GARFIELD BOWLS
Garfield bowls players returned to the pennant arena this week.
In an oddity of the schedule, round seven of the 14-game season is played as the first game back after the Christmas break.
Midweek Pennant
On Tuesday January 11, the Div 3 Midweek side visited Trafalgar to play for the first time on their new synthetic green. Overall, the side came home with a very tight two-shot win, by 59 shots to 57, despite only winning one rink.
The rink of Lexi Taylor, Damian Brick, Peter Stansfield and Helene Newton played a see-saw game, with both sides up then down; unfortunately, Garfield was only half-way up again when the game ended, so they lost by 15 shots to 19.
The team comprising Wes Goodman, Gillian Harper, Barry Johnson and skip Sue Stansfield, started evenly with their opponents, being six shots all after six ends.
After that, Traf got going, and in the next 13 ends, Garfield only won four of them, so they were down by 14 shots with two ends to go; however, all the glory came in those two ends, with the team scoring 11 shots, to bring them back to a close loss of 22 shots to 25.
This valiant last stand enabled Maureen Lamport’s rink, consisting of Judy Pocklington, Malcolm Newham and Bob Lamport – who had their own ‘down-then-up’ tussle – to score enough to win the day. The team struggled early and were down by three shots at the half-way point. Then they took over completely – only giving up three ends in the last 10 ends of the game – and stormed home to win by 22 shots to13.
This win maintains the side’s third place on the ladder.
Saturday Pennant
On Saturday the ladder-leading Div 3 side played host to Morwell for a first v second shootout, which Garfield won overall by just seven, 93 shots to 86.
The team of Barrie Smith, Les Pumphrey, Ray Biffin and skip Steve Bassed were involved in a very tight tussle in the first half of the game, scores being tied three times, but one end, in which they scored five shots, created the gap that allowed them to win the game by 20 shots to 17.
Nick Henwood’s rink, of Frank Prins, Ron Saunders and Tom Cleary, bolted out of the blocks, and were up by 14 shots after nine ends. Despite a concerted effort by their opponents in the second half, they were only able to cut the deficit in half, with Garfield winning by 28 shots to 21.
Alan Wilson, Joe Lenders, Gary Helmore and skip Steve Whyte had a ding-dong battle with their opposition, neither team able to get far ahead, and fittingly, the game ended in a 21-all tie.
Shane Oliver and his team of Graeme Burton, Alan White and newcomer to Garfield, Anthony Young, also had a close fight on their hands. Morwell scored two shots on the first end, and that was the difference at the halfway point.
They again scored two shots on the first end of the second half, and although Garfield pegged one of those back, the final score was a loss by 24 shots to 27.
The side remains unbeaten on top of the ladder.
The only side which Garfield’s Div 5 side had not played so far was the ladder-leading Morwell Club.
Unfortunately, this match-up happened this week, on their wet grass green after the storm on Friday night. The result was a serious loss by 52 shots to 82.
The only bright spot for Garfield was the continuing good form of the team of Len Preece, Gillian Harper, Gwen Fabris, and skip Don Knight.
They led the way early and were one shot up at half time. The game see-sawed in the second half, and finished in the tightest of results, with Garfield losing by just one, 18 shots to 19.
This result drops the side back to fourth place on the ladder.
