Following last weeks mid-term break for the League Handicap, it was back to the serious stuff & we resumed hostilities against the perpetual thorn in our sides Hopwood Unionist A!!!
Could our stiffest test to-date prove to be our un-doing for the title race & tip the scales in favour of Hopwood & WBC or could we muster a respectable result from what we discovered during practice to be a lightening fast Green??
It quickly became apparent that the Green was a huge home advantage as the homesters scored easily in the early stages of the 1st 5 games. Hollinhurst struggled to adjust to the conditions & trailed across the board despite some decent Woods failing to register on the cards. Slowly the early dominance of the Hopwood lads was eroded as we gained some confidence, but at 10 ends in, we were behind in every game!!!
There was a light at the end of the Tunnel with Kenny B & Frank Kay in particular, rallying with some superb bowling & took a slender lead into the final stages of their games against Paul Wakeling & Brian Hardman. Kenny tried in vain to grasp defeat from the jaws of victory as he fell behind 20-17 but managed to cross the winning line to win by the narrowest of margins. It just wasn’t to be in Franks game despite some excellent bowling, Brian “got the rub of the Green” & Frank was desperately unlucky to lose to 15.
Sadly, in the remaining opening 3 games, the light in the Tunnel was an Express Train heading towards them at top speed!!!! John Pearson, struggled from the off & chased an in-form Barry Holcroft right through the game & ran out second best to 13. At 15-7 down Charlie was looking at a heavy defeat from Nick Kershaw who bowled every mark on the green & showed no quarter to Charlies advancing years!!! But the old campaigner dug deep & produced some vintage Bowls to eventually lie 20 across, a great effort from Charlie who didn’t deserve to be pipped at the post!!!!
Tommy T. eventually began to get a feel for the Green & despite being 6-0 down, managed to draw level at 12 across against Mark Heselwood. With Tommy in the ascendency, was he cruising to a hard fought victory??? Unfortunately just as he engaged top gear, his engine & gearbox seized & all 4 wheels fell off, scoring only once more to lose out 21-13
Battered & bruised from a Hopwood mauling, the 1st half scores didn’t make good reading at 4-1 down & 104-82 down in the Agg, could we gain some respectability from the 2nd 5 games???
The early signs looked encouraging as Eggy, Wrighty & Razor all took commanding leads against Eric Ralphson, Frank Heselwood & Tommy Mellor respectively, to lead 18-11, 18-14 & 20-12 but collectively they all switched off just as they entered the final furlong & somehow managed to limp home to 19, 20 & 18. Great wins all the same & these proved to be the last of our points tally as both myself & Duds came second best (me by some considerable distance!!!) on the night.
I was never in the game against a very impressive Pete Morley (honestly, he was there best player by far???!!!!!) my 3 best woods of the night were promptly struck off the green & I managed to register a meagre 7 chalks on the card.
The Halo that has shone so brightly for Duds so far this season, slipped ever so slightly when he came up against a very determined Terry Fahy. Terry took an early 6-0 lead which was to prove too much of a buffer for Duds to overcome & despite a late rally, lost to 18 on a Green he openly admits is a huge snarling hairy arsed Gorilla on his back & publicly requested to be dropped in all future games at this venue!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We licked our wounds & contemplated what could have been a far worse result than losing 6-4 & an annihilation in the Agg of 203 -170 for a final tally of 9-6 to Hopwood. Well done lads, I had mentally set a target of 5 wins, we have to be realistic, they are a bloody good team on a Green which acted as an 11th man for them as the Agg clearly indicates.
Our 1st loss of the season to the team who I am sure will push us hardest in the title race, gladly they are out of our fixture list & with 7 games to go we must quickly return to our previous good form.
Next week Prestwich Cons at home, I'll bring a Pen!!!!????
Saturday, 28 June 2008
Friday, 13 June 2008
Week 10 - Cheetham Hill B.C. - June 11th
Week 10 – Cheetham Hill B.C. – June 11th
Halleleujah!!! Hollinhurst is back to its best, the playing surface is in near perfect condition & following a few days of decent weather, has finally developed some pace. Would it be the great home advantage from days of old, would it be too slick for the Cheetham Hill Boys, or could the injection of speed catch out the Homesters after weeks of sluggish pace??
On a glorious evening, could a slightly depleted Cheetham Hill side with the notable absence of Mark Gibbons, put a spoke in the wheels of Hollinhursts title challenge?? I wheeled out the usual 5 opening blocks in the shape of Duds, J.P. Charlie Cowsill, the much improved Frankie Kay & the battered & bruised Tommy Taylor, still hurting from his mauling at Prestwich last week.
Duds took on the unknown quantity of Alan Ashton, Alan gave a good account of himself, on a Green I doubt he knew existed til last night & pushed Duds all the way & his 11 Chalks don’t really do his performance justice. Duds continues to put in consistent performances week after week, it is a joy to watch, surely now back to the very best of his form.
J.P. is in a similarly rich Vein of form & disposed of Dave Levy to 6, without having to break sweat. A game Dave will probably have already erased from the memory bank!!!
