Castletown & Port St Mary Close The Gap
A crucial week in the Ladies Bowling League has seen another twist in the title race.
Port St Mary faced two massive games with away ties against South Ramsey and Nobles.
PSM vs South Ramsey was a re-arranged match from earlier in the season and PSM inflicted the heaviest score SR have conceded at home this season. The overall score could have been worse was it not for Jenny Moore turning in a great performance to win 21-2. Lyn Bolton and Kim Hargraves were SR other winners. Kellie Maddrell may have top-scored for PSM winning 21-9 but the game of the match was Chris Price who won 21-19 over Elaine Moore who was undefeated before the match. Ann Maddrell, Margaret Tasker, Jayne Kneen, and Val Macfarlane also won for the away team with the match ending 156-161 (3-6).
On Friday Port St Mary A travelled away to face Nobles who haven’t lost at home this season. The match couldn’t have got much closer and with a single game left the scores were tied 126-126 (4-4). At this point Jayne Smith, Paula Firth, Debbie Leece and Rebecca Teare had won for Nobles whilst Katy Williams, Kellie Maddrell, Margaret Tasker and Mavis Franks had won for PSM. The final game on the green was Chris Price (PSM) who had a 12-4 lead against Clare Cooper. Clare fought back into the game and after a nip-tuck battle, the scores were 20-20. On the last end, Chris picked up the point she needed to win her game and give PSM a slender win on the night 146-147 (4-5).
With Nobles dropping chalks it allowed Castletown to close the gap following their 123-175 victory over Douglas.
Castletown won 5-4 on games with Paula Garrett, Harley Garrett, Wendy Cowin and Sue Caley winning for Douglas. Anne Oates, Amanda Lawler and Kath Kinley won comfortably to single figures with Kim Foy and Sue Peach also winning.
South Ramsey defeated Port Erin 187-77 (8-1) with the away side playing one short. Elaine Moore, Bethany Kennish, Ann Gale, Jill Quayle, Lyn Bolton, Jenny Moore and Fiona Kennish won for the home side with Caroline Whitehead winning for Port Erin to avoid a whitewash.
Mooragh Park beat Peel Sunset by 34 chalks collecting six wins on the night. Madison McMullan top-scored for the home team with a fine 21-9 win. Victoria Johnson, Janet Monk, Caroline Parker, Rosemary Quirk and Anne Kean also won for MP. Lynda Wilson, Pat Robertson and Heather Horsburgh won for Peel with the match ending 178-144 (6-3).
Castletown B welcomed Ballaugh and pushed Ballaugh hard in many of the matches picking up four wins from Linda Dobinson, Barbara Young, Jo Robert and youngster Charlotte Peach. Ballaugh had two wins to single figures from Pat Mason and Gill Dixon which gave them a significant points advantage. Alison Millard, Brenda Bowyer and Elain Fenton also won for Ballaugh with the match ending 138-174 (4-5).
The final match from Friday was between Marown and Onchan. The match was only separated by four chalks in favour of Onchan who also won 5-4 on games. Rosie Winckle and Philippa Taylor won to single figures for the home team who also had wins from Shirley Whelan and Joyce Ogden. Sue Gawne won 21-9 for the away team as wins from Maureen Payne, Libby Andrade, Marilyn Ellison and Jo Smith gave them the chalks they needed to win 144-148 (4-5).
After round 22 South Ramsey sit top of the league on 3432 but have played a game extra than Nobles (P20 – 3380), Port St Mary A (P20 – 3345) and Castletown A (P19 – 3223).
MGP Practice week gives the ladies a week off except for Castletown A vs Onchan which gives Castletown a chance to skip ahead of Nobles should they score more than 157 chalks.
Port St Mary A have pulled themselves back into the title race and sit only 35 chalks behind Nobles and will jump on any slip up from the teams ahead of them.