GARFIELD BOWLS
It was another frustrating week on the greens for the Garfield Bowling Club with two losses and one win from the three Pennant matches on offer.
The Midweek Division 3 side defibrillated its chances and its optimism with an extraordinary win over the second-placed Trafalgar.
An overall win by 45 shots – 81 to 36 – has leap-frogged Garfield back up to seventh on the ladder and put it back in contention for a place in the top four.
Graeme Burton, Maureen Lamport, Bob Lamport and skip Lexi Taylor started slowly and was down by three shots, 2 to 5, after five ends.
But, in the remaining 16 ends, they only allowed their opponents to score a further seven shots, while they went on a spree, scoring 30 themselves, to finish with a huge win by 32 shots to 12.
Helene Newton skipped the only unchanged team from last week’s disaster, consisting of Shirley Cooke, Malcolm Newham and Gordon Moxey.
They had a see-saw game with their opponents, the lead changing several times.
Interestingly, when the final bell rang, the see-saw was level, as was the final score at 17 shots all.
The team of Keith Sainsbery, Steve Hyam, Cheryl Breteler and skip Gwen Fabris completely overwhelmed their opposition, allowing them to win only five of the 21 ends, and rampaging away to a 32 shots to 7 win.
Welcome back, Garfield, and keep up the good work.
In an unusual scenario, the Division 2 side visited Longwarry to play under lights on Thursday 25 January.
Graeme Burton, Bob Lamport, Joe Lenders and skip Shane Oliver were down by six shots after just three ends; however, they brought that deficit back to one by the 15th end.
But that was the end of their run, as they only scored one more shot in the remaining six ends, losing by 15 shots to 20.
The team of Bob Clarke, Bob Lamport, Steve Bassed and skip Nick Henwood, were the complete opposite.
They bolted out of the gates to be 12 shots up early, and while their opponents tried their best to bridge the gap, the Garfielders won the game by 23 shots to 20.
Steve Whyte skipped the team of Gary Helmore, Alan Wilson and Richard Ross in a game that looked even if you counted ends won, but the home team scored in bunches while Garfield scored in ones and twos, resulting in a loss by 11 shots to 35.
Rick Sillet, Ron Saunders, Alan White and skip Tom Cleary likewise only scored 11 shots for the game.
Their scorecard looked good when they were eight shots all half way through the game, but that’s where they stopped for a spell, and finished up losing by 11 shots to 24.
Despite this result, the side remains in fourth place on the ladder, but their position is now precarious and requires a good run home.
On Saturday the Division 5 side was at home playing against third-placed Drouin, attempting to regain their place in the four.
Despite winning two rinks, they lost overall by just six shots, 58 shots to 64.
Jan Moxey, Lexi Taylor, Gerry Fuller and skip Gwen Fabris slowly but surely drew away from their opponents to end up winning by 23 shots to 18
Gordon Moxey, and his team, consisting of Lois King, Damian Brick and Helene Newton, had a tight game in the first half with the score tied three times to be 10-all after 14 ends.
They then didn’t allow their opposition to score again, and won easily by 22 shots to 10.
The team of Frank Prins, Len Preece, Luke Monckton and skip Brian Fox were never in the hunt against a much stronger opponent, and despite a face-saving comeback at the end of game, they lost by 13 shots to 36.
The side has slipped to seventh place on the ladder, and the task gets bigger.
-Damian Brick-
