The Vics Birkenhead League side beat Ledsham Royal by 54 shots last night, to get back into winning ways and collect the aggregate point at the same time. The match was played in extremely humid conditions on a West Kirby green completely soaked by an hour long downpour just before the start. Trying to pull back the 44 shot deficit on this slow green would need some big early winners from the Vics and Trevor Rodgers and Crusher Sherbrooke provided 21-09 and 21-11 wins respectively. Trevor, not needing to resort to firing for once, easily came through his match and Crusher didn’t so much “crush” as “squeegy” his way to victory on the wet surface. Bernie Owen, once again muttering about “mustard” opponents, had a good 21-16 win, to keep up the pressure on Ledsham. Neil Sherbrooke continued to demonstrate why we rate him as the number 1 Wirral bowler this year, with another destructive 21-09 win and skipper Ian Sherbrooke came out on top of the family tree tonight with a very easy 21-06 victory to leave the Vics well in sight of victory and the required margin for the extra point. Three losing cards from the last five saw the Vics struggle to hold onto this advantage however and it was left to Robby Franklin, eventually winning a very close game 21-20 and Peter Dodd, despite throwing away a 17-10 lead before winning 21-17, to seal victory for the Vics by 54 shots and therefore gain a much valued extra point. With a double header against Albany to come next week the Vics will be hoping to collect some more much needed points in their quest for a top six place in the league.
The Vics Wallasey League side will be out to gain revenge for their only defeat of the season so far, when they travel to Greasby on Tuesday night for the semi final of the Presidents Cup against Queens Royal. With Queens Royal having beaten the Vics by 36 shots in the Harold Jones Cup semi final, skipper Mally Johnson will not have to fire up his team for this match. The Vics did gain revenge in the home league match against Royal, with a 62 shot win but the cup defeat still rankles amongst the Vics players and an all out team effort is assured on Tuesday. Players are reminded that the match starts at 6-15pm.
The fact that the Vics afternoon “C” team only drew against Thingwall “B” at home last week, meant that the return yesterday was going to be a tough match and this turned out to be correct when the Vics lost by 34 shots to lose the aggregate point. Skipper Eric Neal did his best to lead the Vics to victory, when producing a good display of bowling to win 21-12. Stan Evans, showing that he can win away as well as at home, had an equally fine 21-13 victory and Bill Spraggett also showed glimpses of his best form, with a 21-14 win. Eddie Dodd had to come through a tough match before winning 21-19 but with only 4 winners on the day the Vics were always behind in their quest for victory. Chris Williams lost his 1st game of the season, going down 18-21 and Andy Fergus also bowled well before losing 18-21 in his game. With 3 single figure losers however the Vics were always struggling and they actually did well to keep the score down to just a 34 shot loss in the end. Next up Manor Road “C” away on Friday August 5th.
The Vics afternoon “B” team suffered a big 74 shot defeat away to Wallasey RBL yesterday, with Derek Thomas providing the Vics only winning card of the day. Derek produced a fine display of bowling on the tiny Wallasey green to record a good 21-13 win but that was as good as it got on the day with 3 single figure losses only adding to the Vics agony. On such a small green, with a surface like concrete as well, the Vics could not cope and although C.K.Pau and Paul Lomax did well to record 16-21 losses and Ernie Peers only went down 17-21 any chance of even the aggregate point disappeared early in the day. The Vics must forget this display and quickly get back to winning ways with a good home win next week against Royden Hall.
Peter Walker waltzed round the West Kirby green yesterday, as he produced a fine solo performance as the Vics only single figure winner of the day, in a harder match than was expected against Thingwall. Peter, in winning 21-09, set the seal on a 40 shot win for The Vics, who had 9 winners out of 10 but struggled throughout, on a patchy green at West Kirby. Mally Johnson, not too bothered about Soviet Song’s demise at Goodwood, had a comfortable 21-12 win which was followed by Brian Ibbotson winning 21-13 in only his second league match for the “A” team this season. The rest of the team struggled to cope with the green conditions in tight matches against tough opponents, belying their league position. Bernie Owen, once he decided not to bowl short, had a 21-16 win and Eddie Clayburn had to come through a tough time before eventually winning 21-18. Eddie couldn’t believe some of the woods his opponent beat and could possibly have won to single figures on another day but a win is a win at the end of the day. Dick Peake struggled through to win 21-19 in the end and there were a trio of difficult 21-20 wins for the Vics with Keith Etches throwing away a big lead and having to overcome numerous interruptions to his concentration, before winning. Elwyn Williams had to pull out some big woods to finally triumph and skipper Billy Atkinson had to come from 16-20 down to reach the winning line. The Vics must not fall into the trap of expecting big home wins as a matter of course and must bowl the green as they find it, as Thingwall did on the day. I don’t normally like to comment on players who lose and to show respect to Robby Franklin I won’t do so this time either!!! The Vics did manage to take the aggregate point from this match to keep up with the leaders at the top of the table.
