Over 60’s Games 1 and 2.
Game 1
The much anticipated start to the 2017 Men’s Crown Green Bowling Season was on Tuesday 4th April with the first shock being the 6 -2 defeat of last years runners up Port St Mary A by Onchan B at Onchan Park.
The performance off the day in this match has to be the 21-9 defeat of Ron Maycox by Peter Wallis but there were steady performances by many of the Onchan Lads with a good win for Gary Lee over Brian Lowe being worthy of mention as Gary only took up Crown Green towards the end of last season.
Last years winners Castletown A travelled just a little farther South to Port Erin and came out winners by taking five of the eight games. Unfortunately Port Erin were a player short so Castletown had one walkover and with Derek Cadamy only losing 21-18 to Mike Hargraves and Ken Horsley losing 21-17 to George Peach there was always a chance that the team from Port Erin could have picked up at least one point.
Nobles A with a very strong team this year had an 8-0 victory over Peel Sunset C with the nearest of the Sunset City Players to a win being Steven Bradley who only just lost out 21-20 to Roy Murphy. I mentioned Nobles A last week as being a possible strong contender this season and I certainly think that they will finish in the top three.
Elsewhere South Ramsey had a 5-3 home win over Nobles B with Chris Penketh being top man there beating Tony Jones 21-1. At Port St Mary the Ports B Team beat Peel Sunset B 5-3 with Tom Wilson winning the battle of the ‘Wilsons’ by beating Jeff Wilson 21-19.
In Douglas the Douglas A Team beat the League’s newest Team Ballaugh B 7-1 at the Villa with David Quirk of the Douglas side performing very steadily in only his second league game in Crown Green before eventually losing 21-16 in a good game with Ray Parry.
Peel Sunset A had a battle with Marown with the Westerners running out 5-3 winners but a close battle between Phil Parker and Alan Kennaugh which ended 21-18 in favour of Phil could easily have made this a draw. Ballaugh A lost 3-5 to Onchan A and the Finch Hill match with North Ramsey B ended all square at 4-4 and finally Castletown B beat Douglas B 6-2 with the well known ex local Football Referee Willie Cowley making his debut for Douglas B but sadly he was shown the Red Card by Dave Ali of Town who managed to beat Willie on this occasion.
Game 2
Thursday 6th April saw the second games of the Season for the over 60’s and saw the League’s newest Team Ballaugh B gain their first victory by defeating Finch Hill 6-2 in a match of mainly very close games with Ray Parry of Ballaugh continuing his good form with a 21-5 defeat of Kevin Skillicorn.
As expected Castletown A are still a force to be reckoned with as shown by their 8-0 victory over Port St Mary B whilst the Castletown B Team drew 4-4 with North Ramsey B at the Mooragh Park.
Douglas B hosted Peel Sunset A at the Villa but found the men from the West too strong as they took an 8-0 victory back home to Peel although there were some valiant performances from some home players with three games being closely contested.
Port Erin travelled to Marown and although there were some close games Marown ran out 6-2 winners with Bernard Thackrah and Seamus Whelan being the two winners for the Southerners.
Ballaugh A travelled to Nobles Park B and not to be outdone by their new B Team they also came away with a 6-2 win John Clague and Tony Jones being the only ones to be successful against the men from Ballaugh.
North Ramsey A travelled from the Mooragh Park to Onchan Park to play a strong Onchan A Team with the home lads gaining a 5-3 victory in a match that saw Norman Radcliffe now back playing this year for North Ramsey beat Mike Alexander 21-5, Mike Thomas of Onchan beating Jimmy Moffatt 21-6 and his team mate Colin Hinds beating Mike Skelly 21-6.
Peel Sunset C lost 5-3 at home to Onchan B and Peel Sunset B drew 4-4 with a very strong Nobles A with Roy Murphy of the Nobles Team having a 21-3 win over Ted Cain.
Last years runners up Port St Mary A who lost last game to Onchan B were back on form defeating South Ramsey 7-1 although the Northern Team were one player short with Chris Penketh being the only winner for South Ramsey.
So with Douglas A having the bye in Game 2, the League Table sees four Teams at the top each with four points, these being;
Peel Sunset A, Castletown A, Onchan B and Onchan A