TNT’s Mort adds explosive finale against Clayton pair
TNT (DANNY Leather, Neil Mort) and champions Clayton (Tony Riley, Paul Gill) fought out an outstanding game of indoor bowls in a rearranged Friday Evening Pairs game in Halifax Bowling Club’s Autumn Leagues.
Clayton opened up a 4-0 lead before TNT fought their way back into the game with a three and a single.
In a nip and tuck encounter, after one hour and 20 minutes play, the teams were level at nine shots each.
At the final end Riley, the number one player for Clayton, sent three of his bowls short and his other bowl finished behind the jack.
Leather, the lead player for TNT was holding shot, with both skips left to play their four bowls.
Gill, the experienced skip for Clayton, sent a strong bowl into the head and knocked out his teammate’s saving bowl.
Mort played into the head and ran the jack onto his teams’ bowls for a four.
Gill responded by showing his expertise as he bowled in shot wood for Clayton to hold a single.
But Mort rose to the occasion with his final bowl as he pushed out Gill’s winning bowl for his team to score a single and take the game by 10-9.
There was plenty of exciting action in the Wednesday Evening Fours. Clayton ( Tony Riley, Mel Fielding, Hedley Kettlewell, Paul Gill) lost their unbeaten record to an inspired Up the Edge (Chloe Hirst,Tom
Gasson, Frank Higgins, Scott Smith), who beat Clayton for the first time 21-2.
An excellent team performance from Up the Edge was the key to success with all players contributing to this outstanding performance.
However, Clayton faced their rivals Arriva (Les Holmes, Graham Hickey, Robert Holmes, Mark McGorlick) in this week’s fixtures.
Clayton moved into a 9-1 lead before Arriva won the jack and Arriva’s lead player Les Holmes bowled his minimum length jack for his team to pull back to 9-8 and holding a three, before Clayton skipp Gill ran the jack into the ditch to hold shot and make the score 10-8 to his team.
Clayton then moved on to a longer jack and ran out 15-10 winners.
In the Saturday Pairs Shield, Pennine VI (Keith Booth, John Palmer) gained a ‘hot shots award’ in their 19-8 success against Red Woods (Norma Mallinson, Con McGinley).
A ‘hot shots award’ is when a team score the maximum amount of shots at one end. In this game Pennine VI scored an eight at one end.
There were two outstanding performances in the Monday Afternoon Fours, by Luddites (Peter Richardson, Stuart Gill, David Illingworth, Ray Wolsey) and Rascals (Jean Wade, Ken Sharkey, Doug Squires, David Laycock).
Luddites found themselves 10-2 up against K9s (Eric Grant, Malcolm Wragg, Stuart Baker, Barry Wright) before a comeback by K9s saw them win the next six ends to pull the score back to 11 shots each.
At the final end Luddites retained their lead with a single to take the game by 12 shots to 11.
An excellent team performance by Rascals, with skip Laycock in superb form, was too much for G2+A2 (Barbara Gee, Jimmy Bainbridge, Alan Fleming, David Gee).
The scores were level at five shots each before Rascals raced ahead to take the game 15-6.
In the early stages of the game G2+A2 were holding a four, three and a two before Laycock bowled into the head for shot.
Third player Doug Squires sent narrow running bowls up the rink to move the shot bowls to the back of the rink, when Laycock bowled in for shot. Rascals are now the only unbeaten team in the Monday Afternoon Fours.
Rockets (Derek Finch, John Hartley, Lorraine Boulton, Rodney Collinge) have had contrasting fortunes in their games in Division One of the Wednesday Fours.
In a rearranged game against Hard Liners (Mick Cowley, Joe Phillips, Paul Owen, Tony James) Rockets fought back from 6-1 down before Rockets with Finch leading superbly fought their way back.
At the start of the last end Hard Liners held a 10-9 advantage, but Collinge, the skip for Rockets, pushed the jack onto his team’s bowls to hold a three. James, the skip for Hard Liners, narrowly missed the head with his final bowl for Rockets to win by 12 shots to 10.
In their game against the experienced Black Cats (Gordon Bradford, Andy Balmforth, John Sharp, Paul Gill), Rockets were 10-9 behind at the start of the last end.
Skip Collinge moved the jack onto his team’s back bowls to hold shot, but Gill pushed the jack forward and his bowl ran with the jack for his team to score a single and Black Cats ran out 11-9 winners.
Monday morning taster sessions run from 11am to noon.
There is social bowling from 11.30am to 1pm on a Thursday and at 2.30pm on a Saturday.