Tenby Back to Winning Ways

The N. D. Toy & Partners Ltd sponsored Tenby team got back to winning ways after their disappointing defeat to Haverfordwest at their Sutton Street headquarters the prevous weekend by defeating Whitland 10-4 on Saturday (writes Le Shark) . Returning to the team for the trip to Whitland were Pat Currie, James Criddle, Luke Guymer and Joe Richards, with Dai Rees adding his support to the champions by making his long-awaited debut.

Unfortunately, players were again missing due to their participation in the Under 21 Academy match the following day in Llandrindod Wells and as such being unable to obtain time off from their jobs on two consecutive days. However, despite missing several players and fielding a team of 15 instead of the normal 16, due to the second division team also having many players missing for one reason or another, a very impressive victory was obtained against a very strong Whitland team.

The rink of Criddle, Currie, Guymer and Guymer started badly, falling behind 7-1 after only four ends. A count of ‘4’ on the next ‘end’ saw signs of a recovery, but then a further eight shots dropped to two  saw a deficit at ‘tea’ of 15-7. The gap was too big to recover and a final score of 25-20 saw Whitland secure the two points for the rink win.

The Tenby captain, Andrew Muskett, led his rink to a very impressive win against the current Gold Cup holder, Steve Reese. The MVP award came from the ever-impressive Jon Webb, who is certainly starting the season in fine form. David Rees, on his Tenby debut, did not disappoint and I cannot remember any player having such a fine debut performance, especially away from home, and no doubt this will not be the last time that David’s services will be called upon. The rink was always in control and won 23-14.

John Roberts played against his international colleague Alan Whitehouse and certainly gave no quarter as he raced into a 15-4 lead after 10 ends. Neil Dickinson, at lead, staked his claim on why he should be playing for the county team this season with another solid performance. Ben Simmons has settled into the Tenby team with ease and with no little amount of skill and is another who should enjoy a spot in the Pembrokeshire side. Finally, the experience that double singles champion (Peter) Day brings to any rink is there for all to see. His calming affect on his skip ensured that more ‘drawing’ took place than the ‘usual running woods and drives’ and this was very much a foundation for success, the final score being 28-14. 

Tenby’s own Gold Cup winner, Paul Diment, volunteered to ‘skip’ the triple (one player missing from the rink) and as the most prolific player on display for Tenby it was a justified decision from the Tenby captain. Cameron White was again very consistent and Mike Jackson again enjoyed a change of tactics which seemed more suited to his ‘drawing’ game.

However, it must be said  that the Whitland rink were very impressive and, although lost the game 19-16 in terms of actual scoring, won the game after the compulsory 25 per cent was deducted from the Tenby rink’s score for having a player missing, making it 16 to 14.25 to the home four.

In summary, not only a very good win, but also an equally impressive performance against one of the title contenders. Another defeat this early would not have meant failure to successfully win a sixth consecutive league title, but would have definitely made the task much harder.

The next three matches see the start of the Welsh Club Championship, the Carruthers Shield, Tenby having won the title in 2009 and visited the semi-final stage both in 2010 and last year (2012) under the captaincy of Jon Webb. Tenby make the visit to Milford Haven next Saturday, followed by a home fixture against Fishguard and Goodwick and finally conclude their group matches against Neyland (away).

The Tenby captain, in his speech, congratulated the Tenby Five Arches who had defeated Whitland’s second string in Pembrokeshire League division two and wished those players selected for the Open Double Rink Competition in Llandrindod Wells and the Pembrokeshire team manager, Colin Wynn, success on May 12.

Le Shark

Pembroke Dock Pater v Five Arches

PEMBROKE DOCK PATER 39 (0) v FIVE ARCHES 129 (14 pts)

With both their early season friendlies falling foul of the weather, the Arches were eager to get their league campaign off to a flying start when they made the journey to Pembroke Dock to play the Pater team on Sunday. After receiving a warm welcome from home captain Steve James, both teams held a minute’s silence in memory of Derek Goodridge, who passed way recently. Derek was a former member of the Pembroke Dock Bowling Club and in recent years was a loyal supporter and helper at Tenby Bowling Club.
The game started in weather more suited to ducks and the rain never relented throughout the game.

