On a beautiful November evening in July, we welcomed the Tonge Team into the Lions Den!! They say an Animal is most dangerous when it is wounded & after back to back performances which would have warranted the “Hairdryer” treatment from Lord Ferguson, the wounds were still being licked. Could we lift ourselves & restore our dented pride?? Fourteen points from 2 games was way off the target of 10 per game we had set ourselves & with our lead now narrowed to 2 points, a good win was essential to prevent our near neighbours WBC gaining a psychological advantage as we moved into the last third of the season.
The Green looked very healthy, but after days of biblical proportion rain, the speed wasn’t to our benefit & would surely make for a more even contest.
It was very satisfying to see 3 of the 1st 5 pairings flying out of their Blocks to gain commanding leads. Waggy was “on-fire” racing to a 14-0 lead over Syd Hayes who had no answer to Tommy’s Laser guided Woods & he eventually succumbed to a rampant Waggy losing 21-5.
An equally impressive performance by Charlie saw him take a 18-1 lead against Alan Marcroft, who struggled to counter Charlies best performance of the season. Performance of the week, just pipping Waggy, Charlie ran out 21-4 & the omens looked good as normal service seemed to have been resumed!!!!
After John’s horror show in his last game on Hollinhurst, he resumed his recent excellent form, cruising to a 21-12 in over a battling Jim Clare.
The recent collective blip in form seemed a distant memory as Frank Kay put in another comprehensive show. Vinnie Greenhouse could only trail in his wake as Frank ran out a comfortable 21-12 winner.
The clean sweep in the 1st half would prove elusive as Tommy Taylor struggled to match the form of an impressive Alan Dunford & the 11-21 result flattered Tommy who had a howler, one to quickly erase from the memory bank!!!!!
All looked well as we moved into the second half of the game, but Tonge had saved there best for last with a strong second 5. We all knew they were potential Banana skins & had to ensure the earlier good work wouldn’t be in vain.
Mr Consistency, the legend that is Mr Kenny Bowles immediately found one huge Banana skin as he trailed a dogged Donny Wilkinson 10 nil. Donny’s pressure was relentless as Kenny bemoaned the speed of the Green & had nothing in reserve to ignite one of his famous comebacks, eventually going down to 11. A dent in Kenny’s flawless record so far this season, but Donny was just too good on the night.
Wrighty was up against the old-stager Joe Connor, Dave showed no concession to Joe’s seniority, as he put on a masterclass to lead 16-4 & eventually showed some mercy as he took his foot off the Pedal & Joe made double figures to go down 21-12
I took on an unknown quantity in the form of Dave Connor, at 16-4 up I should have been looking at my best win of the season. Dave struggled over the Crown but eventually found a mark to his liking & rattled up 12 chalks. Duds was up against Ricky Jones & having recently slipped to No2 in the averages, he would need a good win to put him back in his rightful position, Les Toth might disagree!!!??? Duds was still smarting from his recent visit to the Waterloo, (ask him, I daren’t put it in writing) & Rick had little defence, going down to 8.
With only Eggy left on the Green, the possibility of eight winners was in the balance as he had Darren Wardle to contend with. Eggy had his hands full, Darren is Tonges most consistent Bowler by some margin, but Eggy made a great start to lead 9-1. Darren found his length & pulled it back to 11 across. It was now game on as they stood chin to chin & traded blows, scoring off their opponents blocks. It was anyones game as the scoring went 14 across, 15 across, 16 across, 17 across. Eggy had Darren on a Joe Carr mark in the middle of the Green & was in the driving seat at he edged out 19-17. Darren never to be beaten, replied with 2 chalks off 2 loose woods from Steve & put 2 Jaffa’s up to run out. Steve was gutted to fall again at the last hurdle, a solid battling performance from Darren to grab Tongues 3rd win of the night.
Final score 7-3 & 188 – 126 in the Agg. for a result of 10 - 4½
Double figures again at last, hopefully we can do a similar job against Walmersley next week??
