Divisions 1,3&5 matchday reviews

Winter League

Week 2 of the Division 1 season and we have only one team with a 100% win record, remarkable. That team is Lower Hopton who picked up their second win of the new campaign at the expense of Hanging Heaton A who were on the wrong end of the 6-2 scoreline. That game produced the narrowest of the day's aggregate score differences being 54-47 but left Hanging Heaton as the only team in the top Division without a win to date.

Thorpe Green A recovered from their opening day defeat to overcome Cowcliffe A 8-0 and go second in the latest table as a result. Newly promoted New Mill B were pleased to clock up a first win, 6-2, against an unfamiliar Clayton West team showing three changes from the previous week. Lindley BC A were the other winners on the day seeing off New Mill A 6-2.

The top two teams in Division 3 both have Played-3 Won-3 records as Mirfield Old Bank and Lindley Lib B extended their opening win record and sit 1 and 2 in the table. The Mirfield Old Bank team inflicted a first defeat of the season on Lockwood Con A by 6-2 and lead the Lindley Lib B team by two points. The Lindley Lib B team put a first defeat of the season on the Milnsbridge A record by 6-2 to go second in the table.

Elland WMC collected their first win of the new campaign when beating Primrose Hill Lib 8-0 who look firmly rooted in bottom place but only two points behind Lowerhouses B who went down 2-6 against Almondbury BC B and there is now a 6-point gap between the two teams.

The Division 5 teams began their new season at the unfamiliar surroundings at Milnsbridge where a 15-minute downpour welcomed them to their home for the next five months. It seemed quite strange walking through the gates at Milnsbridge on matchday to not see the usual faces on the green. After 6 years of bowling at this green the Division 1 teams have swapped base-camp with Lindley Lib where teams will have to find their new favourite marks which were so much a feature of life at Milnsbridge.

Brockholes B and Kirkheaton C&BC A both found the new surroundings very much to their liking as both recorded comprehensive 8-0 opening day wins. Cowcliffe B and Paddock I&C being on the wrong end of those scorelines but both showed enough to indicate that they don't expect to be hanging around the lower regions for very long.

There were also opening day victories for Brockholes A and Jackson Bridge over Outlane B and Thorpe Green B respectively and both by the same 6-2 scorelines.

Can I take this opportunity to remind all teams about two matters.

1. Measuring: When bowlers call for the measurers to decide the outcome of an end they are calling for everyone stood on the sidelines. It is not the sole responsibility of the host club to undertake measuring duties. We ask them to provide a long tape and that is where their responsibility ends. All teams should have at least one team member carrying a tape to be used in any match on the green. So when bowlers call for a measure they should be overwhelmed with responses to banish the delay in completing that end. This becomes more important as the cold wet weather becomes more frequent. We don't want us old folks standing around waiting for a measure in the cold.

2. Bowlsnet: Bowlsnet is a wonderful invention but it only comes into its own if captains fill in the results and verify their opponents' completed scores. It is the responsibility of the 'home' team (the first one in the fixture list) to complete the uploading of the match result on the system. Teams are very good about getting results on the system very quickly and it is a rare occurrence if the result is not added on matchday. Having said that it doesn't matter which team completes the inputting of the result. What does matter is that the other team verifies the result. If a team finds a wrong result or a wrong scoreline in any of the games then they should contact the League Secretary to get it corrected. Team captains cannot correct scores on the system. This becomes more important as the season progresses because team members will be looking at their playing records and a wrong scoreline can damage any bowler's chances of winning a Division's end-of-season Top Bowler award.