Game 1: By winning 15 of the 20 ends played, skip Ray Noonan and Kevin Miller were always in control of this game against skip Grahame Mays and Ian Hurford. Ray and Kevin led 14-3 after the 10th end, then easily won 31-7 after the 20th end over Grahame and Ian.

Game 2: In this very even game, 13 of the 15 ends played only had one shot scored on each. Skip Denis Oxley, Jack Smith and Chris Grant were leading 9 shots to 5 shots over skip Trevor Kellock, John McDonagh and Grahame Spurway, who won the final four ends to draw the game at 9-all. (Another corrected scorecard!)

Inter-Club Challenge

On Easter Monday, April 17, the inaugural Challenge between the Majellan Bowling Club teams and the Bathurst City Bowling Club teams will be held at the City. All of our bowlers are requested to put their names down on the nomination sheet on our noticeboard.

2017 Pennants

All bowlers are requested to comply to the very strict uniform regulations when they are representing their club playing in their club's Pennant teams. Also, our bowlers possibly should turn back the clock and wear our magnificent club uniform on Saturday afternoon.

Beer garden launch

The Bathurst City Community Club invites all of our bowlers and their families to the official opening and naming of the club’s new beer garden tomorrow, Friday night, March 31, commencing at 7pm.

President’s Pot, Friday, March 24

Twenty bowlers nominated to play one game of "A” singles, two games of "B" grade singles, one game of social triples and two games of social pairs at the City on a magnificent autumn afternoon.

Game 1: In a great game of "A" singles, the scores were level on three occasions. John Fulton scored one shot on the 21st end to level the scores at 15-all with Denis Oxley, who scored 11 shots to 10 to just lead 26-25 after the 30th end. John then led 30-27, finally scoring his championship point on the 34th end to defeat a gallant Denis 31-27. Jack Smith was marker.

Game 2: In the first game of the "B" Grade singles, Jim Grives took control of the game early and defeated John McDonagh 31-13.

Game 3: The second game of the "B" Grade singles was a very even game of lawn bowls. On the 20th end, Russell Robbins scored two shots to level the scores at 19-all with Trevor Kellock, who just led 27-24 after the 28th end. Russell fought back, scoring three shots to one shot to be down 27-28 after the 32nd end. Then, Trevor scored a pair of two shots to be successful over a very gallant Russell. The final score was 31- 27.  (Corrected score ). Norm Hayes was marker.

Game 4: The social triples game had skip John Archer, Scotty Chapman and Ian Hurford easily leading 13-1 after the eighth end against skip Mick Sewell, Kevin Miller and Arch Ledger, who scored 12 shots to 6 shots.  But Team Archer defeated Team Sewell 19-13.  

Game 5: After the 11th end, skip Ray Noonan and Paul Rodenhuis were leading 14-10. They then scored a handy six shots to lead 20-10 after the 12th end over skip Pat Duff and George Ballard, who won the next six consecutive ends to just go down to Ray and Paul 20-19 in a great game.

Game 6: This was another very even game as the scores were level five times. Skip John Martin and Grahame Spurway scored one shot on the 13th end to level the scores at 7-all with skip Ron Cambey and Chris Grant. John and Grahame were finally successful 15-8.

The ring-in prize was won by marker Bob Foster.

Congratulations to our three markers, Bob, Jack and Norm, on their commitment to mark.

On Saturday, March 25, 14 bowlers formed one game of "B" grade singles and three games of social pairs on another great afternoon for playing lawn bowls at the City.

Game 1: In the "B" grade singles game, Bob Foster took control early in this game, as he led 11-4 over Arthur Williams after the 10th end. Bob then led 19-9 after the 19th end, finally winning the last six consecutive ends to comfortably defeat Arthur 31-9 after the 25th end.

A big thank you to Mick Sewell for marking their game.

Game 2: After the sixth end, skip Norm Hayes and John Allbutt were leading 8-2 over Ray Noonan and Merv James, who scored a handy five shots to be down 12-20 after the 14th end. Although Ray and Merv. scored 10-8, Norm and John were successful 28-22 after the 25th end.

Game 3: Combining very well, skip Garry Connors and George Ballard were leading 10-3 after the ninth end against skip Brian Burke and Bruce Rich, who scored one shot to level the scores at 12-all on the 13th end. By scoring 14 shots to two shots, Garry and George easily won 26-14 over Brian and Bruce after the 21st end.

Game 4: By combining exceptionally well, skip Garry Hotham and John Archer easily led 23-4 against our "newest " skip Paul Reece and our "not so new" lead Bob Lindsay, who both failed to handle the heavy green. By scoring five shots each, Garry and John won 28-9.

