By MARTY TIGHE
Parkes Bowls
Vale: Michael Craft.
The club's flag has been lowered to half-mast over the last week in respect and honour of the late Michael ‘Mick’ Craft who passed away recently. Mick was a stalwart bowler and keen supporter of bowls and the club. He always enjoyed his bowls and the company of bowlers. His notable bowls achievements included winning the club's Minor Triples in 2009, 2010 and 2011, as well as the Minor Fours in 2009 and Minor Pairs in 2012. Condolences to Kay and family.
Championship matches
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Two Major Pairs matches were played on Saturday on the top green, which was full to capacity with 38 bowlers.
Ian Simpson and Brian Hampton had a close 3 shot win over Scott Allen and Jock Townsend.
There was never more than 2 shots difference between the 2 teams until Ian and Brian scored 4 shots on the 18th end, to open up a lead of 3 shots.
Scott and Jock bowled well all match, and won the last end, picking 2 shots, however they were defeated by 3 shots.
Ian and Brian advance to the next round, after winning 22 shots to 19 over an improving duo in Scott and Jock.
Father and Son pairing of Rob and Ethan Lacey were stoic in their defeat by tournament favourites Mick Simpson and Mark Dwyer, who had to dig deep to fend off the Lacey challenges all match.
After a sluggish start, Mick and Mark won the match by 24 shots to 14. Ethan and Rob won 7 of the last 10 ends, bowling out the match in fine style.
Major Singles
On Sunday morning Nathan Reynolds dominated Brian Hampton in a Major Singles match for the first 10 ends to lead by 19 shots to 3.
Brian won the next 4 ends, scoring 8 shots to add respectability to his side of the scorecard, but it was too little too late.
Nathan was in fine form, and finished off the match on the 20th end, winning by 25 shots to 15 over Brian.
Nathan advances to the semi-finals of the championship.
Thursday social bowls
Cooler weather last Thursday saw twenty-two social bowlers hit the top green with enthusiasm and gusto, and were thankful for pleasant bowls weather with a southerly breeze.
The four Colins in our club all played in the one game, that being the triples game featuring Mike Valentine, Bob Freeman and Colin Mudie against Col Woods, Col Miller and Colin Hayward.
The game was a tight tussle until the 9th end, whereupon team Hayward went on a scoring spree, winning 7 consecutive ends to lead by 21 shots to 8 after 15th ends.
Team Mudie scored 6 shots on the 17th end, and also won the majority of the remaining ends, however the damage was done earlier and they were not able to bridge the gap, set up by Woods, Miller and Hayward. Team Hayward won the game by 23 shots to 18.
Brian Townsend and Gary McPhee had a good tight game against the old stager John Corcoran and star young bowler, Cooper Fliedner.
Brian and Gary established a 5 shot lead after the 10th end and were good enough over the second half of the game to fend off the challenges from John and Cooper.
Brian and Gary won the high standard game by 17 shots to 14, defeating John and Cooper.
Phil Moran and John Ward had a comprehensive win over Mal Porter and Rob Tinker, winning 25 shots to 10.
Mal and Rob, though they only reached double figures on the last end of the game, nevertheless still enjoyed the game which was played in good spirit between the teams.
A very competitive game of pairs was played between Bruce Orr and Marty Tighe against Ian Simpson and Tony Riordan.
Both teams each won 6 of the first 12 ends played, which saw the scores locked at 8 each after the 12th end.
Ian and Tony broke the game open on the next end when they scored 4 shots.
They were good enough to hold onto that 4 shot margin until 18th end.
On the 18th end, Bruce and Marty regained their earlier touch and form, scoring 4 shots to draw level at 14 shots each.
Ian and Tony won the penultimate end by 1 shot and took that margin into the last end of the game.
Bruce and Marty again stood up under pressure and bowled well on the last end, scoring 4 shots, to win the game by 18 shots to 15, defeating a good combination in Ian and Tony.
A similar tight tough scoring game was played between Arthur Corbett and Geoff Freeman against Ron Hornery and Graham Dixon.
‘King’ Arthur and Geoff were behind on the score-card all game until the 17th end. They scored 4 shots to move ahead by 15 shots to 13.
Ron and Graham managed to win the next end by 1 shot to trail by that margin with 2 ends to play.
Arthur and Geoff bowled well under pressure on the last 2 ends, picking up 1 shot on each end, enabling them to emerge unlikely victors.
