BOWLERS CORNER

Friday, 24 July 2009

The Five Arches squad who recently lined-up for a photo call. Captain Ken Lloyd and vice-captain Tony Powling are seen seated centre. Many thanks to Lawrence Hourahane for taking the picture.

Molly Spencer (left) and Ysie White helped with the club’s collection for Help the Heroes.

CARRUTHERS SHIELD

Presteigne 64
Tenby 97

Last Saturday, the Layton and Co Solicitors sponsored Tenby team travelled to Presteigne for a last 16 match in the Carruthers Shield competition.
The team and their supporters left the town in good spirits; unfortunately they were slightly dampened, as the coach was held up for two hours the Llandovery side of the Sugar Loaf Mountain due to a road accident. This was not the ideal preparation as the two sides did not take to the green until 4 pm.
Captain Dai Spencer, Jon Webb, John Roberts and skip Andrew Muskett were drawn on rink one. Dai and Webby put in a faultless display up front, giving JR and Andrew the platform to easily close the game out by nine shots.
Luke Guymer, Mike Jackson, Peter Day and Paul Diment were involved in a thriller. At half-time Paul and his rink were two shots down, but the experience of the Tenby four managed to quieten down the opposing skip, and emerge victorious by three shots.
Gerald Hewitt, Joe Richards, Craig Guymer and Phil Carpenter were also quite close in their contest. The Tenby foursome were always in the ascendancy, but only by a couple of shots. A strong finish by Phil saw them past the post by five shots.
Last up were Neil Dickinson, John Baggott, Simon Evans and Pat Currie. Pitched against a strong Presteigne rink, skipped by former world champion Robert Weale, Pat and his men excelled, dominating the opposition, resulting in a brilliant 16-shot victory.
An overall 33-shot win puts the Tenby side into the last eight of the competition for the second year running.
A home draw gives captain Dai Spencer and his men a slight edge in the quarter-final, but the opposition and date have yet to be finalised.
Special thanks to the supporters who accompanied the team throughout the day.
Dai Spencer’s blue and white army rolls on!
Rink scores (Tenby first, Presteigne skips only):
Dai Spencer, Jon Webb, John Roberts, Andrew Muskett 22; D. Weale 13.
Luke Guymer, Mike Jackson, Peter Day, Paul Diment 25; B. Weale 22.
Gerald Hewitt, Joe Richards, Craig Guymer, Phil Carpenter 23; S. Weale 18.
Neil Dickinson, John Baggott, Simon Evans, Pat Currie 27; R. Weale 11.

Tenby 103 (14 pts.)
Pembroke Dock 58 (0)

The Layton and Co Solicitors sponsored Tenby team were back in league action the following day, when the visitors to the Sutton Street green were the Pembroke Dock first team. The home team looked a little bleary eyed from their exploits the previous day, but they knew they still had a job to do on the green.
Neil Dickinson, John Baggott, Peter Day and Pat Currie were first up. Pat and his men were dominant throughout, even picking up a count of seven on the 18th end. Needless to say, the Tenby rink cruised to a 12-shot victory.
Gerald Hewitt, Joe Richards, Craig Guymer and Phil Carpenter were on rink three. Once again, the Tenby rink were always in control and easily ran out 13-shot winners.
Mike Jackson, Doug Silcox, Jon Webb and Simon Evans also cruised in their match. Establishing an early 14-shot lead, the Tenby foursome eased off a little bit second half, but still emerged victorious by 10 shots.
Dai Spencer, Bert Barnikel, John Roberts and Andrew Muskett all performed well on their rink. Gaining an early lead, Andrew’s men kept the opposing rink at arms length all afternoon, finally registering a 10-shot win.
After a fortnight without a league match, the Tenby team easily gained the maximum 14 points, hopefully steering them towards another championship title.
Rink scores (Tenby first, Pembroke Dock skips only):
Neil Dickinson, John Baggott, Peter Day, Pat Currie 26; E. Sturley 14.
Gerald Hewitt, Joe Richards, Craig Guymer, Phil Carpenter 27; L. Davies 14.
Mike Jackson, Doug Silcox, Jon Webb, Simon Evans 27; R. Hissey 17.
Dai Spencer, Bert Barnikel, John Roberts, Andrew Muskett 23; R. Jones 13.
ST. KATHERINE’S 80 (4 pts.) FIVE ARCHES 85 (10)

