With just four fixtures left apiece, the top two in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter League Bowling Club are separated by 23 points, but second placed Mean Machine missed out on a chance to narrow that gap last weekend.

They kicked-off in a re-arranged set of games with a score of 116 against Parkers, which was close to their average, but then dropped 16 playing the second from bottom outfit, Castletown Corkers, to make it 26 in total and slipped further behind.

They now go into this Saturday’s clash with leaders Seven-Up needing to beat them comprehensively to stand any chance of retaining the title.

Hats off to Corkers, having suffered a six games to nil loss in their first outing against Parkers, they battled hard against the Meanies to win two games and remain one place off the bottom, just ahead of stablemates Castletown Cannons.

Parkers were in action both days and completed their league programme on Sunday with two disappointing results and as a consequence now occupy seventh position having got within 0.2 of fifth placed Erin Porters 24 hours earlier.

In the opener they lost out by nine points to Titans, a side just behind them in the standings, but then surprisingly were beaten by Govags who were five places back and will have to settle for a spot outside the top six.

Titans meanwhile backed up their first success, with the season’s 15th maximum win, achieved whilst playing the westerners and in turn jumped ahead of Porters by the slender advantage of two points.

As is usually the case in a three-team afternoon, the outfit taking to the green for the first time against opponents who have already played, take a little longer to get accustomed to the conditions – a situation that occurred twice this weekend as they both suffered maximum defeats.

Results for Saturday, February 13: Mean Machine 116 (5) Parkers 98 (1), Parkers 126 (6) Castletown Corkers 79 (0), Castletown Corkers 83 (2) Mean Machine 110 (4).

Results for Sunday, February 14: Parkers 103 (2) Titans 112 (4), Titans 126 (6) Govags 98 (0), Govags 118 (4) Parkers 95 (2).

Following are the merit leaders at present, with three of them having lost recently. Averages listed are from the amount of points scored, divided by the number of games played by the teams, rather than the individuals.

1, Glynn Hargraves, M.Machine (played 18)20.8; 2, Jenny Moore, M.Lakers (20) 20.5; 3, Stefan Kelly, M.Machine (18) 20.2; 4, Mike Thomas, Parkers (22) 20.1; 5, Robert Monk, M.Lakers (20) 19.9; 6, Alan Moore, M.Machine (18) 19.9; 7, Lyn Bolton, Titans (20) 19.7; 8, Adrian Skinner, M.Lakers, 20, 19.5; 9, Nigel Thomas, Seven-Up (18) 19.4; 10, Margaret Tasker, L.Angels (18) 19.1; 11, Steve Parker, M.Lakers (20) 19; 12, James Teare, M.Lakers (20) 19; 13, Rob Cowley, Parkers (22) 18.9; 14, Rosie Winckle, Bowl Rollers (20) 18.7; 15, Derek Allen, Erin Porters (20) 18.6.

These 15 include the Parkers merit winner, along with seven of the other team leaders, with the remaining four being Dougie Allan, Govags; Tom Collins, Bits n Bobs, John Alderson, Castletown Cannons and Rob Sayle just ahead of Tracy Moore for the Corkers.

The Club Championship entries are still being taken at Nobles No.3, but for anyone who wishes to compete, but will not be able to get their name down on the sheet, they can enter via email to [email protected].

Rob Cowley and Alan Moore were the doubles section winners at the midweek round robin, ahead of Derek Kneen and Stefan Kelly, with third spot going to Roy Moore and Philippa Taylor.

Winning the other section, which was played as triples, were Ken Clarke, Erwin Gelling and Margie Tasker; in second it was Bernard Thackrah, Bert Quayle and Peter Kelly, while in third it was Joy Stevens, Roma Ware and Glen Boland.

Just a few days after getting back on track, along came another extremely wet Saturday, which put paid to a set of fixtures in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter League Bowling Club.

Things weren’t much better the following day either, with strong winds and heavy rain which arrived about three quarters of the way through, but not before leaders Seven-Up notched up their fourth and the season’s 13^th maximum.

This was achieved against Bowl Rollers who themselves struggled to a total of 87.

Also in action were bottom team Castletown Cannons and a team on the up – Erin Porters.

Cannons couldn’t manage to reach their average and finished on just 81, whereas Porters dropped only one chalk as they hit their highest score of the campaign, and moved up another place in the table.

Bowl Rollers recovered from their earlier loss and were just two points away from recording their first full house, when they inflicted a second heavy defeat on opponents Cannons.

However the biggest surprise of the day was yet to come, as the top team Seven-Up lost for only the second time when Erin Porters beat them by seven points and in turn the leader’s average dropped a little.

