By MARTY TIGHE
Parkes Bowling and Sports Club report
Championship matches
The new year ushered in the first of the few remaining Major Singles matches when Dave Reilly put his best bowls forward against the formidable Mark Fitzalan.
Mark showed his intentions early in the match when he led by 6 shots to zip after 5 ends.
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Dave found his range to win the next 3 ends to tie the scores at 6 shots each after 8 ends.
Mark then won the next 3 ends, followed by Dave winning the following 3 ends, to lead Mark by 11 shots to 10.
Dave also led by 13 shots to 12 after 16 ends.
In a tense high quality match, Mark showed his class, consistently drawing his shot bowls when they mattered, to reach the winning score of 25 shots, ahead of a very gallant Dave Reilly, who was eventually out-bowled on the day.
Mark advanced to the next round after a hard-fought victory by 25 shots to 17. Well played both bowlers!
Thursday social bowls
A good turnout of 26 bowlers embraced the easy come, easy go theme of the Elvis week to play one game of triples and five games of Pairs on Thursday.
Bruce Orr, Bob Freeman and Steve Ryan enjoyed a tight 1 shot win over Ron Hornery, Paul Fenech and Warren Bevan, winning by 20 shots to 19.
Team Ryan were looking forlorn and gone when they were behind by 2 shots after the 14th end.
They rallied on the next end to pick up 5 shots, to lead by 3 shots.
Leading by that margin with the end in sight, Steve and his lads were good enough to withstand the late flurry of good bowls from Team Bevan, to emerge victors by just 1 shot. Team Ryan won 20 shots to 19 over team Bevan.
Graham ‘Popeye’ Davis and that remarkable man Colin Mudie were good enough to withstand the challenge from Joanne Simpson and John Corcoran to win their pairs game by 22 shots to 18.
Popeye and Colin were behind by 6 shots after the 7th end and were struggling against one of the best lead bowlers in the club and the white Marlin man with the green bowls.
However, Colin and Graham got their act together after the 7th end, winning the next 5 consecutive ends to lead by 6 shots after 13 ends, and then bowled well enough to hold off their fast-finishing opponents, winning by 4 shots over Joanne and John.
The meat-tray raffle burglar Col Woods and Greg Townsend won a close game against Bernie Mitchell and Mick Simpson by 19 shots to 17 in a very entertaining game played in good spirit.
Greg made a successful return to the green, as he and Col led from the first end to the last, winning by 2 shots over Bernie and Mick.
Phil ‘mad-mile man now with a barbecue’ Moran and Brian Townsend were too consistent from the first end to the last end, defeating John Carr and Colin Hayward. Phil and Brian won by 25 shots to 14.
Mal Porter re-emerged from under the air-conditioner to lead for his partner and Skip, big John Wright, in their pairs game against Graham Dixon and Gary ‘GOAT’ McPhee.
The GOAT and Dicko led by 11 shots after the 11th end, and were heard subtly, yet gleefully sledging mighty Mal and John as they confidently thought about the size of the final margin.
The score-line didn’t faze big John and Mal however, particularly after they scored 5 shots on the next end, followed by scoring 4 shots on the 17th end, and then winning 2 of the 3 remaining ends to level the scores at 18 shots end.
Mal and Gary agreed to finish the game on the 20th end, gratefully packing away their bowls, with the game drawn at 18 shots each.
Noel Johnstone and John Ward had a good solid win over George Bradley and Ian Simpson.
The youngest Man on the rink, Simmo had a good skips game, as he and George led by comfortable margin of 5 shots after the 9th end.
Noel and John ‘look at my new old hat’ Ward then took command of the game from the 10th end onwards, bowling the better bowls over the 2nd half of the game.
Noel and John won the game by 24 shots to 17, defeating a bewildered George and Simmo.
Saturday social bowls
Twenty-six bowlers rolled up on Saturday, enjoying for 3 games of triples and 2 games of pairs.
The bowls were however bought to early end by the thunder and lightning storm, followed by good rain, after most games had played 15 ends.
A notable result was the lowest score recorded in recent memory of just 4 shots after 16 ends by the Steve Turner led team of Scott Allen and Rob Lacey, in their game against Joanne Simpson, Tony Riordan and Brian Townsend.
The big Kenworth man, seemingly bogged in neutral gear, tried his best as skip to drive Scott and Rob against their formidable opponents, but were only able to win 2 of the 16 ends bowled.
Their rain dances were rewarded by an early cessation of play. Thankfully, they scored 4 shots as a wet nudie run would have sent the club, packed with Elvis fans, running for their caravans.
Thank you to all the bowlers who assisted with spreading the sand on the TV green over Christmas.
The green is now green, and is looking good for another year of good bowls on the best green in the zone. A big thank you to all club volunteers.
Social bowls are played each Thursday and Saturday, commencing 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.