Late enforced changes were made to the Five Arches side that travelled to Milford on Saturday for what was to be an important weekend of bowling for the Arches team if they were to continue their challenge to put pressure on the leaders of division two.
With several regular team players not available and the successful run of Ashley Hooper and Tony Brown in the Haverfordwest Open culminating in them having to miss the game to play their pairs semi-final on Saturday morning, it left the Arches side short of experienced players in key positions.
Clive Webb was given the responsibility to skip a rink of players who were ‘not considered’ when the original team was selected.
Ben Simmons, Kenny Williams and Neil Hensman agreed to play late on Friday night, putting aside their disappointment of not being originally picked. They all had something to prove and, under the guidance and encouragement of Clive, who was playing his first game as skip, played brilliantly, ending up as the highest winning rink.
This rink set the platform for a five-shot victory for the Five Arches team and in doing so securing 10 valuable league points.
On rink one, Graham Hill and his team of Stuart Askew, Rob Wilkins and Mike Gouldingay found their opponents in good form and did well to keep the St. Katherine’s winning margin down to eight shots.
On the next rink was skip Clive Webb and his team of late replacements. The combination of Ben at lead, Kenny at second and Neil at third worked well and, under the leadership of Clive, they were never behind in the game and only failed to score on six ends. A great performance.
Skip Lee Richards and his squad of Eamonn Maher, the ‘wizard’ Ben Cloake and Ken Lloyd were up against a tough St. Katherine’s rink skipped by Derek Hastings.
The Arches rink were behind for the first six ends, but following some words from Lee, everyone lifted their game to play some of the best bowls of the season. The game was even and, despite losing the last four ends, the Arches rink came out on top, winning by three shots.
With Roy Powling away, Jonathan Hubbard moved into skip his rink of Ron Hurlow, Tony Powling and Gwyn Beynon. This was a close contest throughout and was lost only in the last four ends, conceding seven shots, to finally lose the game by just three.
This was a good result for the Stena Line sponsored Five Arches side and for the boys who stepped into the breach.
Rink scores (Five Arches first, St. Katherine’s skips only) were as follows:
S. Askew, R. Wilkins, M. Gouldingay, G. Hill 16; K. Walker 24.
B. Simmons, K. Williams, N. Hensman, C. Webb 24; D. Mathias 10.
E. Maher, B. Cloake, K. Lloyd, L. Richards 26; D. Hastings 23.
R. Hurlow, T. Powling, G. Beynon, J. Hubbard 19; A. Robson 23.

PEMBROKE DOCK
PATER 54 (0)
FIVE ARCHES 95 (14 pts.)

Ashley Hooper walked off the Pembroke Dock green on Sunday knowing that his last two woods on the last end secured maximum league points for the Five Arches side.
With the other Arches rinks off the green, and supporting every shot from the clubhouse balcony, having won their games, it was down to Tony Brown’s rink to pull off a clean sweep.
This game could not have been tighter; at the penultimate end it was 16 apiece. Pater gave the mat away for the last end and quickly built a head in their favour.
With the Arches rink three shots down, Ashley, playing at third, sent his first wood down on the straight hand to draw to the jack, but the elation was short-lived as the Pater third drew in to pinch the shot.
Up stepped Ashley again to send an even better wood down, to turn the jack over to make two shots for the Arches. With the Pater skip failing to get near the head, it was down to Tony Brown to lead his victorious rink of Eamonn Maher, Clive Webb and Ashley off the green to loud applause.
Bowls is full of intriguing curiosities. On Saturday, a depleted Arches side beat a strong Milford side and on Sunday, against a side fighting hard to get off the bottom of the league, their opponents pushed the Arches for most of the game and were close to securing wins on two rinks.
On rink two, skip Graham Hill and his team of Stuart Askew, Jim Taylor and Mike Gouldingay were all in fine form and after the first end never looked like losing their game. A count of six on the ninth end broke the resolve of the Pater rink that went on to concede the game by 13 shots.
At the halfway stage, and going into tea, skip Lee Richards’s rink was struggling to find form and only being kept in the game by some excellent bowling from Jon Hubbard, playing at third.
Following the break, the Arches changed their tactics, putting up short to threequarter jacks at every opportunity. This changed the game immediately and, with Ken Lloyd and Kenny Williams ‘peppering’ the jack and Jonno and Lee building on the head, they went on from being eight-all at 10 ends to win the game by 24 shots. This was a good second half performance.
Skip Roy Powling was drawn on the very tricky rink four. This was a rink that you had to find the perfect line or the woods would drift off fighting the bias. This was an evenly matched rink, but it was the experience of Ron Hurlow, Tony Powling and Gwyn Beynon that won through in the end to win by a two-shot margin.
This was a successful weekend for the Stena Line sponsored Five Arches team, winning both games and securing 24 points out of a maximum 28.
Rink scores (Five Arches first, Pater skips only) were as follows:
E. Maher, C. Webb, A. Hooper, T. Brown 18; S. Davies 16.
S. Askew, J. Taylor, M. Gouldingay, G. Hill 27; B. Duncombe 14.
K. Lloyd, K. Williams, J. Hubbard, L. Richards 35; J. Rapley 11.
R. Hurlow, T. Powling, G. Beynon, R. Powling 15; M. Ronald 13.