Saturday, 19 July 2008
Friday, 4 July 2008
Week 12 – 4th July – Prestwich Cons – Home
We started tonight’s game under a sky laden with thick black clouds, was this an omen?? Were the storm clouds gathering both literally & proverbially on our season?? Tonight’s game on a sluggish surface against the resurgent Con’s would prove to be a true test of our mettle. Fresh from their best away result in living memory, the Prestwich lad’s confidence was sky high & they were surely out for revenge for the early season mauling we inflicted on them in the reverse fixture many weeks ago……………………
Duds slipped to second in the averages after last weeks loss in Heywood & whoever he met tonight would surely feel the backlash!! Jeff Smidman must have cursed the draw as they met again & although Jeff had an off night in the previous game, he raised his performance markedly & bowled well enough to deserve far more than the 9 chalks he managed tonight.
The 1st five games threw together some interesting pairings, the pick of them being Tommy T. against Chris Harris. Tommy knew he had his hands full as they mirrored each others scoring to lie 10 across at 14 ends. In a game too close to call, Chris held his nerve & crept ahead as the winning post came into sight & just squeezed Tommy out to 19, hard luck Tommy, you drew the short straw!!! Sorry Chris, no pun intended.
Not the start I had hoped for, but with Waggy up 14-8 against Colin Laithwaite & Charlie cruising to a 20-12 lead against Bill Harris, good times were just around the corner & the Hollinhurst title challenge was back on track…….. Charlie made life very difficult for himself as the elusive final chalk refused to appear, Bill battled hard to eventually go down to 19 against a very relieved Charlie. Waggy hit a brick wall as Colin turned the Screws with a solid break of 10 which broke Tommy’s resolve as he eventually went down to 17.
The Cons had obviously not read the script as they put on a great display of disciplined bowling on a surface which seemed to suit them far more than Hollinhurst, with far too many short woods failing to register on the card.
One guy in particular, showed a total lack of respect for our previous impeccable home form & deserves every credit for the performance of the night by some margin. Alan Bailey against John Pearson in previous seasons would have been a banker of the shortest odds, with only John’s winning margin being worthy of discussion.
Playing full corners on John’s favourite mark, Alan bowled John off the green & JP trailed in Alans wake 16-4, Alan was on the money every end & John was looking at his heaviest for some considerable time. Talk about a game of two halves & not a Football insight, Alan must have been as sick as a Parrot as John somehow plumbed the depths of his experience to muster a 13 break, with only a 2 chalk reply from Alan. The script would have one final twist in the tale as John then gifted Alan 2 chalks but drew back to all but across, only to let a yard wood from Alan grab the decisive point of the game. JP gave himself a mountain to climb with a great come-back but Alan is surely the Con’s most improved player & deserved the plaudits of both his team-mates & the Hollinhurst lads.
We were on the Ropes again for the second week running & trailing 3-2 down was certainly not part of the game plan. Could we deliver the knock-out punch in round 2??
Thankfully both Kenny & Frank came out fighting & ran out comfortable winners against Tommy Toone & Barney to 12 & 10 respectively, just the tonic to spur us on to a late rally in the final 3 games & a respectable points haul with the agg now looking safe.
Wrighty had a ding-dong battle with Conchie & at 17 across the game could have swung either way, but to the relief of the Hollinhurst faithful he crept home without Alan adding to his tally. With the game now at 5-3 in our favour & the agg safe, I needed 2 more wins from Eggy & Razor to maintain my target of 10 points from every home game to ensure a serious title challenge.
Sadly it wasn’t to be, Razor was taking a hiding from an in-form John Woodard & at 12-1 down, Bladesy looked out of sorts with some errant bowling & you could see him mentally adding page 1093 to the “Blades Almanac of Bowling Excuses”. He rallied late in the game to go down to 14, never fully recovering from Woody’s flying start.
The final game was notable for the see-sawing of scoring with 5 & 6 end breaks on both sides. With Eggy lying 14-13 up, Alan went on a 6 end, 7 point break to lie all-but 14, Eggy dug deep & mounted his own charge to bring the game back to all-but across & when I last heard was still in a state of deep depression when he conjured up 2 no-balls to hand Alan the game with a yard wood. Eggy has since sought counseling & is currently in the next Bed to Razor in the Bowling Wing of the Priory. Both are making a good recovery, Eggy is on an intravenous drip of Smiths Bitter & Razor has started Bullshitting again!!!!!!!
We were second best tonight with no excuses, the away team played us off the Green, hopefully they will maintain this form against our nearest rivals.
Final result 5-5 & 195-173 winners of the agg, for an 8.0 – 7.5 win to Hollinhurst.
