Game 4 – Wilts Four Rink vs Marlborough
On 18 May we travelled to Marlborough for our fourth game of this season’s campaign. What started off as an overcast evening shortly changed to an evening of heavy rain. However, credit to Marlborough’s green which played extremely well considering the conditions.
At the halfway stage there were mixed fortunes across the rinks – Captain Tom’s rink led 20-3, Nick’s rink led 7-5, Chris’ rink trailed 5-8 and Perry’s rink trailed 4-10. With the rain coming down harder than ever, each rink needed to rally to make sure we got across the line and followed up on the previous week’s result.
Captain Tom’s rink continued in their fine form running out 32-6 winners, Nick’s rink continued in good form as well running out 19-10 winners. Chris’ rink found themselves 13-15 down into the last end and with the rain coming down and light fading they delivered with a double to tie the rink 15-15. The last rink off was Perry’s and from great play from the Marlborough four, and some unfortunate results for the Salisbury quartet, we ended up losing the rink 9-22.
Overall a great 11-3 win to build on our start this season.
Game 5 – Wilts Four Rink vs Spencer Moulton
Next Salisbury hosted an in-form Spencer Moulton team inspired with confidence from their recent run of form. At five ends nothing really separated the teams with Captain Tom’s rink tied at 3-3, Perry’s rink tied at 5-5, Jamie’s rink tied at 3-3 and only Nick’s rink held a slim winning margin 6-3.
At the halfway stage Salisbury had slipped to a narrow 28-33 deficit. Salisbury rallied and used the home advantage to pick up a number of shots over the closing ends of the game. Nick’s rink ran out 29-12 winners, Perry’s rink ran out 18-14 winners, Jamie’s rink lost 11-18 to Captain Russell. Last off the green was Captain Tom who entered the final end 13-13 against the in-form Adam Bolwell. Despite a couple of valiant efforts with Tom’s final two bowls, Adam retained the single shot and ran out 14-13 winners. Final score 10-4 to Salisbury.
National Two Fours vs Pewsey Vale (first round)
On a lovely Thursday evening Salisbury hosted Pewsey Vale in the first round of the men’s national two fours. At 5 ends Captain Tom trailed 0-10 following a number of doubles from Vince’s Pewsey four. The other rink skipped by Nick had better fortune tieing 3-3 at 5 ends.
Knowing that something had to change Captain Tom’s rink rallied and by 13 ends were only trailing 10-11. At the same stage Nick’s rink trailed 7-8. With only two shots in the game, it was still anybody’s game.
Despite a number of decent ends by Tom’s rink they ended up losing 15-16 to Vince. With Nick’s rink still on the green and trailing 10-13 on the board it left a big mountain to climb. Following a great runner Nick found himself holding 2 with his last bowl to come; with no easy way of making the four the only option was to play a perfect runner to lift a Salisbury bowl a yard and run on as well. A fantastic effort that just halved the bowl instead of getting it square left Nick with the double and a loss of 12-13.
We wish Pewsey Vale all the best in the next round.
County Tourist Trophy vs Warminster (first round)
On Sunday 29 May Salisbury met Warminster in the first round of the county double rink. With one rink at Salisbury and one rink at Warminster, home advantage was crucial.
The home rink skipped by veteran Bob Armstrong started slowly, but continued a fine run of form to maintain a small winning margin. Bob’s rink ran out 20-17 winners at home.
The away rink was very much a different story with past-captain Jamie skipping the four. Taking a healthy early lead 11-0 after 8 ends, this fine form continued throughout the match and they sealed a 27-11 win away from home.
A great result for the boys and they march on to the second round against Devizes later this month.
Game 6 – Wilts Four Rink vs Westlecot
This week we travelled to Swindon to face Westlecot in our sixth game in the four rink. We knew it was going to be a tough game with Westlecot leading the premier league with no losses to their name.
Straight away we knew it was going to be a tough game, and could see why Westlecot were unbeaten. At 5 ends Captain Tom’s rink held a narrow 3-2 lead, Nick’s rink held a 5-2 lead whereas Chris’ rink trailed 1-7 and Perry’s rink trailed 3-6.
The match continued in this fashion with Westlecot upping the ante and at the halfway stage Chris trailed 2-10, Perry trailed 5-9, Captain Tom trailed 5-9 and Nick trailed 8-9.
Even over the closing ends it looked like it could be a 0-14 defeat for the Salisbury team. However, from some great bowling on a number of rinks the wind shifted to Salisbury’s sail.
First off was Chris’ rink who having been 2-10 at the halfway stage rallied over the last few ends and closed the gap to 12-16 at the end of the match. First two points to Westlecot. Next off was Perry’s rink who was tied at 15-15 into the last end. Perry’s last bowl was a corker, turning out the Westlecot shot bowl for 3 shots to win the rink 18-15 and secure Salisbury’s first two points of the match.
Next off was Nick’s rink and with two ends to go the Salisbury four trailed 13-17. However, from some great bowling throughout the rink Nick’s rink picked up a 5 and a 3 over the final two ends to win the rink 21-17 and secure another two points for Salisbury. This left Captain Tom’s rink to finish. Following a bad runner from Tom on the 17th end (and dropping a resulting 5 shots) the rink entered the last end trailing 13-19 and the overall score 64-67 in Westlecot’s favour. As the skips went to bowl Salisbury held one shot, Tom’s first bowl was a front toucher to secure a double. However, Westlecot’s skip Mikey played a lovely weighted bowl to flick the jack to the side and two shots to Westlecot. With a shot to nothing Tom had to fire at a pack to remove both bowls and leave Salisbury with the needed treble. Unfortunately a half bowl result didn’t achieve the target and Westlecot held onto the two shots.
Final result 64-69 and a 4-10 defeat. Lots of positives to take from the game and we march onto the next match with heads held high.
Tom