Garfield bowlers win one in heat
On the first seriously hot day of the season, Garfield Bowling Club’s first side travelled to the far end of the division to take on Traralgon.
Division two: Garfield lost to Traralgon (3) 110/86.
The team of Gary Helmore, Gary Payne, Steve Bassed and skip Stephen Whyte imitated the hare and tortoise scenario, rushing ahead then waiting for the opposition to catch up. This happened multiple times, but unfortunately – just like the in the tale – the tortoise had the last laugh as Garfield lost 22/24.
Shane Oliver’s team, consisting of Les Pumphrey, Ron Saunders and John Majkut, struggled all day to make any headway and finished up going down 20/30.
Stuart Gemmill, Joe Lenders, Alan White and skip Tom Cleary had a bad day, going down 17/30.
The shining light for the side was Peter Lieshout’s team of Rod James, Bob Lamport and Nick Henwood who fought a battle all day and came away victorious by the slimmest of margins – 27/26. Overall, it was not a fun day. Division four: Garfield Newborough (4) 101/85.
Hosting Newborough, Garfield performed well enough to come out on top overall. (2) defeated
The team of Adrian Helmuth, Ray Biffin, Damian Brick and skip Wes Goodman were on top all day, eventually winning 29/18.
Gordon Moxey’s team, consisting of Graeme Burton, Ken Newton and Malcolm Newham, struggled early but held their own in the second half to only lose by five shots, 23/28.
The team of Colin Mills, Helene Newton, Barrie Johnson and skip Kevin Donald had a close encounter in the first half. They had a snooze after the break to be down by 10 shots. However, they woke up and stormed home to only lose 22/24.
The best performing team on the day was that of Don Knight, Barrie Smith, Cliff Stephens and Charlie Borg who were slow out of the boxes but soon hit their stride to power home with a 27/15 win.
The overall win was good enough to propel the side into third place on the ladder.
Division six: Garfield (3) lost to Thorpdale (2) 34/47.
The side went down to Thorpdale – in both senses of the phrase - with both rinks losing.
The team of Joe Deane, Sue Stansfield, Alan Wilson and skip Judy Pocklington jumped out of the gate, winning the first end. However, they stumbled before finding themselves down by 11 shots half-way through. A surging recovery saw the gap close to five shots, losing 19/24.
Isabel Deane’s team of Brian Fox, Jim Boucher and Lex Taylor were in the hunt most of the day, never down by more than five shots. The opposition slipped away towards the end as Garfield lost 15/23.
The midweek team played away at Yarragon and came away with only their second loss for the season.
Division three: Garfield lost to Yarragon 58/48.
The team of Cliff Stephens, Bob Lamport, Edna Adams (who filled in for the missing Maureen) and Lex Taylor were up and down all day. The home team dashed away at the end, 15/21.
Judy Pocklington’s team of Wes Goodman, Damian Brick and Sue Stansfield jumped out to a good lead early, only to be reeled in and finally going down 15/19.
The only saving grace for the Garfield side was the team of Adrian Helmuth, John Majkut, Bev Sainsbery and skip Isabel Deane who started slowly but steamed home for a face-saving draw, 18-all.
As a result, Garfield came home with one point; they are still sitting on top of the ladder and set up for a good run to the end of the season.