Week 8
The Barnet League continues with another four games being played this week, three scheduled ones and one postponed from four weeks ago.
Division One
Greenwood Peckers team of Penny, Colin and Brian Fowler played Shillington Whites team of Michelle, Julia and Trevor. Peckers started things off taking the first two ends for singles. End three saw White take a double to bring it back to evens. Peckers then held a four. They followed this with a single, to go five shots in front. White then took a double. Following this with a single, they had reduced Peckers lead to two shots. Taking end eight for a triple, Peckers increased their lead to 10 – 5. White took end ten for a single but with Peckers taking the next end for a double they were edging in front. Ends eleven and twelve saw White take a single and Peckers get a further double to go 14 – 7 up with three ends to play. Peckers stayed on top taking two more singles. The last end went Whites way with them taking a double to reduce the deficit to seven shots, giving Peckers the win at 16 – 9.
Shillington Blacks team of Jen, Toni and Bill played Northiam East’s Martin, Jan and Jeff. East started well taking a triple. They followed this with a single and a double. End four saw Black start by taking a double. East instantly replied, by taking a second triple. Black fought back taking another double, making the score 9 – 4 in Easts favour after six ends. East’s reply was to start a small run, taking two singles and two doubles to go 15 – 4 up after ten ends. With two bowls sitting on the jack, end eleven was declared a tied end. The last four ends all went Blacks way for singles but East had the win at 15 – 8.
Division Two
The Shillington Red team of Tom, Carol and Neil took on the Letchworth Lions team of Judith, Andy and Alan Spicer. Reds took first blood for a double. Lions reply was instant, taking a double of their own, they then followed this with a single. Reds came straight back for a single, making it 3 all after four ends. End five and Lions went back in the lead taking a double. Reds came back again on end six, for yet another double and it was all square again at five all. Lions then came in for a single. Reds took the lead back with a double on end eight and followed this with a further double to go 9 – 6 up after nine ends. Lions got back on track, taking a single and a double and it was all square again at 9 all with four ends to play. Ends twelve and thirteen went for a single apiece, so it was still all square with two ends to play, The penultimate end saw Reds take a double and the lead. In this very close match, Lions held the last end for a single giving Reds a single shot win at 12 – 11.
Harpenden Eagles Val, Geoff and Gordon played Bush Hill Blues John, Terri and Roger. Blues got this game started by taking a double. Eagles reply was to take a triple. However, when Blues replied with a further double, they had a 4 – 3 lead after three ends. Eagles then regained the lead with a double on end four. With Blues taking a single on end five it was all square at 5 all. Eagles then started a short run, taking a single followed by a triple and a double they had an 11 – 5 lead. Blues reduced this by taking a triple. Following a declared tied end on end ten, they took two further singles to reduce Eagles lead to 11 – 10 after twelve ends. The last three ends all went Eagles way, taking two singles followed by a triple on the last end they had the win at 16 – 10.
With all teams having played five games, we are exactly one third of the way through this competition. Division One has Greenwood Peckers and Northiam East at the top, both having only lost one game, Peckers high shot difference keeping them on top. Letchworth Tigers are currently sitting at the bottom of the table but with ten games to go, it is still early days. Division Two leaders Shillington Red are the only undefeated team in the whole competition. They look quite strong at the top of Division Two with a four point lead. Harpenden Eagles are sitting at the bottom of the table but with ten more rounds to play, there is plenty of time for them to catch the three teams above them, who only have a two point advantage. Next week sees our top two in Division One playing. Could East pull in front of Peckers? Division Two and the three bottom teams are playing, could they start a climb up the table? Check out this report next week to see how our competition advances.