Game on in race for title
It is game on after the latest weekend in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter Bowling League after the top team, Mooragh Lakers had a poor session and the leader in the individual merit was beaten.
There is now a gang of three at the head of the table, each having dropped three points apiece, as they battle for the Derek Killey memorial trophy, and they are Jordan Cain (Seven-Up), Jenny Moore (Lakers) and Glynn Hargraves (Unstopabowls) who has played two games less.
All have the credentials to go on and win the main award, with Glynn having done so on three previous occasions, Jordan once in 2014 and Jenny being a double winner of the ladies merit.
Three other players are averaging above 20 and they are Alan Moore (Unstopabowls), Brian Kelly (Lakers) and Tony Dugdale (Outsiders); meanwhile in second place for the ladies individual title and with it the Geoff Osborn memorial trophy, is Lyn Bolton (Outsiders).
We will look at things in reverse order this week with the four sides competing on Sunday all being from the top six and the biggest benefactors from the group were Parkers who recorded 13 points more than they did in the equivalent sets of games, also bearing in mind they were up against the leading two.
First up they challenged Mooragh Lakers and took them to a share of the games and lost by a much closer margin of just 11, next opponents were second placed Seven-Up, and once again brought the first half deficit down, this time from 28 to 13.
Compare this to Louie’s Angels who are in danger of slipping down another position in the table, they only totalled 181 for the afternoon and now have a slender gap of just two points between themselves and Parkers, both sides with four fixtures left to play.
Seven-Up meanwhile are 31 points behind Lakers, but as these two battle it out, not far behind are Unstopabowls, the eight times winners. Looking at the averages for the three teams, Lakers are on 118.8, Seven-Up 116.8 and Unstopabowls 116.6 – making this a three-way battle for the crown.
Results for Sunday, January 15: Mooragh Lakers 114 (3), Parkers 103 (3); Seven-Up 119 (5), Louie’s Angels 84 (1); Parkers 101 (2), Seven-Up 114 (4); Louie’s Angels 97 (2), Mooragh Lakers 107 (4).
Twenty-four hours earlier things went pretty much to the formbook with two teams getting revenge for first-half defeats. Outsiders got the better of Erin Porters with a good score of 122, whilst the losers then recovered to squeeze home by a margin of just three against Bowl Rollers.
Match details with Porters first: Dave McCabe 14, Shirley Corrin 21; Jacqui Elliott 17, Sylvia Kennaugh 21; Carole Kaye 14, Rosie Winckle 21; Bernard Thackrah 21, Shirley Whelan 11; Ken Clarke 21, Terry Bates 17; Derek Allen/Chris Dent 21, Lil Smith/Gordon Corrin 14. Erin Porters 108 (3), Bowl Rollers 105 (3).
Rollers had earlier eased to victory against Bits n Bobs with a total just four short of a maximum, and finally Outsiders completed a bad afternoon for the Bits outfit, who remain just above the bottom two in the table.
Remaining results for Saturday, January 14: Outsiders 122 (4), Erin Porters 100 (2); Bowl Rollers 122 (5), Bits n Bobs 83 (1); Bits n Bobs 96 (2) Outsiders 117 (4).
An entry of 23 braved the cold conditions to take part in the midweek round robin with the winners of each group being July Reilly and Shirley Whelan in the doubles, along with the trio of Steve Parker, Carole Kaye and Mark Kelly.