The ring-in winner was Bruce Rich.

By Bob the Bowler

‎Social Bowls: The Tuesday afternoon social bowls competition was a washout this week and bowlers were not able to get on to the greens until Friday night. A small band of men and women players enjoyed a few ends on the perfect greens at Majellan before darkness ended the competition.

Saturday afternoon’s social competition attracted just the one rink of triples as many players were holidaying or engaged in Pennant games over the weekend. Tiger Smith, Terry Clark and Trevor Pallister scored a 20-17 win over Allan Clark, John Bosson and Tim Pickstone in a hard-fought match. The Smith team scored first but the Clark team came back with a four-end run for seven points to lead 7-1 after the fifth end.

The Smith team responded with a four and two to even the scores after the seventh end and the competition was on. The scores were even at nine all after the ninth end and then the Smith team had a five-end run for seven points to lead 14-9 after the 13th end. A three for the Clark team in the 14th end had them within two shots of the lead at 14-12, but the Smith team responded with wins in the next two ends to lead 16-12 after the 16th end.

A three-end run for five by the Clark team gave them the lead 17-16 after the 19th end and they looked to be heading for the win but the Smith team came back with a three in the 20th and a one in the 21st to take the match.

Pennants and Club Championships

In the semi-final of the 2017 Major Pairs Championship, the widely experienced team of Mick McDonald and Tony McNamara were almost upstaged by the relative newcomers in Derrick Huender and Bob Jenkins, but in the end experience prevailed with the McDonald team taking an extra end to score a 16-14 win. The game got underway with the McDonald team winning the first two ends with a one in each and the Huender team opened their account with a one in the third end. A two for the McDonald team in the fourth and sixth end and a one in the seventh gave them a 7-2 lead after the seventh end and they looked in control.

The Huender team scored a two in the eighth to keep them in the game and the next four ends bounced between teams with a single shot on each end with the score at 9-6 after the 12th end. The McDonald team then scored a two and one to push their lead out to 12-6 after the 14th end and a two in the 16th end gave them a 14-7 lead going into the 17th end and it looked all over.

But then, like a phoenix rising, the Huender team scored seven unanswered points in a five-end run that pushed the scores to 14 all after 21 ends and in a surprise to many, a decider was required to determine the winner. After seemingly doing the impossible, the Huender team could not match the skill of the McDonald team in the final end and the McDonald team took the match by two shots.

The game was played in tremendous spirit and all players agreed that it had been one of the most enjoyable games of bowls they had played.

The Majellan Number 6 Pennant team was away to Oberon this week with Majellan winning just one of the three rinks. It was pleasing to see the Densmore team back in the winners’ frame however this is a team sport and the final result was disappointing for the other two teams. The Number 4 Pennant team played at home on Sunday against the Orange Country Club and won two of the three rinks in action to give Majellan the win and second place overall in the Zone with two matches to play. Selectors have placed the teams for the coming weekend on the noticeboard.

Pennant players are reminded that strict adherence to the Bowls Australia and Zone dress code is a must while playing Pennants. These rules require players to be uniformly dressed in their full Club uniform including hats or caps that are registered as the Club’s uniform. Hats that are not properly badged may cause a team to be disqualified from the tournament.

Nominations are starting to roll in for the April 30 return leg of the Wallerawang/Majellan Club Challenge and bowlers are encouraged to place their names on the board as soon as possible to allow selectors time to do their job.

Nominations for the Easter Monday, April 17, Mixed Triples Friendship Day to be held at the Bathurst City Club are also on the board with a closing date of April 11. The format for the day will see two women’s teams and four men’s teams compete in a 21 end game of triples after a barbecue lunch which will commence at noon. Players are again encouraged to complete their nomination as soon as possible.

Details of the May 7 Brian McIntosh Day have been released by the Bowls Committee and invitations are being extended to all Clubs in the Zone to encourage full greens for the event. Prizemoney of $1,500 will be on offer with just $10 per player required to participate and this will include lunch. We are looking forward to the involvement of the Honourable Paul Toole MP, Member for Bathurst, to formally open the refurbished Brian McIntosh Green and for the Club to extend its thanks to the Minister for his Government’s support of the Club’s development activities through various grant programs.

That’s it for another busy week readers so until next time, why not try this tip for we technology challenged but experienced folk - “I changed my password everywhere to ‘incorrect’. That way when I forget it, it always reminds me, ‘Your password is incorrect’.”