Knock-out Cup next week at the Top Green, we must try harder!!!!!!!!
Duds slipped to second in the averages after last weeks loss in Heywood & whoever he met tonight would surely feel the backlash!! Jeff Smidman must have cursed the draw as they met again & although Jeff had an off night in the previous game, he raised his performance markedly & bowled well enough to deserve far more than the 9 chalks he managed tonight.
The 1st five games threw together some interesting pairings, the pick of them being Tommy T. against Chris Harris. Tommy knew he had his hands full as they mirrored each others scoring to lie 10 across at 14 ends. In a game too close to call, Chris held his nerve & crept ahead as the winning post came into sight & just squeezed Tommy out to 19, hard luck Tommy, you drew the short straw!!! Sorry Chris, no pun intended.
Not the start I had hoped for, but with Waggy up 14-8 against Colin Laithwaite & Charlie cruising to a 20-12 lead against Bill Harris, good times were just around the corner & the Hollinhurst title challenge was back on track…….. Charlie made life very difficult for himself as the elusive final chalk refused to appear, Bill battled hard to eventually go down to 19 against a very relieved Charlie. Waggy hit a brick wall as Colin turned the Screws with a solid break of 10 which broke Tommy’s resolve as he eventually went down to 17.
The Cons had obviously not read the script as they put on a great display of disciplined bowling on a surface which seemed to suit them far more than Hollinhurst, with far too many short woods failing to register on the card.
One guy in particular, showed a total lack of respect for our previous impeccable home form & deserves every credit for the performance of the night by some margin. Alan Bailey against John Pearson in previous seasons would have been a banker of the shortest odds, with only John’s winning margin being worthy of discussion.
Playing full corners on John’s favourite mark, Alan bowled John off the green & JP trailed in Alans wake 16-4, Alan was on the money every end & John was looking at his heaviest for some considerable time. Talk about a game of two halves & not a Football insight, Alan must have been as sick as a Parrot as John somehow plumbed the depths of his experience to muster a 13 break, with only a 2 chalk reply from Alan. The script would have one final twist in the tale as John then gifted Alan 2 chalks but drew back to all but across, only to let a yard wood from Alan grab the decisive point of the game. JP gave himself a mountain to climb with a great come-back but Alan is surely the Con’s most improved player & deserved the plaudits of both his team-mates & the Hollinhurst lads.
We were on the Ropes again for the second week running & trailing 3-2 down was certainly not part of the game plan. Could we deliver the knock-out punch in round 2??
Thankfully both Kenny & Frank came out fighting & ran out comfortable winners against Tommy Toone & Barney to 12 & 10 respectively, just the tonic to spur us on to a late rally in the final 3 games & a respectable points haul with the agg now looking safe.
Wrighty had a ding-dong battle with Conchie & at 17 across the game could have swung either way, but to the relief of the Hollinhurst faithful he crept home without Alan adding to his tally. With the game now at 5-3 in our favour & the agg safe, I needed 2 more wins from Eggy & Razor to maintain my target of 10 points from every home game to ensure a serious title challenge.
Sadly it wasn’t to be, Razor was taking a hiding from an in-form John Woodard & at 12-1 down, Bladesy looked out of sorts with some errant bowling & you could see him mentally adding page 1093 to the “Blades Almanac of Bowling Excuses”. He rallied late in the game to go down to 14, never fully recovering from Woody’s flying start.
The final game was notable for the see-sawing of scoring with 5 & 6 end breaks on both sides. With Eggy lying 14-13 up, Alan went on a 6 end, 7 point break to lie all-but 14, Eggy dug deep & mounted his own charge to bring the game back to all-but across & when I last heard was still in a state of deep depression when he conjured up 2 no-balls to hand Alan the game with a yard wood. Eggy has since sought counseling & is currently in the next Bed to Razor in the Bowling Wing of the Priory. Both are making a good recovery, Eggy is on an intravenous drip of Smiths Bitter & Razor has started Bullshitting again!!!!!!!
We were second best tonight with no excuses, the away team played us off the Green, hopefully they will maintain this form against our nearest rivals.
Final result 5-5 & 195-173 winners of the agg, for an 8.0 – 7.5 win to Hollinhurst.
Knock-out Cup next week at the Top Green, we must try harder!!!!!!!!
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