First big win for Golcar C&BC

Winter League

A review of all the Division 5 matches played at Netherton Con on Thursday

Golcar C&BC started the season with two 0-8 defeats but this Thursday they had their first big win of the season - they won the Breakfast Raffle!

But on top of that, they also won their first game of the season when their pairs two-some claimed a 21-4 win over their Netherton Con 'B' counterparts. As that was the first game on the green that opened up the potential to make that an overall win with the points from a better aggregate there for the taking.

However the celebrations and champagne had to go back on ice as they lost both their singles games to the same 5-21 scoreline to go down 2-6 in the match. Thoroughly heartened by that achievement, the team were loud in their celebrations and ready to move on to the next stage of their development.

That 6-2 win for the Netherton Con 'B' team made it 3 wins out of 3 matches but that was also matched by Thorpe Green 'C' who beat Brockholes 'B' 8-0 which was somewhat of a flattering scoreline but still good enough to put them at the top of the table with a 2-point lead.

Three of the four pairs games played on Thursday were settled to single-figure wins making the elapsed time of the matches much shorter than usual with only one game still to be played when the time edged past two-o'clock. That was the last game in the Thorpe Green 'C' v Brockholes 'B' between Alan Hobson and John Edgar which looked destined for a tight finish with the bowlers locked together on 14-across. However the Thorpe Green captain rose to the challenge to run out the victor and finalise a flattering 8-0 scoreline for his team.

Almondbury BC 'B' hit top form to clock up an 8-0 win over Milnsbridge BC who suffered their first defeat of the season and both teams remain very much in the hunt for promotion places.

The rain and strong winds of Wednesday and overnight had robbed the surrounding trees of much of their summer foliage with a lot of it deposited on the green meaning an early start for the Netherton Con green team to make the surface playable from the appointed start time. Fortunately the wind had contrived to collect the majority of the leaves in the gutter around the green making it easier to collect and dispose of but I still needed doing and was unseen by the majority of the bowlers turning up on time for their third week of matches.