West Kirby Victoria Bowling Club

The League Results for all Five Vics Teams are now up to date (Sunday 25th May)

The following Cup Matches now have dates and venues sorted

 Thursday May 29th 1-30 pm, Afternoon League Centenary Cup:

Vics “C” Team v Bromborough Pool “C” @ Pensby both teams off scratch.

Monday June 2nd 6-30 pm, Birkenhead & Wirral League Rose Bowl

The Vics v Manor Road @ Hr.Tranmere both teams off scratch

Tuesday June 10th 6-30 pm, Wallasey C.G.B.A. Presidents Cup

The Vics v Sacred Heart “C” @ Magazine, the Vics have to concede 108 shots thanks to the handicappers.

All the League results and averages have been updated to Friday May 23rd at 6-00 pm. Match reports are late but will be updated soon.

I apologise for the missing match reports this week, they will be updated next week.

Gladstone travelled to Ashton Park last night and showed their class with a 15 shot win against a Vics side hopeful of causing an upset. After having five winners at Gladstone last week and only losing by 38 shots the Vics had hopes of at least winning the home fixture if not the aggregate point. As it turned out however the Vics could only muster 4 home winners and despite some excellent games the Vics eventually lost by 15 shots. Robby Franklin was back to his best last night on the heavy Vics green with a fine 21-10 win that was followed by Neil Sherbrooke , making it 5 wins out 5 in this tough League, winning 21-11. Mally Johnson had a superb 21-11 win against Nick Burridge to continue his good home form and John Devlin also had an excellent 21-11 victory to complete the four home winners on the night. John Lloyd 17-21, Karl Sherbrooke 16-21 and Ian Sherbrooke 15-21 all had chances to add to the Vics winners but eventually just fell short after good games. Gladstone will take some beating on this form and once again the Birkenhead Division One race looks to be between them and Higher Tranmere. Next up for the Vics is a Rose Bowl tie on Monday against Bebington Park with a massive 96 shots to pull back from the handicappers.

The Vics Wallasey League side powered on at the top of the table after beating Gladstone Squirrels on Thursday to complete 2 matches in 3 days without a loser against their plucky opponents. The Vics had a 153 shot win that included 6 single figure winners in Robby Fitzpatrick 21-02, John Lloyd 21-04, Brian Leonard and Matt Gilmore 21-05, Robby Hall 21-06 and Steve Nugent 21-09. Robby Franklin and Bill Atkinson both won 21-11 with Karl Sherbrooke, still hoping for the quick greens to arrive, winning 21-12. Neil Sherbrooke struggled somewhat surprisingly to win 21-16 and Jamie Fitzpatrick was involved in the best game of the night before finally winning 21-18. One sobering thought for the Vics Skipper to chew over in the next few days is the prospect of the handicap the Vics will have to give Third Division, Sacred Heart “C” in the Presidents Cup First Round. 153 shot wins over First Division opponents does not make it easy for the Handicap Committee to reach a fair figure for both sides !!!!

The Vics afternoon “A” team Centenary Shield match against R.N.A. next Wednesday has now been switched to the excellent Pensby green because of the unavailability of the Neston green.

The Vics afternoon “B” and “C” teams had virtually carbon copy displays on Wednesday when both teams lost their away fixtures to teams they had beaten by 83 shots at home the previous week. Both teams had 4 away winners each with the “B” team victories at Wallasey RBL being provided by Bill Purcell 21-14(obviously a worried man now he is on a winning streak), Dave Bosworth 21-16, John Brandon (still unbeaten) 21-17 and Derek Thomas 21-18. The “C” teams 4 winners at Hoylake Marine were Stan Ridgway 21-10, Don Ibbotson 21-12 (also still unbeaten), Calvert Jones 21-17 and Arthur Fagan 21-18. The “B” team having beaten Wallasey RBL 205-122 last week lost 178-191 on Wednesday with the “C” team 210-127 winners at home last week losing 168-183 at Hoylake Marine on Wednesday. The away form of all 3 afternoon teams needs to improve dramatically if the club wants all three teams in as high a Division as possible when the League is re-structured next season.

The Vics afternoon “A” team had a ridiculously easy victory against Albany on Wednesday at West Kirby and must still be wondering why it is that we can win by 100 shots at home but lose to the same opponents by 17 shots away last week. On a slow Ashton Park green, the Vics had 6 single figure winners with Elwyn Williams producing a best of the day 21-03 winning card. Billy Atkinson won 21-05 with a hat trick of 21-07 wins being provided by Eddie Clayburn, Peter Dodd and Andrew Stratton. Robby Franklin won 21-08 and Mally Johnson had a 21-11 win to leave Keith Etches and Dick Peake as the last two winners with both being involved in excellent games. Keith recovered from a slow start to triumph 21-19 and Dick ran out a 21-20 winner after also struggling at one stage. I am getting some stick from some quarters when I keep on harping on about our lack of away form (I do include myself in the criticism) but until we start winning away from home we will not be able to challenge at the top end of the table. Hopefully we will be able to prosper on the excellent Neston green next week when we have to give a 40 shot start to R.N.A. in the Centenary Shield.

The Vics had nine winners on Wednesday night in a 65 shot victory against Albany in the Dr. Dawson Victory Cup First Round to set up a Second Round match with Tixall. Playing at Kings 2000 the Vics had Frank O’Neill and Mal Andrews on top form with 21-04 and 21-08 victories. A couple of 21-10 wins for Mally Johnson and Neil Sherbrooke were quickly followed by 21-11 victories for John Devlin and Robby Franklin. Karl Sherbrooke settled for a decent 21-12 win as did brother Ian and John Lloyd completed the Vics winners with a solid 21-15 winning card. A fine display overall from the Vics saw them easily overhaul the 12 shot handicap and hopefully the Vics can go a long way in a competition we won in 2002 and 2006.