This result will give second placed Mean Machine a bit of hope, as they were one of the teams who did not get a game on Saturday and will try again this weekend to bridge that gap – unless the weather has other ideas.

Porters meanwhile may have left it a little bit late to break into the top four as they have only one session remaining, but will fight to the end to hang onto fifth spot.

Results for Sunday, February 7: Seven-Up 126 (6) Bowl Rollers 87 (0), Castletown Cannons 81 (1) Erin Porters 125 (5), Erin Porters 109 (3) Seven-Up 102 (3), Bowl Rollers 124 (5) Castletown Cannons 74 (1).

Triples was the order of the day as 33 entrants took part in the midweek round robin and Doug Allan, along with Lynda and Jeff Wilson from the Govags were partnered together to win their group ahead of David Galbraith, Derek Allen and Erwin Gelling.

It was all about the girls in the other section as Philippa Taylor, Joy Stephens and Dot Mylchreest were the victors, just ahead of Jean Thackrah, Roma Ware and Tricia Bull.

The league programme in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter League Bowling Club is back on schedule after a set of fixtures, which had been postponed previously, went ahead at the third attempt.

Two of the teams participated on both days and as it turned out for Erin Porters and Bowl Rollers, completely different weather-wise – first one dry, snow showers and a bitterly cold wind, then on Sunday heavy rain.

The wet conditions not helped by the fact that the roof of the shelter was destroyed earlier in the week by storm Jonas, an event, which meant the cancellation of the midweek round robin, whilst the damaged sections were cleared away.

Erin Porters were involved in three close encounters, two of which went in their favour and all points gained helped in them moving up one position in the table.

All in all it turned out to be a mixed bag of results for the southerners after they lost both clashes on Saturday, before winning twice the following day.

Three points was the margin when they missed out to Mooragh Lakers, both scoring good totals, but then surprisingly they went down by 12 against Bits n Bobs who had earlier lost to Bowl Rollers.

Twenty-four hours later Porters were pushed all the way by Govags, but came through by seven points and they followed this up with a great win over Titans, 118-112. A score, which saw them move above their opponents in the standings.

Bowl Rollers also had an up and down weekend, they improved their average on the first day, but saw it drop down after the Sunday session, ending lower than before the opening fixtures.

Mooragh Lakers meanwhile consolidated third spot, being one of a number of sides who saw their average climb, Govags with an increase of 2.4 were best, followed by Bits n Bobs 1.4, Porters 1.1 and Titans just 0.5.

This leaves the teams in fourth to seventh separated by only 30 points and leading the gang are Louie’s Angels on 2003, next come Parkers 1980, Porters just five adrift on 1975 and a further two back are Titans on 1973.

Results for Saturday, January 30: Bits n Bobs 99 (1) Bowl Rollers 120 (5), Mooragh Lakers 119 (4) Erin Porters 116 (2), Erin Porters 107 (3) Bits n Bobs 119 (3), Bowl Rollers 98 (1) Mooragh Lakers 115 (5).

Results for Sunday, January 31: Bowl Rollers 93 (2) Titans 115 (4), Erin Porters 114 (3) Govags 107 (3), Titans 112 (2) Erin Porters 118 (4), Govags 116 (4) Bowl Rollers 90 (2).

The top 12 individuals in the running for the Derek Killey memorial trophy are as follows, the positions are based on the average points in brackets calculated from the amount of games played by their teams:

1,Glynn Hargraves, Mean Machine332 points (20.8); 2,Alan Moore, M.Machine329 (20.6); 3,Jenny Moore, Lakers410 (20.5); 4,Mike Thomas, Parkers365 (20.3); 5,Stefan Kelly, M.Machine321 (20.1); 6,Nigel Thomas, Seven-Up 319 (19.9); 7,Robert Monk, Lakers398 (19.9); 8,Lyn Bolton, Titans 352(19.6); 9,Adrian Skinner, Lakers 389(19.5); 10, Margie Tasker, Louie’s Angels344 (19.1); 11,Steve Parker, Lakers 380(19); 12,James Teare, Lakers 380(19); 13, Rosie Winckle, Rollers 332(18.4); 14,Rob Cowley, Parkers 331(18.4); 15,Derek Allen, Porters 330(18.3).

As you can see the overall title is between a number of players, whereas in the lead for the Geoff Osborn memorial trophy, awarded to the top lady, is the current holder Jenny Moore, followed by Lyn Bolton, Margie Tasker and Rosie Winckle.

Leaders Seven-Up extended their advantage at the top of the table in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter League Bowling Club after they racked up the season’s twelfth maximum against the bottom side, whilst nearest rivals Mean Machine had to battle against the two teams directly behind.

Both now have six fixtures left, but if Seven-Up are to wrestle the title away from the seven time champions they will need to improve their scores from the first time around against their remaining opponents.

