COLONIALS RULE
Kamala Bowls Club nail-biter sees new Pryder Cup champs
The majors competition series continued at Kamala Lawn Bowls on Jan 12 with the Colonials team taking the Pryder Cup honours after a day of nailbiting action on the green.
A record-breaking 26 bowlers contested the 11th edition of the competition, with the Rest of the World (RoW) team defending their title against the newly-comprised team Colonials, made up of players from countries including the United States, Canada, Australia and Hong Kong.
Many of the Colonials had actually represented the RoW team last year but swapped sides to allow new members to enter the fray from the likes of Thailand, Germany, Sweden and the UK.
This also meant that, despite the name change, the Colonials were in effect defending champions, needing only a draw to retain the trophy, or a minimum 12 points overall.
The Colonials also included all of the Kamala Koalas touring team, who were most recently in action representing Phuket last September in Pattaya.
This year the RoW team was boosted by the addition of the ultra-competitive and in-form Thai female contingent, boasting Sireeton ‘Wan’ Sirimuangjan, Nidnoi Waranka and current Phuket and Kamala open champion Sunee ‘Aon’ Sampert.
‘DREAM TEAM’
A total of 24 matches were scheduled to be played, with the scoring system of one point for a win, half for a draw and zero for a loss, the same as golf’s esteemed Ryder Cup, from which the Kamala Pryder Cup drew inspiration for its name.
The decided format was three triples and a fours match followed by seven pairs game, rounded off by the usually pivotal 13 singles contests, with team captains picking groupings and selecting lanes and order of play in secret.
This format meant it was important not to succumb to an early deficit, resulting in the captain’s having their work cut out in deciding on specific pairings, lane selection and the possibility of sacrificing the odd game.
With play underway, the Canadian trio of Sammy, Doug and Duncan were comfortable winners over their English counterparts of Dot, Dean and Glenn, while the German team of Peter, Franz and Jürgen went down to Carl, Nobby and Chris G, and the Thai ‘dream team’ of Aon, Wan and Nidnoi pulled off a miraculous last end victory over their Australian opponents Dean, Rocky and George.
The fours teams were mixed nationalities and, despite holding a seven-shot lead at one point and looking certainities for victory, the Colonials had the win snatched from them at the very last end by the RoW team.
With the overall scores tied at 2-2 it was onto the seven doubles games. Sammy and Duncan continued their fine form on the day to comfortably beat the RoW pairing of Dean and Rob, while Wan and Nidnoi also moved on undefeated to square the match overall.
The rest of the doubles games were tight affairs with the pick being Carl ‘The Mesh’ Mesham conjuring a win against the odds to overcome newcomer Chris G.
ALL TO PLAY FOR
Following the round of doubles games the score was 6-5 in favour of the Colonials and, with Nidnoi despatching Gregg ‘Hollywood’ Holman in an early singles game to square the match at 6-6, it was all to play for in the remaining 12 singles matches, with many of the players on both sides holding perfect 100% records from their two games at that stage.
The strategy of the RoW team at this point was to top load their order of play in the hope of putting the pressure back on to the Colonials, while the latter were clearly happy to hedge their bets and wait for the final outcome.
On paper, the singles draw seemed to favour the RoW team who went into the round full of confidence – but everyone knows the game is played on the grass and not paper and nobody could be discounted to overturn the odds!
After the first round of singles matches the RoW team edged ahead by 8.5 to 7.5, suggesting, perhaps, that the top-loading tactic has worked in their favour.
However, as is often the case in competition, the next four games saw a complete turnaround in fortunes, with the Colonials emerging victorious in three of them.
It meant the final four matches would determine the destiny of the cup this year with the overall scores level at a remarkable 10 wins each.
However, controversy was soon to rear its head and disrupt things. After careful review it transpired that a genuine scoring error demanded a minor score adjustment, leaving the scores at 9.5 to the RoW team and 10.5 to the Colonials, meaning the latter needed 1.5 points from the final four encounters to retain the trophy.
It ultimately all came down to the final two matches between ‘Dunkin’ Duncan Kennedy and Frank ‘Borni’ Born and Ross against Joe. Ahead of the games the scores were set at 11.5 to the Colonials and 10.5 to the RoW team, with nerves being seriously tested on both sides.
Joe managed to snatch a draw on his final bowl as ‘Dunkin’ Duncan, one of the form players of the day, overcame Frank by a score 7-5, resulting in the Colonials winning by an overall score of 13-11 to retain the trophy.
It was nail-biting action for players and spectators alike to enjoy, even when taking into account the scoring altercation!
‘Dunkin’ Duncan ended up with a perfect record of three out of three victories, as did Sammy Sampert and Nobby for the Colonials, while only reigning Kamala and Phuket Open Aon remained unbeaten on the defeated RoW side.
Kamala Lawn Bowls club is open six days a week and all equipment is provided. Members days are Monday and Friday and beginners day Wednesday from 2:45pm onwards. For more information please contact: Tel 099-130-7255 or 097-173-0221; email: galations1402@gmail.com or Gordonjenkins1963@ gmail.com.