The afternoon “C” were held to a draw at home on Friday when the wonderful display by Stan Evans was somewhat wasted by later results. Stan, defying his years, produced a delightful display of short bowling, up and down the centre of the green, that completely overwhelmed his opponent in a tremendous 21-06 win. Tony Ryding, under scrutiny from this reporter actually marking his card, overcame a shaky start and a few cynical comments from his marker, to finally produce the form expected of him in a 21-11 win. Chris Williams had a tougher game than usual on this green but finally came through with a 21-17 victory. Brian Buck, finding this West Kirby green lightening fast compared to the rough pastures of York, had a difficult time before winning 21-18. The Vics 5th and final winner was Eddie Dodd, who also found it difficult to stop his woods on the slick surface but managed to stop enough near the jack in a 21-19 victory. The speed of the green was a bit too much for the rest of the team on the day with Reg Armitage putting up a good show before losing out 20-21. All in all a disappointing day for the Vics who need to win their home games but the green was super fast and the skills displayed by Stan Evans were a wonder to witness.
The Vics Birkenhead League side travelled to Ellesmere Port to play Ledsham Royal in a Division One fixture last night but came home from this new venue with a now familiar away defeat. A 44 shot reverse is not the end of the world however and their are high hopes of the extra point at West Kirby next Friday in the return fixture. The Vics had only 3 winners on the night with Neil Sherbrooke, proving yet again that he must be the number one bowler in the Birkenhead League this season, winning 21-12. In 17 league games Neil has only lost 1 game this season and remember he has played against the top two teams home and away!! Skipper Ian Sherbrooke also had a good win at the end of the night to keep the extra point within reach. Ian won 21-14 and combined with Billy Atkinson’s return to form in a 21-17 victory, the final deficit was not as great as was first thought. Karl Sherbrooke, Trevor Rodgers and Mally Johnson all posted creditable 16-21 cards and Peter Dodd was unlucky to go down 18-21 after a good game. The Vics were unlucky to find this green in such a fast condition for their first visit but let’s not forget Ledsham have never played at West Kirby!!.
The Vics afternoon “B” team had a close match at home to Wallasey RBL on Wednesday, before finally coming out on top by 6 shots on a lightening fast West Kirby green. Keith Etches was the star of the show for the Vics, showing all his experience on a difficult surface, with an excellent 21-09 win. C.K.Pau also found the green to his liking when winning 21-10. Ernie Peers continued to be at the top of the averages with his winning 21-15 score and Lawrie Blackburn came through a really tough match to record a 21-20 victory. It is unusual for the visiting team at the Vics to have more winners than the home team but this happened on Wednesday when Wallasey had 6 winners to the Vics 4. With two 18-21 cards from Dave Bosworth and Derek Thomas and two 20 -21 cards from Don Ibbotson and Harry Preston the Vics however did enough to eventually win by 6 shots. With all the remaining matches this season against teams below them in the table, the Vics can look forward hopefully to picking up more aggregate points than they have done so far.
The Vics Wallasey League side proved much too strong for Gladstone last night and ran out easy 129 shot winners to consolidate their position at the top of the table. On a lightening fast West Kirby green, the Vics had 6 single figure winners with Billy Atkinson ( returning to something like his true form after a barren spell ) and Anthony Thompson leading the way with 21-04 wins. Eddie Clayburn had a quickfire 21-05 slaughter and Matty Gilmore weighed in with an easy 21-07 victory. Dave Gilmore 21-08 and Robby Franklin 21-09 were hardly troubled in their matches and Bob Jones and Trevor Rodgers were the first Vics bowlers taken to double figures when they came off as 21-10 and 21-11 winners. Tougher matches were involved when Ian Sherbrooke 21-16 and Bernie Owen 21-17 ran out winners. Skipper Mally Johnson with a tough 21-18 victory was involved in the second hardest game of the night and Gladstone had their sole win when Geoff Lynch snr. defeated Anthony O’Neill 21-18. The Vics home displays continue to prove much too strong for whoever they play in this league and a 5th title looks to be well within the Vics reach.
The Vics afternoon “A” team suffered a bad loss away to Thingwall yesterday, when even with 5 winners out of 10, the Vics lost by 7 shots. Dreams of title glory are fast fading for the Vics with these narrow away defeats and a string of home and away victories will be required to have any chance of the championship coming to West Kirby. Elwyn Williams provided the best score of the day, with a fine 21-12 victory but the next best was Robby Franklin, who won 21-17. Eddie Clayburn ground out a tough 21-18 win and there were a couple of difficult 21-19 victories for Bernie Owen and Billy Atkinson. The closeness of these results meant that there was never going to be much in the match but with the Vics having crucial 12-21, 14-21 and 15-21 cards against them, Thingwall managed to eke out the final 7 shot win at the end of the day. A severe blow to the Vics and nothing less than an unbeaten run to the end of the season would seem to be enough for the Vics now.