Charlie’s up & down season was set to continue with a nip & tuck game against another old stager, Eugene Brady. Charlie is his own worst critic & another erratic performance, finally saw him egde Eugene out to 19 in a game that looked to be beyond his reach with his hot & cold form throughout the game, a battling win, all the same.
Frank Kays indifferent form seems to be behind him, with a number of impressive wins of late. Norman Tyson drafted himself into the team at late notice & probably wished he hadn’t going down to 6.
Tommy Taylor dusted himself down, put on his best Flat Cap & came out fighting against Mr Consistency & No2 in the C.H.C.C. averages, Ian Johnson. Tommy took control early on & never looked like losing with a 6 chalk buffer for most of the game, bouncing back off the Canvas to a 21-14 win, well done Tommy, just what you needed.
With a full house & a healthy lead on the Agg, could a repeat of our last home game result be on the cards????!!!! Reality was quickly restored, when Eggy went down to 13 against Roy Mack. Steve is usually at home on the faster surfaces, but he didn’t adapt to the conditions quickly enough & Roy Mack takes no prisoners, beating Steve comfortably.
Thankfully the next 3 blocks went to plan & Wrighty, Razor & the man with the deepest pockets & shortest arms in the North of Manchester (answers on a postcard please, I’ll give you a clue, KB) all won to 15, 7 & 10 against Jim McGrath, Barry Solomons & Colin Weekes respectively.
When I made the draw & with my 100% record in mind, the one person I didn’t want to play was Bernard Bramhall, leading their averages & having scalped me on a number of occasions, I knew I had a game on my hands. With neither of us bowling at our best, the 1st dozen ends saw some indifferent ends & I held a slender 9-7 lead. We finally got the measure of the Green & began to produce some decent woods. Fortunes swung in Bernards favour as he took a lead at the final hurdle & at 20-18 up he conceded no ground when I produced my best bowls of the game only to be struck off when lying 2 & be beaten by a great last bowl, when again lying 2, too go down to 18. All good things come to an end & Bernard got his just rewards with some excellent bowling.
Another solid home performance, well done lads, final score 8 wins to 2 & 199 – 132 for a 11-3 victory.
A rest from League Bowling next week, good luck to all the Hollinhurst Lads in the League Handicap.
Halleleujah!!! Hollinhurst is back to its best, the playing surface is in near perfect condition & following a few days of decent weather, has finally developed some pace. Would it be the great home advantage from days of old, would it be too slick for the Cheetham Hill Boys, or could the injection of speed catch out the Homesters after weeks of sluggish pace??
On a glorious evening, could a slightly depleted Cheetham Hill side with the notable absence of Mark Gibbons, put a spoke in the wheels of Hollinhursts title challenge?? I wheeled out the usual 5 opening blocks in the shape of Duds, J.P. Charlie Cowsill, the much improved Frankie Kay & the battered & bruised Tommy Taylor, still hurting from his mauling at Prestwich last week.
Duds took on the unknown quantity of Alan Ashton, Alan gave a good account of himself, on a Green I doubt he knew existed til last night & pushed Duds all the way & his 11 Chalks don’t really do his performance justice. Duds continues to put in consistent performances week after week, it is a joy to watch, surely now back to the very best of his form.
J.P. is in a similarly rich Vein of form & disposed of Dave Levy to 6, without having to break sweat. A game Dave will probably have already erased from the memory bank!!!
Charlie’s up & down season was set to continue with a nip & tuck game against another old stager, Eugene Brady. Charlie is his own worst critic & another erratic performance, finally saw him egde Eugene out to 19 in a game that looked to be beyond his reach with his hot & cold form throughout the game, a battling win, all the same.
Frank Kays indifferent form seems to be behind him, with a number of impressive wins of late. Norman Tyson drafted himself into the team at late notice & probably wished he hadn’t going down to 6.
Tommy Taylor dusted himself down, put on his best Flat Cap & came out fighting against Mr Consistency & No2 in the C.H.C.C. averages, Ian Johnson. Tommy took control early on & never looked like losing with a 6 chalk buffer for most of the game, bouncing back off the Canvas to a 21-14 win, well done Tommy, just what you needed.
With a full house & a healthy lead on the Agg, could a repeat of our last home game result be on the cards????!!!! Reality was quickly restored, when Eggy went down to 13 against Roy Mack. Steve is usually at home on the faster surfaces, but he didn’t adapt to the conditions quickly enough & Roy Mack takes no prisoners, beating Steve comfortably.
Thankfully the next 3 blocks went to plan & Wrighty, Razor & the man with the deepest pockets & shortest arms in the North of Manchester (answers on a postcard please, I’ll give you a clue, KB) all won to 15, 7 & 10 against Jim McGrath, Barry Solomons & Colin Weekes respectively.
