The average points gap between first and fourth was halved over the latest weekend in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter Bowling League after all but one of the teams taking part saw their average drop.

League leaders and multiple title winners Jacks Off along with current champs Mooragh Lakers went head to head in the opening battle on Saturday and it was Jacks Off who came out on top in a 3-3 draw on games, which saw them triumph by just two points.

Bottom side Bits n Bobs were also in action, but could not prevent opponents Govags from notching up a comfortable victory.

The Bits then had to face the earlier victors Jacks Off and will have been quite pleased to have won one game, thanks to Geoff Mayles who made it two wins in the session to deny both opponents a full-house.

Unfortunately Govags couldn’t do the same as Mooragh Lakers swept to their second maximum win of the campaign and in the process maintained their average of 116.5, whereas Jacks Off saw theirs slip to 119.3, which put them into second spot overnight.

Results for Saturday, November 11: Mooragh Lakers 107 (3), Jacks Off 109 (3); Bits n Bobs 86 (1), Govags 113 (5); Jacks Off 119 (5), Bits n Bobs 65 (1); Govags 79 (0), Mooragh Lakers 126 (6).

Sunday’s group also had two of the leading four outfits competing and they both won twice against the same opposition in a session that saw overnight leaders Seven-Up slip back behind Jacks Off by the slender margin of 0.1 of a point on average.

They began with a five games to one victory over Castletown Corkers in a contest that saw Tracey Moore emerge as the sole winner for her team.

Also in action were third placed Outsiders, but even though they were successful in both outings, they slipped further behind the leading two and in turn closer to fourth-placed Lakers.

Louie’s Angels were first to offer a challenge and this battle finished with both teams recording three figure points totals; Corkers were next up, but they fell short again and remain in the bottom three.

The final clash of the day saw Seven-Up defeat Louie’s Angels and even though they won by 11 points, that margin could have been much closer, as a disagreement on the cards saw two players go back onto the green, restarting from 15-across, which after a further four ends, finished 21-15.

Maybe a lesson to be learned here, because one marker had the game finished at 21-20, whilst the other had 20-across, which in the end saw the losing player and team involved miss out on five chalks, which can prove difficult to get at the best of times.

Results for Sunday, November 12: Castletown Corkers 90 (1), Seven-Up 120 (5); Louie’s Angels 100 (2), Outsiders 112 (4); Outsiders 116 (4), Castletown Corkers 92 (2); Seven-Up 117 (4), Louie’s Angels 106 (2).

Once again the midweek gathering had a very good entry with 54 players battling in groups of triples.

The black jacks were decided after a roll-up, which went in favour of Jean Thackrah, Carol Kaye and Brian Masterson, with Lynda Wilson, Sue Gawne and Shirley Whelan just missing out.

In the red group, a one point difference gave victory to Joy Stephens, Trevor Barker and Gordon Corrin, with second going to Mavis Franks, David Clucas and Derek Allen.

Whilst in the other gang the victors had a two point margin, when the threesome of Derek Clarke, Kevin Firth and Doug Allan sneaked home ahead of Edward Carlyle, Greg Brew and Mark Kelly.

There was a mixed bag of results over the latest two days in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter Bowling League amongst which Parkers finally won – twice; and Outsiders lost for the first time, dropping some crucial points in the process.

Saturday had a set of re-arranged fixtures and it was a winning afternoon for Parkers who were occupying 10th spot in the table at the start of play; they began with a convincing victory over Bowl Rollers and dropped just four chalks. Shirley Whelan was the only winner for the Rollers.

Next up Parkers took on Erin Porters, who had also begun with a comfortable win when they played Castletown Cannons, this tussle ended 3-3 on games and with a 13-point margin, however it could have been a lot worse for the southerners as they trailed 8-17 in the final game, but fought back for a 21-19 success.

The Rollers got themselves back on track in their second encounter and dropped just one point against Cannons, for whom James Drinkwater sneaked home 21-20 to avoid a whitewash, whilst in their earlier defeat it was the pairing of Sheila Preston and Barbara Young who were victorious.

Results for Saturday, November 4: Bowl Rollers 89 (1), Parkers 122 (5); Erin Porters 115 (5), Castletown Cannons 89 (1); Parkers 114 (3), Erin Porters 101 (3); Castletown Cannons 77 (1), Bowl Rollers 125 (5).

Two of the Saturday gang were back the following afternoon as things got back on schedule and Bowl Rollers started where they left off 24-hours previous, whilst Erin Porters fell just short of an opening win.

Both sides won three games against their top three opponents, Rollers inflicted a first defeat of the campaign on Outsiders and Porters went down by just nine points against Seven-Up.

The two contenders upped their games next time out, when they won 5-1; Seven-Up dropping just one chalk in a 40-point advantage victory over Rollers, while Outsiders ended the day down one place in third after beating Erin Porters.

Derek Allen was the sole winner for Porters and for Rollers it was Gordon Corrin.

Results for Sunday, November 5: Outsiders 100 (3), Bowl Rollers 105 (3); Seven-Up 116 (3), Erin Porters 107 (3); Erin Porters 105 (1), Outsiders 122 (5); Bowl Rollers 85 (1), Seven-Up 125 (5).

For the third midweek round robin on the trot, there was an entry of over 50 and once again triples were the order of the day.

Brian Kelly, Lil Smith and Mark Kelly topped the black jack section ahead of Eddie McAvoy, Derek Allen and Doug Allan.