The gap is currently 21 points, however looking back, Mean Machine scored 25 more than their rivals in the corresponding games. I will stick my neck out and go for the current leaders to hold on, simply because they have a stronger squad which will help them over the line.

Last weekend’s action began on the first dry Saturday afternoon for quite some time and saw Seven-Up easily overcome a Titans outfit who are hanging on to a top six position.

This was the first of two three-team sessions, which involve one side sitting out the first clash and this clearly did not help basement side Castletown Cannons who faced Seven-Up in the second encounter, they being fresh onto the field of play.

The Cannons did fare a little better in the final clash when they took one game of Titans and went close in two others, but the outcome saw three losing scores for the day all in the 80s.

Results for Saturday, January 23: Titans 87 (1) Seven-Up 115 (5), Seven-Up 126 (6) Castletown Cannons 83 (0), Castletown Cannons 86 (1) Titans 117 (5).

Sunday’s participants were teams occupying second to fourth positions in the table and they all saw their averages slip without any positional changes.

Opening it was Mean Machine (second) against Mooragh Lakers (third), with the result a fairly close victory to the Meanies as they gained revenge for their only loss so far.

Next up Louie’s Angels had to take on a side who were warmed up so to speak and even though they won two games, Mean Machine finished with a 19 point advantage.

With the mist rolling around the Park it was fairly dark when the final 12 players took to the green and battled out a draw on points as the Angels recorded a much-needed 117 to keep them just ahead of Parkers.

Results for Sunday, January 24: Mean Machine 112 (3) Mooragh Lakers 106 (3), Louie’s Angels 93 (2) Mean Machine 112 (4), Mooragh Lakers 117 (4) Louie’s Angels 117 (2).

A group of 37 enjoyed the good conditions for the midweek round robin, but a harsh lesson was learned at the conclusion, as some teams had not entered scores, which possibly cost them victory.

The top two triples were eventually settled by a roll-up, which went in favour of Mike Skelly/Jeff Wilson/Peter Kelly; just missing out were Allan Kennaugh/Terry Bates/Alec Taylor, with third spot being occupied by Roy Moore/Erwin Gelling/Alan Phair.

No such problems in the doubles where Derek Clarke and Derek Allen romped to first place ahead of John Lightfoot/Jean Thackrah and Doug Allan/Tricia Bull.

This Saturday there is a set of fixtures originally scheduled for early December and again attempted in January, let’s hope it is third time lucky for Bits n Bobs, Bowl Rollers, Mooragh Lakers and Erin Porters.

It was all change at the top after yet another very wet weekend in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter League Bowling Club which had three scores falling just short of the season’s 12^th maximum.

Two of them resulted in new leaders, as Seven-Up took over at the summit of the table on an average of 117.6, which is 0.2 ahead of Mean Machine.

Sevens kicked-off the session with a comfortable success against Bits n Bobs, before overcoming Mooragh Lakers who had started the afternoon in second spot and were in a good run of form.

Lakers themselves had earlier defeated basement side Castletown Cannons who also lost out in their second encounter against Bits n Bobs.

Results for Saturday, January 16: Bits n Bobs 92 (1) Seven-Up 125 (5), Mooragh Lakers 124 (5) Castletown Cannons 81 (1), Seven-Up 125 (5) Mooragh Lakers 104 (1), Castletown Cannons 92 (2) Bits n Bobs 116 (4).

Parkers took an opportunity on Sunday to close the gap on the side directly above them and after scores of 117, against Bowl Rollers, and 121 whilst beating Erin Porters, they are now level with Titans on an average of 110.

The two remaining results saw Porters maintain their position just behind the leading six with a four games to two victory, while Bowl Rollers came within millimetres of recording their first maximum win, both played Castletown Corkers.

In the very last game on the green, Rollers player Sylvia Kennaugh measured for victory, but the decision went in favour of opponent Byron Mercer, who then went on to win the last end and secure his first winter league success and deny Bowl Rollers in the process.

Results for Sunday, January 17: Bowl Rollers 102 (2) Parkers 117 (4), Erin Porters 114 (4) Castletown Corkers 97 (2), Parkers 121 (5) Erin Porters 101 (1), Castletown Corkers 89 (1) Bowl Rollers 125 (5).

I think we can all guess what the conditions were like for the midweek round robin, but nevertheless an entry of 24 was split into two groups of doubles, each winning duo having a member of the Callister family – Rita, being partnered by Alec Taylor and Louis, making a rare outing was supported by Derek Clarke.

Finishing in second were Roy Moore/Sylvia Kennaugh and Shirley Whelan/Mike Ware; whilst third spots went to Mike Skelly/Derek Allen and Doug Allan/Tricia Bull.