Moorfield No1 now lead the way as Eccleston are halted by the rain

THE weather caused havoc with several matches in the Widnes & District Pensioners Bowls League this week – and as a result, there are new pacesetters at the top of a very competitive First Division.

The leaders up to this point were Eccleston but their match against The Grapes had to be abandoned after the first four games were completed and soon after the second four were underway.

These unfinished games will resume from that point later in the season.

The team now in top position is Moorfield No1.

They beat fourth-placed Subscription No1 in a keenlycontested match at Moorfield.

Two winners to each team, Ron Dwyer (21-16) and Terry Evans (21-13) for Subs and Brian Furber (21-19) and Barry Ellis (21-6) for Moorfield, meant the hosts led by four chalks at the halfway stage.

Dennis Rigby then won 21-12 for Subs but the other three second four games went the way of Moorfield. Ron Hayes and Alan Mitchell each won 21-12 and Dave Forshaw triumphed 21-15.

This meant that Moorfield won by 19 chalks and are now one point ahead of Eccleston in first place with a home match against Eccleston coming up today.

Widnes Bowling Club No1 changed places with Rainhill in the lower regions of Division One as a result of their win on Thursday.

At the midway point Rainhill led by one chalk after each side had won two of the four games.

However, the second half belonged entirely to Widnes as they won all four games. John Cleary (21-13), Alf Stevens (21-12), Brian Young (21-8) and Mal Bellfield (21-5) did the damage for Widnes.

Bold had a fearsome struggle with Fords No1 at the foot of Division One. They were in a comfortable position at 83-54 up after four games having had three winners and a 21-20 loser.

Fords gave themselves lifelines through Tommy Garbe who won 21-0 and Fred Overy who triumphed 21-10.

Brian Gould also won 21-20 but the other winner was Syd Heath 21-11 for Bold to leave them the winners by six chalks.

In Division Two, leaders British Plate won a rainaffected match against Runcorn War Memorial Club by 103 chalks.

As well as only fielding seven players, RWMC failed to finish the other three games in the second half of the match and so conceded them.

Victoria Park No1 are in second place following their win at home to The Ball. Tommy Woods (21-16) and Ken Heald (21-18) were the only winners for The Ball who now occupy one of the two relegation places.

Victoria Park No2 are in third place after a good win at Pavilions which featured John Plumpton winning 21-0. He was the only winner for them in the first four which also featured Pat Cooney’s 21-6 success. At that point Pavilions led 63-49.

The second four belonged entirely to the visitors as Victoria Park No2 had all four winners to snatch the two points by eight chalks.

Dundalk Halton piled on the agony for Moorfield No2 as they beat them by 26 chalks. This leaves Moorfield in last place in Division Two, a couple of points adrift of RWMC and The Ball.

United Services Club are still unbeaten in Division Three following their comprehensive 75 chalks win at home to Cronton. They are now four points clear of Fords No3 who are looking for a swift return to Division Two after relegation last season.

Also looking to return to Division Two are Widnes Bowling Club No2. They won at Birchfield by 13 chalks despite the performance of Ken Lethbridge who won 21-1 in the first four. They won thanks to wins by Mike Ward (21-4) in the first four and Sammy Johnson (21-6) in the second four.