Gameweek 4 of the Salop Leisure Shropshire Premier Bowling League as rain is forecast for all day. If they do, then top of the table Sir John Bayley meet predicted dark horses Hanwood down in Wellington. The Bayley have enjoyed a great start to the season, and joint captain Chris Worthington says “having won our last 2 home games 14-0 we’re feeling very confident, especially with a couple of Hanwood’s new recruits being a part of one of those results. We know how much they’ve improved though and have to be at our brilliant best, as we’ve started showing we can be at home, hopefully the weather will be on our side, so let it rain. This will be a true test of how much they’ve improved and a test of how well they will fare on the road this season.” Hanwood do need to improve their away form, and did well to get 5 at the Bylet in their first away game, a place where Sir John Bayley won last week. Joint skipper Mark Shore knows it is a “real tough test tomorrow down the A5. The Bayley will be buzzing after their fine win at Bylet and we hope we can go there and pick a few points up. We will be at full strength and on the back of a great result at home last week we will be looking to steal a few points.” Castlefields will want to make sure they keep up with the Bayley and face a home tie against a struggling Chester Road. Castlefields enjoyed a fine win at St Georges last week, and will look for a good home win to keep up the pressure. Chester Road lost at home to Newport last week, but did get close to winning at Ifton, losing by just 6 shots. They know they need to kickstart their season and hope to do so tonight.
Wem USC are another team needing to get their season started, although have had two good away results but did lose their last home game to Wrockwardine Wood. Burway are the visitors, and they have enjoyed a good start to be 3rd in the table. But joint captain Russ Davies is “without three players as 2 are injured but so far very happy with the first 3 games. Wrockwardine were good last Friday with the weight playing a big factor but happy with 9 pts after being 5-4 down all the lads battled to the end fair play. But Wem will be hard, the greens normally tricky, always have to respect the home team and although they are towards the bottom, they have had 2 away games so not a true reflection of how good they can be. We will go up and be happy with 4 games and anymore is a bonus for us. If we have the luck on the night who knows maybe 6?” Wrockwardine Wood will be looking to keep up their good start as they host Bowring. Wrockwardine have had two good away results the last two games but will be glad to return to home and build on their opening 10-4 win over Bylet. Bowring though will know the green well, but captain Jamie King knows they are “obviously in good form and have had a great start to the season so it’s going to be a tough challenge to get anything from the game! We will set up to get as many as we can, and see how we start. They are a good bunch of lads and have some top players!”
Ifton and Meole Brace meet with both teams at the foot of the table. Both know they need to start picking up points but Ifton did win their last home game 10-4 and will want to build on that. Meole have been whitewashed their last two away games, both at Sir John Bayley though, and need to start picking up decent scores away from home if they are to move up the table. They did win at Ifton last season with several players out, but with a much changed side, will be hard pushed to do so again. Newport are coming off a fine win at Chester Road last week and will be looking for a good home win over Bylet to keep up the top. Bylet though are made of sterner stuff now and will relish the challenge of getting some good points there and make up for their home loss last week. Hanmer have had a solid start with two good away results, and will be looking to use their fearsome home green to their advantage again when they entertain St Georges. “We welcome St Georges tomorrow night and after another solid away performance last week we are looking for more of the same tomorrow. Clay Flattley obviously knows the green well for them,but not many would have played it more than once so we need to take advantage of that. I just hope the forecast is wrong with heavy rain forecast all day!” St Georges will themselves want to bounce back after their home loss to Castlefields last week, and build on their only away result this season, 5 winners at Newport.
Gameweek 4 Fixtures:
Hanmer v St Georges
Ifton v Meole Brace
Wem USC v Burway
Castlefields v Chester Road
Wrockwardine Wood v Bowring
Sir John Bayley v Hanwood
Newport v Bylet