Athur and Geoff won the game by 17 shots to 14 over Ron and Graham.
The lucky rink draw for $260 was not won. Brian Townsend, representing rink 9, unfortunately just missed the Lucky number 7. The prize pool increased to $270 for Saturday.
Colin Hayward needed the protective services of ArmaGuard to leave the club after collecting 3 wads of cash in the various raffle draws after the game, and Geoff Freeman was a close runner-up, collecting 2 winning wads of the folding stuff.
Mal ‘all ears’ Porter was observed preening and prancing with obvious delight after also winning a blue-heeler $10 note.
Saturday social bowls
Five games of triples were required to cater for the monster roll-up of bowlers on Saturday, with several new, newer and returning bowlers, male and female, made feel most welcome, with all games played in good spirit and sense of enjoyment and humour.
Alan Frame, Steve Parker and Col Woods proved too strong in their game against Faith Parker, George Bradley and Phil Betts, winning by 27 shots to 14. Called up at the last minute, ‘Lucky’ Phil skipped well for Faith and ‘georgous’ George as they kept in touch on the scorecard with team Woods until the 7th end.
Scoring 6 shots on the 7th end enabled Alan, Steve and Col to open up a winning margin, to which they were able to add over the remaining ends, enjoying a nice cruisy win over team Betts.
John Ward, Tash Allen and Geoff Freeman played a good game of triples bowls against Joanne Simpson, Nat Hancock and Brian Townsend.
Only 1 shot separated the 2 teams after the 13th end, however John, Geoff and particularly Tash, who demonstrated good bowling technique and confidence, combined well to score 2 shots on the next 3 consecutive ends to draw away from team Townsend, and won the game by 20 shots to 13.
Phil Moran, Colin Hayward and Gary McPhee dropped 5 shorts on the very first end in their game against Colin Mudie, Marty Tighe and Brett Frame, but were good enough to recover from their inauspicious start to not only catch up, but also match team Frame.
Gary, Phil and Colin squared up the scores at 15 shots each with 2 ends remaining.
Colin Mudie and Marty set-up the head nicely over the remaining 2 ends for Brett to consolidate, and score 5 shots over those 2 ends, and won the game by that margin.
Team Frame defeated a gallant team McPhee by 20 shots to 15.
Graham ‘pop-eye’ Davis, Rodney Ford and Mark Glasheen had a tight dour contest in the first half of their game against Dave Parker, Geoff Smith and Warren Bevan in an overall low scoring game.
After 11 ends, the scorecard favoured team Glasheen by 7 shots to 5, but they won the next 3 ends, to open up the lead by 12 shots to 5.
Graham, Rodney and Mark maintained their consistency, and went on to win the game by 6 shots. Team Glasheen won by 17 shots to 11 over team Bevan.
John Carr, Bob Freeman and Colin Miller won the first end of the game by 2 shots but didn’t trouble the Scorers again until 10th end, in their game against Ray Jones, Ron Hornery and Skipper Mike Valentine.
Leading by 16 shots to 2 after 9 ends, team Valentine were enjoying their stroll on the green in ideal conditions.
John, Bob and Colin disturbed their opponents’ slumber to win 5 shots and another 2 shots on the 10th and 11th ends, breathing some life back into the contest.
However, the team Miller come-back was short-lived as Ray, Ron and Mike regained control of the game by winning the majority of the remaining ends, and won the game by 24 shots to 11, over team Miller.
Graham Davis had the opportunity to win the Lucky Rink jackpot of $270 but unfortunately was not successful. The jackpot now sits at $280 for Thursday.
Club members and bowlers are enjoying the Friday night frivolities, including the fun and laughter of the ‘Pick a Box’. Sponsored by WonderBar, entries in the Pick a Box are by way of a ticket with each bar purchase on Friday evening. Four names are drawn for a pick at one of 4 boxes, with hilarious prizes and gifts on offer. Friday nights also include raffles for meat trays, shopping vouchers, club vouchers and members draw, which is now $1400. Also, the 100 club Lucky Wheel.
The ‘2025 Wrong Bias Leaders’ board has a new Leader!
John Ward sits atop with 2 wrong bias, just ahead of Gary McPhee on 1 wrong bias. Watch this space as the interest grows in this ‘competition’!
Social bowls are played each Thursday and Saturday at 1pm, names in by 12.30pm and, as always, the ‘Friendly Club’ welcomes all visitors to play social bowls. Ladies bowls are played on Tuesday.