Junior trials

Congratulations to Tenby’s Craig and Luke Guymer who have been selected for Welsh Junior International trials at Llandrindod Wells on Sunday, August 9.
Luke is leading for Paul Taylor, of Bridgend, while Craig is second to last year’s Silver Bowl winner, Andrew Hopkins, of Resolven.
Pembrokeshire is also represented by Dan Jenner from Whitland, who is one of the reserves.
Alan Williams Trophy

Well done to Tenby juniors Ben Cloake and Luke Rees who have qualified for the semi-finals of the Alan Williams Trophy, the Welsh Bowling Association’s Under 16s pairs competition.
They battled through atrocious weather conditions on Sunday at Harlequins BC and will now play Jordan Davies and Ross Owen from Mid Glamorgan for a place in the final. This will take place at Llandrindod Wells during the WBA’s championship week next month. 
Also taking part in the competition were Joe Dennis (Saundersfoot) and Cameron White (Tenby), who also put up a good fight to keep their heads above water, but the last wave was just too much and they just missed out - not even the wet suit and snorkels could save them!
All four are now busy drying out their kit!

Whist results

Thursday, July 16: top score - Joyce Waters, 178; 1st lady - Vera Burrows, 172; 2nd lady - Mair Marquiss, 170; 1st gent - Mary Draper, 168; 2nd gent - Bert Barnikel (after cutting cards); first half winner - Phyllis Jones, 92; second half - Jean Salisbury, 86; longest sitter - Ginnie Beeken, seven times; lowest score - Mary Renowden; raffles - Pauline Barnikel and Ginnie Beeken.  
Monday, July 20: top score - Gladys Irvine, 174; 1st lady -Mary Renowden, 171; 2nd lady - Olive Frost, 166; 1st gent - Margaret Hill, 170; 2nd gent - Muriel Griffiths, 164;  first half winner - Pauline Barnikel, 95; second half -Ginnie Beeken, 86; longest sitter - Jean Salisbury, five times; lowest score - Vera Burrows; raffles - Gladys Irvine and Olive Frost.  
Bowling Club whist is played twice weekly, Monday and Thursday at 7 pm sharp. New members and visitors are always welcome.

Bonus ball winners

Wednesday, July 15 - Ted Brutnell; Saturday, July 18 -Meryl Cooke.

County finals
- part 4

The Pembrokeshire County Bowling Association’s Open Pairs was won by Andrew Muskett and Phil Carpenter, of Tenby, who beat their clubmates Peter Day and Paul Diment on an extra end.

Bowls Marathon

The fund-raising 24 hours of continuous bowling marathon recently, sadly was not well supported.
The number of bowls delivered was a stunning 5,318, including all those played in matches, roll-ups, trial ends and even dead ends. There were a few heroes who kept the kettle boiling, bowling in the wee small hours and then turned out the next afternoon in the league game. You have to be tough to do that.
Nearest guess as to the number of bowls bowled was from our own Simon Evans, 5,303, who generously returned the £25 prize into the fund. Second was that popular butcher Gurnot  Braun from Tenby Market with 5,299, while third was Christine Barnikel, of Haverfordwest, with 5,250. 
Thanks go to all of the sponsors and Lynn Delabertouche for her usual efficient organisation.