On rink one, skip Dai Spencer and his men were leading 11 shots to 10 after 11 ends, but after tea they took control of the game, winning eight of the next 10 ends and picking up 13 more shots to Pater’s two. Ray Taylor and his cubs were also in the groove on rink two, with a 42 shots to 12 win, picking up 25 shots over the last 10 ends to Pater’s two.
On rink three, Gerald Hewitt was another new Arches skip to have a fine win. Leading 11 shots to four at 10 ends, they immediately picked up a six on the 11th end to go 17-4 ahead and from then on it was plain sailing as they ended 28-9 winners.

Rink four saw the captain’s rink skipped by Ashley also have a fine win by 35 shots to five. Joe and Jonathan laid the foundations for this win, which saw the rink finish strongly, picking up 19 shots in the last 10 ends. And so it was a fine start to the campaign for the Arches, picking up the 14 points on offer and winning overall by 129 shots to 39.


Rink scores (Five Arches first, Pater skips only) were:
Jim Taylor, Kevin Lewis, Ken Lloyd, Dai Spencer 24; M. Hyde 12.
John Rees, Steve Davies, Peter Hooper, Ray Taylor 42; Steve James 12.
Ron Hurlow, Harold Ebdon, Clive Webb, Gerald Hewitt 28; S. John 9.
Joe Hewitt, Jonathan Hubbard, Tony Powling, Ashley Hooper 35; R. Duncombe 5.

Tenby v Haverfordwest

TENBY 76 v  HAVERFORDWEST 78

 Tenby began their League title defence against a strong Haverfordwest side keen to improve on their runners up spot last season. As predicted in the Captain’s speech it was going to be a tough match between two top sides in Pembrokeshire and this was evident from the first few ends.An extremely tight and keenly contested match followed and the result hung in the balance until the final bowl of the match which went Haverfordwest’s way by a couple of shots.  Tenby must now re-group for the tough encounter away at Whitland knowing only a win will be good enough if they want to retain their League crown.

 Rink scores:

Rink 1 – L Rees, P Hooper, J Webb, A Muskett 22 - R O’Leary 16

Rink 2 – G Hewitt, S Davies, C Guymer, P Day 13 – J Dixon 30

Rink 3 – N Dickinson, R Taylor, M Jackson, J Roberts 16 – C Court 18

Rink 4 – C White, B Cloake, B Simmons, P Diment 25 – R Thomas 14

A big thank you must go to N D Toy & Partners Ltd, Independent Financial Advisors for sponsoring the new Tenby shirts.

Tenby v Kidwelly

On a glorious Saturday afternoon, Tenby entertained Kidwelly in the annual curtain raiser to the competitive bowling season. Kidwelly fielded a very strong team and with Tenby short of a number of their star players, an interesting game lay ahead. On rink 1 Jon and his lads fought well but finally succumbed by 10 shots, Captain Andrew on Rink 2 and a close tussle with bowls wizard Matthew Partridge but eventually fell short by 4 shots and Tony and his rink had a day to forget on rink 3 losing heavily to Colin Jones. Rink 4 was the bright spot of the day, Gerald skipping for the first time , inspired his teammates to a thrilling one shot victory. On the remaining rinks, normal service was resumed as Kidwelly won by 8 shots on rink 5 and by 4 shots on rink 6. Congratulations to Kidwelly for their comprehensive win, the final score Tenby 92  Kidwelly 155

Rink 1 Neil Dickinson, Harry Meades, Aaron Lloyd, Jonathan Webb 14       Robin Burden 24
Rink 2 Luke Rees, Fred Broomhead, Mike Jackson, Andrew Musket 20     Matthew Partridge 24
Rink 3 Bill Benham, Brian Winstone, Jim Taylor, Tony Powling 8               Colin Jones 46
Rink 4 Ron Hurlow, Ken Lloyd, Clive Webb, Gerald Hewitt 21                     Mark Davies 20
Rink 5 Joe Hewitt, Ray French, Jon Hubbard, Ashley Hooper 11                Steffan Harries 19
Rink 6 John Rees, Steve Davies, Peter Hooper, Ray Taylor 18                   Matthew James 22