Tenby 82 (10 pts.) Haverfordwest 80 (4)

The Molson Coors sponsored Tenby team continued their league programme against last year’s runners-up, Haverfordwest BC.

The game ended up after playing 83 out of 84 ends with Tenby a solitary shot in front and two down with only two bowls left to play (Craig Guymer). Craig made shot with an excellent shot which left Tenby with a two-shot victory.

This was a lucky escape for the Tenby team, albeit against a strong Haverfordwest team who must be left shaking their heads after such a great performance.

At five ends, the Haverfordwest team got off to a great start, leading by nine shots. At 10 ends, Tenby had reduced the lead by a single shot, Haverfordwest leading by eight shots. At 15 ends, Tenby clawed back a further four shots to trail by four. Tenby then made further inroads by reducing the lead to a single shot.

At the 20-end mark, Tenby took the lead and led by three shots. On the last end, Diment and Peregrine both dropped counts of two (four shots), Muskett took a two and Guymer a single to mean a two-shot win for Tenby.

Rink one: Craig Guymer returned to action this week, skipping Ryan Thomas, club chairman Fred Broomhead and Mike Jackson. They played against Richard O’Leary, last year’s county president. Off to a quick start (as usual), the four led 5-1 after five ends, which was extended to 14-6 after 10 ends. A comeback from the Haverfordwest rink in which they scored two counts of four shots, a double and a single saw them take the lead at the 15-end mark, 18-14. Despite a count of three shots on the 18th end, the Haverfordwest foursome completed a very good win 24-19.

Rink two: The ever-dependable Muskett, Day and Lloyd combination were joined by Dai Rees to play against the county team manager, PDS Jenkins. Dropping a count of four shots on the first end certainly woke them up and they restricted their opponents to six more scoring ends, and they were all single shots. In turn, the Muskett rink produced three counts of three shots, four counts of two shots and six singles, winning the match 24-10.

Rink three: Kieran Peregrine, Chris Court, Joe Richards and Cameron White took on former Tenby player Alan Whitehouse. There was a high-scoring start to the game, with a count of four shots dropped on the first end and a count of five shots taken on the second end, followed by a dropped count of three shots on the third end…phew!

A couple of singles to each foursome brought things back to normality for a brief moment, before Tenby took a count of four shots, only to drop a further two counts of three shots on the next two ends. Tenby took a double on the ninth end and promptly dropped a further three shots on the 10th (end). Score at 10 ends 18-12 to the Haverfordwest quartet. The defensive part of the match then really went ‘for a Burton’, with Tenby taking two counts of six shots on ends 14 and 19, finally winning an extremely high-scoring game 29-25.

Rink four: Paul Diment, John Roberts, Liam Price and Ben Cloake played against Gareth Barrett. This was the first time that the rink had played together and on paper it was a very strong rink. However, despite them only dropping one count of three shots and then all twos and ones, they could not curtail an excellent performance by the Haverfordwest rink. In fact, the Tenby rink only scored on six ends. A final score of 21-10 to the visitors was the outcome.

Defensive award: D. Rees, A. Lloyd, P. Day and A. Muskett.

Offensive award: C. White, J. Richards, C. Court and K. Peregrine.

Shot of the day: Craig Guymer’s match-winning shot on the 21st end.

Pembroke Dock

78 (2 pts.)

Five Arches 92 (12)

The start of a new season and no better place to be than Pembroke Dock in the sunshine.

Last season, Pembroke Dock won a closely fought match by seven shots and the Five Arches were looking forward to going one better this year.

Five Arches new boys, Webby and Beano, ably assisted by Five Arches veterans, Ken and Johnno, had a tough game against Pembroke Dock captain Richard Jones and his rink. Evenly matched after six ends, the Pembroke Dock rink then exploded into action picking up 10 shots in three ends to lead 15 shots to three. A fightback got the Arches to within eight shots, but the Dock boys edged the remaining ends to run out winners by 26 shots to 12.

Simon and his rink of Roger, TP and Steve carried on where they left off in their previous match, cruising to another comfortable win. Leading by eight shots to nil after three ends, they stretched this out to 22 shots to 11 after 15 ends and eased to 27 shots to 16 victory.

Ashley and his rink of Dai, Dave and debutant Viv had a ding dong battle against Brian Dowling’s quartet. Leading by 11 shots to three after nine ends, they dozed off after the tea interval to be 19 shots to 15 behind after 16 ends.

However, a fine finish led to a narrow 24 shots to 21 win.

On rink four, we welcomed back Gerald, who together with his rink of John, Kev and Neil produced a commanding performance. They led by 14 shots to three after six ends, including two counts of five shots, picking up two further counts of four increased their lead to 27 shots to 10 after 15 ends and comfortably ran out winners by 29 shots to 15 at the end of the match.

A great start to the Five Arches season, picking up 12 points away from home. The Carruthers qualifying matches now occupy the next three weeks of the season, with the next Five Arches game, away to Milford on May 28.

Rink scores (Five Arches first, Pembroke Dock skips only) were:

Ken Lloyd, Jon Hubbard, Huw Nicholas, Jon Webb 12; R. Jones 26.

Roger Thomas, Tony Powling, Steve Davies, Simon Evans 27; M. John 16.

Viv John, David Lloyd, Dai Spencer, Ashley Hooper 24; B. Dowling 21

John Rees, Kevin Lewis, Neil Dickinson, Gerald Hewitt 29; R. Thomas 15.

Whist Results

Monday, April 18: top - Gladys Irvine, 181; 1st lady - Pearl Thomas, 175; 2nd lady - Jill Lewis, 167; 1st gent Pauline Barnikel, 171; 2nd gent - Margaret Hill, 161; 1st half - Joan Webb, 85; 2nd half - Mary Renowden, 75; raffles - Mary Renowden and Pearl Thomas.

Monday, April 25: top - Gladys Irvine, 176; 1st lady - Mair Marquiss, 175; 2nd lady - Mary Renowden, 175; 1st gent - Margaret Hill, 165; 2nd gent - Jill Lewis, 155; 1st half - Pearl Thomas, 84; 2nd half - Joan Webb, 85; longest sitter - Sandra Milward, 154; lowest score - Pauline Barnikel, 152; raffles - Joan Webb and Pauline Barnikel.

Bonus Ball

The winner of last Saturday’s draw was Pauline Barnikel with bonus ball number 31, congratulations.

ladies Fixtures

Today (Friday), Tenby Ladies will be be playing the return game against Whitland Ladies at 6 pm. The game will be played at the Whitland green. Wednesday, the ladies will be playing Picton on the Sutton Street green at 6 pm. Friday, May 13, the ladies will be playing Fishguard on the Tenby green at 2 pm.

Carruthers

Tomorrow (Saturday), Tenby will be playing their first Carruthers fixture against Fishguard and Goodwick, at home, on the Sutton Street Green, at 2 pm.