N WELLINGTON Bowling Club's Men's Indoor League, top of the table Bowlsheviks took on lowly Welly 2 who were third from the bottom and not expecting great things.
However Ken Foweraker, Brian Wombwell, Will Smith and Skip Terry Dickins set off at a great pace for Welly 2and by the seventh end were leading 10 – 1! Bowlsheviks could not believe what was happening. Skip Jay Merrell urged team mates Martin Porter, Andrew Woodward and Gerry Mangeolles to get down to some serious bowling.
The encouragement worked to some degree and they pulled back nine shots in all but it was too littletoo lateand Welly 2 pulled off a big surprise by winning in style 12 shots to 9.
The game between Spoofers and Newbees was expected to be a closely fought affair because while Spoofers were second in the table Newbees were close behind in third.
Ernie Windsor, Pete Nichols. Mike Connor and Skip Nick Channon's Newbees were determined to show how it should be done. And they did by winning all of the first five ends to lead 7 shots to 0. Charley Williams, Andy Pearce, Steve Horrill and Skip Rob Higgs made a determined effort to improve their game. Steadily they began to creep up behind Newbees, taking 13 shots over the next nine ends but Nick Channon's Newbees saw them coming.
After 13 ends the teams were level on 13 shots each but in the 14th and final end a brilliant running bowl by Nick Channon tapped the jack away from his opponents' bowls and gave Newbees the vital two shots to win a very closely fought match 15 – 13.
Ian Hollingsworth's Fun Loving Lads played Steve Bradnum's Cavaliers. Cavaliers started off well with a 6–1 lead after three ends but things went a bit haywire after that and Cavaliers did not get off 6 until the 11th end and by that time the Fun Loving Lads were leading 19 shots to 6.
Cavaliers pulled back a bit at the end but the Fun Loving Lads came away with a comfortable win 19 shots to 11. In the last game a very positive Hemyock side led by John Bendle played some excellent bowls against the unfortunate Vikings, who did all they could but went down in the end 20 shots to 8.