Tenby 97 (14 Points) v Pembroke Dock 67 (0 Points)
28th May 2016
The Tenby Team returned to league action this weekend in defence of their League Title which has been resident in the Tenby club for the past eight years. The Tenby team, currently top of the division, faced a side at the bottom – Pembroke Dock. However, I do believe that this is a temporary measure as Pembroke Dock have got too many players of quality to remain in such a position and only the week before defeated Whitland away in the Carruthers Shield. Therefore a stern test was expected. Rink 1: In the absence of Kieran Peregrine, John Roberts skipped the Tenby four. Luke Rees and Ben Cloake both having excellent games, as did Liam Price, current County Pairs Champion. They faced the County Senior Vice-President, Richard Hissey’s rink. An indifferent start saw the rink fall behind at five ends, 3 shots to 6. That lead was extended by a further single shot at ten ends (7-11) and at twelve ends, the Dock rink led by five shots (8-13). The Tenby four then upped a gear and won the next six ends and only failed to score on the nineteenth end. Over that period, they outscored the shell shocked Dock four by 17 shots to 2. Final score, 25-15.
Rink 2: Craig Guymer, Mike Jackson, David Rees and Luke Guymer played the experienced Brian Dowling. Identically – in relation to rink 1 – the Tenby four were behind 8-13. Then a run of 3, 6, 1, 2, and 2 saw them finish strongly to retain their 100% record 25-19. Rink 3: Also unbeaten this year, Muskett, Day and Aaron Lloyd were joined by club chairman Fred Broomhead, who like David Rees has played every league game this year. They too were behind for the first half of the game until a strong finish, which included a count of five shots on the eighteenth end, secured victory 20-14. Special mention has to go to the Pembroke Dock Skip, Mathew John, who in the words of Day and Muskett was absolutely superb. Rink 4: Paul Diment came in as a late replacement and teamed up with his usual rink after a few changes in the original team. The rink of Cameron White, Joe Richards and Ryan Thomas have lost their last 3 games and there has been talk that Diment had seen better days and that his style of play was not suited to the demands of the modern bowler. However, a stay of execution was granted as the rink played very well, to a man, against a strong Pembroke Dock rink skipped by Pembroke Dock Captain, Richard Jones. Leading 8-2 at the five end mark, the Pembroke Dock rink came back to two shots until a count of four shots followed by a 2, 2 and 3 extended the lead to 19-7. A very poor finish, with dropped counts of 4 and 3 on the nineteenth and twentieth end saw an eventual score of 27-19.
In summary, a great win, especially in light that the Tenby team were down at ‘tea’ by 7 shots. Once again a strong finish but the same ‘urgency’ is required at the start as well as the end in the coming months if success is to continue in both the league and Carruthers Shield. Tenby do not have any game next weekend but return to action with a home fixture against Whitland and then Haverfordwest the following Tuesday.