BOWLSBANTER
There was huge disappointment for the Kowie Bowling Club when their annual classic was called off due to persistent rain last week.
Those who had entered the competition were just as disappointed but are looking forward to the rescheduled dates November 11 and 12.
There was also disappointment for this club when they were notified by East London Bowling Club, Old Selbornians, they will not be playing in this club’s triangular next month.
Due to rain, their mixed pairs could not be played and the new date for that event clashes with that of the triangular, which usually also includes this club and Gqeberha’s Westview Bowls Club. Elizabeth. The triangular, a fun event, where the winners drink beer from a “pee pot”, has been held for the past 30 years.
However, the event will still be staged between this club and Westview.
With the greens and roads to the club flooded, no bowls was played this past weekend but ahead lies the second round of the club’s mixed fours. In the opening game, Elzabe Rodriguez, Jaco van Rensburg, Susan van Rooyen and Carol Oosthuizen beat Claire Bell, Christo Hattingh, Ilse Strombeck and Debbie Rees.
At a recent combined meeting between the men’s and ladies committees, it was decided to do away with the club’s annual ladies’ classic which has not taken place for the past two years.
This has resulted in the annual Harry Owsley Classic — previously only for men — becoming a mixed event.
Better news for the club, is that Jaco is busy bricking up the banks on A and B greens, matching other clubs in the area who have already done so.
Coming up today, if the weather allows, will be the final round of the Les Clarke and Doris Ford competition against Kenton.
Ahead of the event, Kenton are in the lead.
The Radue-sponsored afternoon was staged last Tuesday, with Peet van Rooyen (skip), Piet Scholtz and Arthur Beresford walking away with the winning vouchers. Well done.
A reminder — never applaud a bad shot played by an opponent.
KOWIE
With the big rains and the flooding of our greens a thing of the past, it was all hands on deck for the greenkeeper and his staff to prepare for the big one, the Men ’ s Kowie Classic, which was scheduled to be played during the past weekend.
Sadly, all the prepping was in vain as Mother Nature had other plans.
It was tabs in as normal on Tuesday afternoon which was well supported. The winners of the very Spar vouchers were Jonty Alexander and his team of Colleen Davy (again) and Phil Gillfillin.
For a bunch of novices and some golden oldies, Wednesday morning was spent on B green having some fun in the sun. It was very pleasing to welcome Linda May back to our bowling family. It was obvious why she was ranked one of our top lady bowlers before her big op, because it wasn’t long before she found her lines in a friendly 10-end game, before wrapping up her morning.
Thursday was another day where the weather conditions hampered the bowling enthusiasts from putting in their tabs. Ten members braved the intermittent drizzle, but after 14 odd ends, they eventually all threw in the towel and spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying their favourite*
“tipple” from the bar.
The rain kept coming down during Friday morning, so about 2pm, the club president, together with the greenkeeper and six other senior members of the club made a final decision to postpone the Kowie Classic as the greens were water-logged. We decided to postpone the Classic to November 11 and 12, much to the disappointment of all concerned.
For the handful of entrants who had already arrived in Port Alfred, a huge fire was lit and braai packs were enjoyed by all.
By Sunday afternoon, only B green had dried out enough to allow our greenkeeper to cut and roll it, so an invitation was sent out to all the members for a game of tabs. It did not take very long before 14 members were enjoying themselves.
Just a reminder to all our members that Saturdays are officially “bring a buddy” day.
In closing, our popular Pick n Pay sponsored Night Bowls kicks off on November 3 until December 8.
A team consisting of Mike and Pee-Wee Tomlinson, Jackie Kriel (Kowie) and Piet Boshoff (Port Alfred) travelled to East London this past weekend to play in the Kaysers Beach Classic, arriving in rainy weather. Although the rain continued on Saturday morning, the clubs management team. allowed the competition to continue. The team won their first two morning games in very trying conditions. Although the rain had stopped in the afternoon, the conditions hampered good tactical bowling and they lost their third game.
Their fourth game which was played on Sunday morning, was played in “better” conditions, but unfortunately went down to the team that came in second position overall. In their fifth and final game, they had a big win, which placed them in third overall.
KENTON
The overall winner for the week gone by was, undoubtedly, the weather.
Tuesday was a no-go for practice, but the rain relented momentarily on Wednesday to allow the Spar Tabs-in competition to continue.
A full field of bowlers blossomed under the sunshine for some tight and exciting bowls.
The honours eventually went to skip Willie Basson and team with a 10 +13, including recording a seven on one end.
Thanks to Spar for sponsoring the event.
Most bowlers were put off by the rain forecast for Thursday tabsin but the more hardy players among them ignored the signs and got in an enjoyable game despite an early shower.
On Friday and Saturday, the weather returned with a vengeance and all bowls was cancelled with only the pub and the company to restore some of the “bounce”.
Hopefully the weather will clear up enough with Kenton Bowls Club looking forward to hosting the Les Clarke and the Doris Ford competitions.