When I made the draw & with my 100% record in mind, the one person I didn’t want to play was Bernard Bramhall, leading their averages & having scalped me on a number of occasions, I knew I had a game on my hands. With neither of us bowling at our best, the 1st dozen ends saw some indifferent ends & I held a slender 9-7 lead. We finally got the measure of the Green & began to produce some decent woods. Fortunes swung in Bernards favour as he took a lead at the final hurdle & at 20-18 up he conceded no ground when I produced my best bowls of the game only to be struck off when lying 2 & be beaten by a great last bowl, when again lying 2, too go down to 18. All good things come to an end & Bernard got his just rewards with some excellent bowling.
Another solid home performance, well done lads, final score 8 wins to 2 & 199 – 132 for a 11-3 victory.
A rest from League Bowling next week, good luck to all the Hollinhurst Lads in the League Handicap.
Friday, 6 June 2008
Week 9 - June 4th - Prestwich Bowling Club
On an almost perfect evening for Bowls we travelled the short distance with the sweet smell of last weeks 13-0 win still fresh in our nostrils. Could a repeat be on the Cards?? The Prestwich lads were still looking for their 1st win of the season & surely their run of bad luck could not last too much longer, with 3 or 4 new faces in the ranks, drafted in from their B team, were they a sleeping giant about to awaken & de-rail our title hopes??
We were given an instant reality check, when 4 of the 1st 5 Hollinhurst blocks went behind & Charlie & Tommy T in particular struggling with their games & fell well behind the pace. Neither fully recovered & Tommy fell to a heavy defeat by Dave Sandiford (21-8) who wasn’t pushed too hard for a deserved win. Charlie rallied late against Stafford Morley & clawed his way back to 16 despite never being close to his best form.
Duds finally got his act together & limped home against a battling Stuart Cameron who fought hard with some excellent Bowling, at 15 across it was anybody’s game but he eventually went down to 18
Frank Kay has found some good form & a victory against Gareth Martin will hopefully kickstart his stuttering season with a prolonged run of games, well done Frank.
John Pearson had a similar battle with Steve Dixon, JP took an early lead & at 9-0 up looked to be cruising. Steve dug deep & John looked like a man about to clutch defeat from the jaws of victory & ran out a relieved 21-18 winner.
At the half way stage we were 3-2 up, but 95- 87 down on the aggregate, we needed 5 solid second half performances to retrieve the Agg & keep some distance between us & Hopwood A. With an arguably stronger 2nd 5 blocks, Prestwich must have sensed a possible victory was in the air when both Wrighty & Razor fell to heavy defeats at the hands of the Professional Yorkshireman & Steve Blaymire respectively to 12 & 7. Wrighty was far from his best, whilst Razor assures me he was “robbed”, “bowled out of his skin” & “did nowt wrong” strangely Duds marked his card & thought he played like a “T**t”
With the game slipping through our fingers & the Agg now a distant memory, we feared the worst, but we finally reversed our faltering fortunes with 3 wins in the final games. Eggy, Kenny & myself managed to close the game out at 6 winners to 4, but frustratingly losing the agg by 10 chalks 169 – 179. Final score 9 – 7 to Hollinhurst.
Well done Prestwich, how you haven’t won a match yet off strong performances like you produced against us remains a mystery!!!
With the season now at the half way stage, hopefully we can get back to double figures next week against Cheetham Hill
We were given an instant reality check, when 4 of the 1st 5 Hollinhurst blocks went behind & Charlie & Tommy T in particular struggling with their games & fell well behind the pace. Neither fully recovered & Tommy fell to a heavy defeat by Dave Sandiford (21-8) who wasn’t pushed too hard for a deserved win. Charlie rallied late against Stafford Morley & clawed his way back to 16 despite never being close to his best form.
Duds finally got his act together & limped home against a battling Stuart Cameron who fought hard with some excellent Bowling, at 15 across it was anybody’s game but he eventually went down to 18
Frank Kay has found some good form & a victory against Gareth Martin will hopefully kickstart his stuttering season with a prolonged run of games, well done Frank.
John Pearson had a similar battle with Steve Dixon, JP took an early lead & at 9-0 up looked to be cruising. Steve dug deep & John looked like a man about to clutch defeat from the jaws of victory & ran out a relieved 21-18 winner.
At the half way stage we were 3-2 up, but 95- 87 down on the aggregate, we needed 5 solid second half performances to retrieve the Agg & keep some distance between us & Hopwood A. With an arguably stronger 2nd 5 blocks, Prestwich must have sensed a possible victory was in the air when both Wrighty & Razor fell to heavy defeats at the hands of the Professional Yorkshireman & Steve Blaymire respectively to 12 & 7. Wrighty was far from his best, whilst Razor assures me he was “robbed”, “bowled out of his skin” & “did nowt wrong” strangely Duds marked his card & thought he played like a “T**t”
With the game slipping through our fingers & the Agg now a distant memory, we feared the worst, but we finally reversed our faltering fortunes with 3 wins in the final games. Eggy, Kenny & myself managed to close the game out at 6 winners to 4, but frustratingly losing the agg by 10 chalks 169 – 179. Final score 9 – 7 to Hollinhurst.
Well done Prestwich, how you haven’t won a match yet off strong performances like you produced against us remains a mystery!!!
With the season now at the half way stage, hopefully we can get back to double figures next week against Cheetham Hill
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