Joy Stephens, Bernard Thackrah and Tricia Bull were the victors in the yellow group, with second going to Geoff Mayles, Lynda Wilson and Marg Tasker.

Finally the red jack winners were Roy Murphy, Kevin Firth and Derek Cadamy, with the runners-up being Christine Sims, Maureen Quilliam and Bryan Corner.

Jacks Off were the only one of the leading four teams to take part in the latest two sessions held over the weekend in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter Bowling League and they maintained their average to cling onto top spot.

The first afternoon was the once a year set of fixtures where the teams play their opponents twice and it was double winners Erin Porters and Louie’s Angels who left happiest.

First up Porters fell just two points short of a maximum, when they kept their good start going with a 124 to 88 victory, they were denied a full house by Celia Joughin (Bowl Rollers).

The two sides battled it out again later with the Rollers taking two games and reducing the points margin in the process, but could not stop their opponents from notching up another two wins, which sees them occupy fifth in the standings.

Angels and Castletown Corkers were the other two outfits in action and although Corkers took three games first time out, they lost by 17 points.

Both improved their point tallies next time, however it was Angels who triumphed once again by the margin of 122 to 100. Nathan Hamilton (Corkers) prevented Angels from recording another maximum.

Sunday’s gang had leaders Jacks Off competing along with three teams from the lower half of the table and they took full advantage, dropping just eight points along the way.

The opening encounter saw the eight-time champions take on a Parkers side who have yet to show their true potential and it took a good win by Paul Bailey to prevent them being whitewashed.

Govags meanwhile won a close tussle with Castletown Cannons, before they went on to inflict another defeat on Parkers. The highlight for the westerners being a comfortable victory for Lynda Wilson and Rob Middleton in the doubles.

The final outcome was a bit of a one-sided affair when Jacks Off notched up maximum points at the expense of Castletown Cannons, who themselves could only muster 65 points.

One thing evident over the sessions held so far; is that captains are utilising the option for members to compete up to six times for more than one team, rather than showing up for fixtures short of players.

Once again there was another great entry for the midweek round robin and the 57 attending were split into groups of triples.

Yellow jack winners were Chris Sims, Vicky Lloyd-West and Mark Kelly, with second place going to Doug Allan, Joan Murphy and Elaine McElroy.

Philippa Taylor, Derek Anscomb and Shirley Corrin won the black jack group ahead of Greg Brew, Derek Cadamy and Lil Smith.

While in the smaller red jack gang, Jean Thackrah, Joy Stephens and Tricia Bull triumphed, with second spot going to Carol Kaye, Bernard Thackrah and Sue Gawne.

This Saturday it is planned for the fixtures postponed from October 21 to take place and will involve Bowl Rollers, Parkers, Erin Porters and Castletown Cannons.

The one day of action possible over the weekend in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter Bowling League saw three teams capable of being crowned champions come next March, battle it out just hours after storm Brian had abated.

Not featured in our first report as being one of the favourites, Outsiders were the afternoon’s biggest benefactors, dropping just two points and one game, promoting their average up to 122 from the four fixtures they have played so far.

Although it is still early days, I firmly believe we can add this outfit to the list of title contenders, also remembering they have been champions in the past. Back in 2011 they were successful under the name New Found Glory, although the players have changed a little, with only four of the winning team still competing for Outsiders.

So what off two of the other contenders, with eight-time champs, Jacks Off not competing – Seven-Up slipped to third on 119 after they suffered their first defeat, but still came away from the session with a healthy tally of 231 points, which included a maximum.

Champions Mooragh Lakers were up against both Outsiders and Seven-Up, they struggled a little by their own standards, but will be reasonably content with one win, achieved from one of those occasions when they lost 4-2 on games, but were successful in the all-important battle for points, sneaking home by the closest of margins.

Also in action were basement side Bits n Bobs, they had three new winter league players on the scorecards and consequently slipped further behind in the standings after two 6-0 defeats.

As you’ve probably worked out for yourselves, Saturday’s fixtures fell foul of the weather and have been rescheduled for Saturday, November 4.

A fantastic entry of 51 was welcomed to the latest midweek round robin, which was held between the two storms that battered the Island.

From three sets of triples, the winners were Ken Karran, Helen Martin and Doug Allan; Steve Parker, Rita Callister and Shirley Whelan; Allan Kennaugh, Bryan Masterson and Peter Kelly.

Perhaps this is an opportune moment to remind all members that round robin entries close at 1pm prompt in order to get proceedings completed

There were three maximums over the second weekend of play in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter Bowls League and all 12 sides have now competed in their opening fixtures.

Saturday saw two of the big challengers join the fray with Seven-Up being the early pacesetters on an average of 122.5. Jacks Off occupy second on 122, Lakers third on 121 and Outsiders close behind on 119.

Seven-Up began their campaign with a maximum 126 against Castletown Cannons and followed up with a comfortable victory over Parkers.

Outsiders meanwhile also had a good win against Parkers, but surprisingly dropped three games against Cannons in a 116-107 scoreline.

Mooragh Lakers continued their defence of the title with two good wins on Sunday, firstly beating Louie’s Angels; then recording a full-house against Castletown Corkers.

Corkers had previously won by four games to two against Bits n Bobs, who themselves had a tough afternoon and lost their second outing 6-0 to Louie’s Angels.