Horsham Park produce fine comeback to win the shield
Horsham Park played the return fixture of the Town Challenge against Horsham Bowls Club in the Park on Sunday.
It seemed an insurmountable task as Park went into the game 21 shots down from the first leg away at Horsham; but in a great win on, Park triumphed by 22 shots, 89 to 67, to win overall by one shot and take back the Town Challenge Shield.
Park won on three of the five rinks and went down marginally on the other two. Park’s top rink went to David Peters, Kamran Nadim, John Leadbeater and Angela Spurr who won their game by 12 shots.
Peters’ team were 8-4 down on end ten but then won all of the remaining ends bar one to win 22-10.
Captain David Turley’s team started well and were 11-0 up after four ends when the Horsham bowlers started to creep back, but Turley was still able to win 20-13.
David James’ team also won; they were again well ahead 18-7 on end 14 but then went down six over the last few ends to win 19-13.
Park’s two losing teams had much closer games. Bryony Woods’ team were 14-9 down with two ends to play but managed to take four shots to go down 14-13. Robin Peters’ team were 15-10 up with three ends to play but in this case went down by seven shots to lose 17-15.
Park’s home game against Downsman didn’t go well from the start and they ended up losing on all five rinks and by 34 shots.
Robin Peters skipped Park’s best performing rink, only losing by one shot. Peters’ team were ahead for most of the game and with two ends to go were still two shots ahead but then lost the last two ends by three shots to lose 18-17.
Captain David Turley also had a close game going into half-time tea ahead but in the second half the Downsman bowlers came back to win by two shots, 13-11. Park’s other three teams struggled from the start losing by nine,.
Pulborough played their first game of the week on home turf against Norfolk in the Brookes Motors League.
Two league triples and one friendly played 18 ends of close bowls, with Norfolk taking the friendly, but Pulborough coming out top with five out of six league points.
John Brown, Kathleen Ayling and Jeff Davy scored a six on end nine to bring them back into contention, only to drop six shots on the last two ends to finish with one point for a 20-shot draw.
Top rink for Pulborough went to skip Paul Day, Julie Day and Mick Ayling after winning all-but five ends with some heavy scoring, to crush their opposition and finish with a clear 26-6 win and the overall score.
A match against Billingshurst promised to be a close one with the local rivals on good form. Five triples played 18 ends of fantastic bowls, with skip Malcolm Gray just holding onto a win by just two shots to finish on 18-16.
Ivan Salmon and team held their own to finish on 19 shots to 16 and Len Adsett, Linda Meadowcroft and Mick Ralph out-played their opposition to win 20-10.
Top rink for Pulborough went to skip Steve Meadowcroft, Sylvia Smith and Kathleen Ayling after a six on the 13th end sent them clear, to finish with an impressive 11-shot lead. The final score for Pulborough was 94-74.
Away in Bognor in the West Sussex Bowls League four male rinks played the league, alongside a friendly rink of ladies.
Top rink for the men went to skip John Brown, Melvin Green Mick Ayling and Paul Leatherbarrow after winning all-but six ends conclusively, out-classing Bognor 34-10.
The final score was 99-52 to Pulborough and the full ten league points, putting Pulborough in a good position for early in the season.
The ladies rink, skipped by Jane Gray with Julie Day, Kathleen Ayling and Pauline Adsett kept their noses ahead from the very first end to win by 21 shots to 16.
County success came in the form of John Brown, Ray Knight and Ian Younger, who beat a team from the Witterings in the triples at home, by 16 shots to 15.
A local derby was the order of the day as Billingshurst ventured down the A29 to play an evening friendly against Pulborough.
The visitors started well and were two ahead after nine ends. The hosts then came out of hibernation and helped by counts of a six,five and three fours ran out comfortable winners by 20 shots.
Top rink for Billingshurst went to John Bennett, David Delves – in his first competitive for ‘Hurst – and Betty Weller (+6).
Horsham Indoor played Eastbourne over four rinks and 21 ends and suffered a 8264 defeat.
After five ends, Horsham were down on all rinks and little had changed as it progressed after ten ends, though one rink had drawn level to 8-8.
With play at 15 ends, the previously drawn rink was holding by three shots and at the final six ends they lost by one shot.
One rink that was losing by three shots at fifteen ends came back and won by nine shots and was top rink with players Alan Baker, Martin Eccleston, Mick Porter and skip Ann Frecknall.
It was a generally disappointing week for Southwater. They travelled to St Francis and went down by six shots with only one winning team, namely Terry Rowell, Jean Meinertzhagen and Geoff Kentish (+15).
At home to Southwick, again the margin of defeat was small, losing by seven shots. Top team was Jeanne Coker, Gill Jeffcoate and Geoff Kentish (+17) with Cliff Merchant, Tim Gander and Ray Davis (+3).
Sunday saw a small win by four shots against Newdigate. Top team was Jeanne Coker, Dave Nesbitt and Mike Allmond (+12).