BOWLS BANTER
Kenton Bowling Club
Last week was a quieter one than we've had lately, with bowls on Thursday rained out due to some welcome rain of about 10mm.
Nevertheless, it was a special week in that we had a small ceremony before the start of play on Wednesday where we were joined by Rose Chowles and Peggye Smith for the placing of George and Rob's tabs on the “Lest We Forget“board.
Lionel Howard, who'd known them both for a long time, gave a lovely talk on what these two stalwarts had done for bowls throughout their lives.
Our president, Anthony Copeman, assisted Rose and Peggye to place the tabs on the board.
It was also nice to see the return of our current men's novice champion, Colin Armstrong, to the greens and we hope many more of our bowlers will soon return to enjoy our facilities.
There were only two bounce games on Friday but some members turned out to practice for a while as well.
There weren't enough of us present to do the Joker draw but the Personal Trust Lockdown draw was won this week by Kevin Sharp.
Well done Kevin and I hope you enjoy your chilli biltong.
The whisky draw was done and after being on a losing streak for a while, it was once again Dave Wallace who won it.
He owes it all to Rodney though who picked Dave's number and even paid for his ticket to settle a debt from a week or so back.
This week sees the return of the coastal inter-club competitions in trips format and Kenton is hosting the first Peg and Horace Purdon matches on Thursday.
Unfortunately, due to Covid regulations, we cannot have spectators present at the event.
The draws for the internal club competitions are up so please have a look at who you're playing and let's get these matches under way.
There are also notices about other bowls events so please have a look and see where we can enter and support the other clubs in our area.
We have all had a tough year and we need to support each other going forward.
Port Alfred Bowling Club
What a game, what a final. Here we’re talking about the club’s mixed pairs battled out on C green last Wednesday afternoon.
On show were Trevor and Helise against Lynda and Peter.
Going into the last end, Lynda and Peter were three shots ahead at 14-11, then it all fell dramatically apart with Trevor and Helise picking up four shots to win the keenly contested final.
Peter and Lynda were graceful in defeat but later Peter remarked he had never-ending nightmares ever since.
Trevor and his team of Boela, Hillary and Neil (a new bowler) were again in the limelight when they won the Radue-sponsored competition on Saturday with a shot profit of plus 10.
Also on plus 10 was Neil de Villers) and his team but Trevor had won more ends.
Third place was taken by Arlindo and his side.
Hard luck to Joanne who played in the Novice play-offs in Port Elizabeth.
She won two out of five but the club remains proud of her.
Bowls in the Eastern Areas takes off today at Kenton with the second round of the Peg and Horace Purdon being played.
The first round was cancelled due to Covid-19.
Next Thursday, the Vroom and Timm Cup gets played at the Cowie Bowling Club.
I’m sure all those participating are hugely excited.
To end, some light-hearted humour regarding husbands:
“I still miss my ex-husband but my aim is getting better.“
“Sometimes I wake up grumpy, other times I just let him sleep.“
“Does my husband exercise? Last week he was out four nights running.“Good bowling all.
Kowie Bowling Club
Concentrate, concentrate, concentrate . . . While watching the recent pairs I was struck by the number of games lost because the player suffered a lack of concentration and allowed the opposition into the head with a telling shot.
Of all the forms of bowls the pairs game is the most taxing and, apart from the mental application, requires a level of physical fitness not always found in bowlers.
Not only does each player have to deliver four bowls but he then has to offer information and instructions while his partner plays four bowls – there is no “let up”.
Ideally in a game of pairs the lead would draw his first two bowls to the jack and then place two back bowls.
This would dissuade the opposing skip from indiscriminate driving and give his own skip the opportunity to draw to the jack because he is covered at the back.
Of course if the lead fails to draw with his first two bowls he is now forced to forgo his back bowls and concentrate on getting a bowl close to the jack and leave it to his skip to look after the back area.
For the lead the second shot is, normally, the telling shot. It is here where the lead has to concentrate.
If the first shot was near the jack all he has to do is to repeat it but if he is off line or the wrong length he has to adjust with his second. In the recent pairs, not even 50% of the leads stood back a moment and gave their second shot some thought before they delivered it.
In a very tight situation toward the end of the one game, all eight of the bowls played by the leads were short of the jack – criminal in a game at this level.
A very disturbing tendency was that some players deliberately called the umpire for a measure on the jack (when it was obviously in) just to waste time and upset the lead who was trying to remember what weight he had employed to deliver the jack it is called “gamesmanship”, but it does not redound well on the club employing these tactics. Cheers!
Kowie has done it again. By winning the Eastern Province Men’s Open Singles, Jonty
Alexander has joined the exalted ranks of Kowie members who have won this prestigious championship.
Maybe Jonty’s achievement will be the forerunner of what happened in the late nineties when in the space of five years Kowie won the EP Men’s Open Singles four times – each time with a different player.
The rest of the Kowie contingent had varying results – gaining in experience but finding it just a bridge too far.
At home we had a good turnout for the Pam Golding Sponsorship which allowed for three prizes
The prize winners were 1. Alan Sheriden, Gill Turner and LinaWoodard; 2. Dave Thomas, Mike Ryan and Rob Turner; 3 Di Grunenberg, Linda Mey and Sally Woodard.