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Welcome to the Vale of Leven Lawn Bowling Club, Alexandria, West Dunbartonshire, Scotland - the BIG green! |
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The Bowling Club News Page 2007
On Sunday 1st July Alan Bruce was successful in his bid to become the 2007 Dumbartonshire Junior Singles Champion. He defeated a very worthy opponent, A. Thomson of Claremont B.C. in an exciting match that had looked like a lost cause early on. Alan had gone 2-13 down when the weather intervened with rain temporarily stopping play. When play resumed Alan had regained his touch and he went on to win the match 21-20. We seem to be making a habit of snatching victory from the jaws of defeat here at the Vale recently. Congratulations Alan!
This was an eagerly anticipated fixture after the heroics of the week before. The weather had been terrible all day but the rain stopped at about five o'clock allowing the game to go ahead in almost perfect conditions (apart from the OK midges). The same team had been selected and unlike last week, Ian Robb's game looked to be a problem when he went behind by 11 shots to 2. As we all know this does not faze Ian and he played steadily to stop the rot and get a few shots back. The game swung quickly his way and his opponent Graham Stewart only managed to score another two shots. Ian finished a very worthy winner with a score of 21-13. The match overall was close all the way through. Robin Millar's triple had started well as had the pairs with Colin McIntyre and Irwin Barnes. The fours were a bit shaky on what was a tricky rink but they held it together making sure that they did not give too much away. With their score at five all the pairs took a maximum eight shots to go ahead 13-5. They didn't score again for a few ends but they eventually got it together and won their match by 8 shots. The triples and rinks were in a real tussle and Ian McLean's OK team got in front and had a five shot lead at the end of their game. Gordon Baxter's rink had struggled throughout the game but being last out on the green and with one end to play they could afford to lose five shots and the Vale would still win the match. As it happened they kept things tight losing a single to put the Vale through by four shots. Well done again to all the players and best of luck in two weeks' time when the next round is played.
An away match against Renton Bowling Club was never going to be easy, especially after their success in this tournament during the last two years and the traditional, friendly rivalry that exists between the two clubs. They beat us last year in this tournament, again at Renton but we had a strong team listed and we were expected to give a good account of ourselves. The match started badly with Robin Millar's triple losing a five at the first and Colin McIntyre losing a four in the pairs. With Ian Robb losing a single shot in the singles match, Gordon Baxter Jr's rink was the only team to score with a single in the fours. Things went from bad to worse after this with the Vale team not playing badly but getting nothing from their opponents who were playing at the top of their game. If the bookies had been present they would have suspended betting a few ends into the match when the scores were as follows. Singles Vale 10 - Renton 9 We were only one shot up in the singles and a massive 32 shots down overall. While the rink was still in the hunt it looked like the triples and pairs could lose heavily and very much like a lost cause. At this stage Ian Robb was playing exceptionally well in the singles. He upped the ante and went on to win his game by 21 shots to 11. The pairs and the triples eventually stopped the rot and began clawing a few shots back while the rink was playing well and had gone into the lead. With two or three ends to go a check on the overall scores showed that we had the two points for the singles. The rink looked like winners, being 8 or nine shots up and the pairs and triples had pulled back quite a few shots. Incredibly we were only four shots down overall and back in with a chance. With this realisation the team seemed to gain strength. The rink finished their match ten shots up so with the victory in the singles this gave us four points and plus 20 shots in the clubhouse. Another check on the boards showed that while we were still behind in the other two matches we had actually moved two shots up overall. Colin McIntyre had five shots against him playing the last. With the jack only three or four feet from the ditch Colin went for it and pulled it to the ditch. Unfortunately Renton already had a toucher in the ditch and Colin's bowl fell to the wrong side of it. On the positive side it made it unlikely that he would lose any more than the one shot and that is what happened. As the triple started the last end we were one shot ahead overall. The rules in this tournament state that if the match finishes equal on shots and points then the result goes to the team who wins the singles. Having won the singles, this meant that the triple could afford to lose a shot at the last and we would still go though. As it happened they played solidly to build a head that left Renton with a well nigh impossible task in getting one shot never mind two. The Vale eventually took three shots to win the match. It's not often that I have time to report on individual matches on our website but this one was remarkable. Matches played in this format, with an aggregate score to win and all the games on the same green are always more exciting, where a team that has lost their game can still be playing to win the match. It doesn't really get any better than this so well done to the winners. It remains to be seen if we can progress further in the next round against Old Kilpatrick BC next week but best of luck to all the players who are selected.
Both Irwin and Jonathan have now won their spurs at county level after completing the requisite number of games to get them their county badge. I am sure that they will be in the team for a long time to come. It is refreshing to see this success for the younger members in our club, which has been better known for success in the seniors arena in recent years. Congratulations also to the Vale Ladies Triples team of Betty Lever, Margaret Smith and Margaret Weir who have won through to the ladies finals, also at Northfield in July.
Jim also designed the DBA Centenary badge (Image to follow). Letter from SBA | Letter from DBA
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October 2007
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