Weather plays its part
The weather played a major part in proceedings over weekend in the the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter Bowling League, especially on Saturday with defeats for second placed Louie’s Angels, along with losses for previously unbeaten players.
Heavy rain prior to and during the first session made for tricky conditions, although the playing surface did not show any signs of waterlogging.
First up were Erin Porters taking on Outsiders and the result was close, with just nine points between the two, which went in favour of the leaders to keep their unbeaten run going.
Also in action were the second and third placed sides, however this success went the way of the lower placed outfit after Mooragh Lakers beat Louie’s Angels by a good margin of 20 chalks.
Things didn’t get any easier for the Angels as they next had to take on Outsiders and they could only manage one win in a 121-93 defeat and as a consequence they slipped down the standings into fourth position.
Lakers then matched that winning total when they played Erin Porters and in doing so moved into second spot and closed the gap to the leaders by four down to just seven.
This session saw four players lose their unbeaten starts and along with individuals not taking part for one reason or another, there are only three members to have won all games to date.
Results for Saturday, November 10: Erin Porters 103 (2), Outsiders 112 (4); Louie’s Angels 96 (2), Mooragh Lakers 116 (4); Outsiders 121 (5), Louie’s Angels 93 (1); Mooragh Lakers 121 (5), Erin Porters 87 (1).
Things were much better weather-wise for Sunday afternoon’s participants and two teams left with a maximum apiece and a brace of wins.
Govags were in ruthless form in the opener when they recorded their first full-house of the season at the expense of bottom team Bits n Bobs.
Bowl Rollers were also fired up after notching up two wins last time out and they pushed the A-Team all the way, recording a three-all draw on games, but lost out on points.
Next up Govags and Rollers fought out the closest fixture of the weekend with another draw on games and the westerners triumphant by only four chalks to improve their average to 112.8.
Finally in a rather one-sided clash, the A-Team notched up their third and the league’s tenth maximum score, the unfortunate losers once again were Bits n Bobs.
Results for Sunday, November 11: Bits n Bobs 72 (0), Govags 126 (6); Bowl Rollers 84 (3), A-Team 108 (3); Govags 110 (3), Bowl Rollers 106 (3); A-Team 126 (6), Bits n Bobs 66 (0).
Two groups of six triples competed in the latest midweek round robin, with the closest outcome being in the yellow jack gang with the top three being decided by a roll-up.
Three trios finished on the same total and eventually taking the honours were the threesome of Steve Parker, Rita Callister and Gill Jopson, who edged out Ray Watterson, Trevor Barker and Tricia Bull. Just missing out in third were Sefton Dent, Kevin Firth and Peter Karran.
The other group was a little bit more open with the team of David Clucas, Bryan Corner and Bernie McPhee winning ahead of Doug Allan, Judy Kelly and Steve Crampton.