West Kirby Victoria Bowling Club

The Vics afternoon “A” team started the season off with a disappointing 3-9 defeat at Harrison Park “A” this afternoon on a sluggish green in Wallasey. The Vics, without Skipper, Billy Atkinson were captained by Dick Peake for the first time and Dick had a problem right from the start, when Eddie Clayburn became unwell at the side of the green and had to withdraw from the match just before he should have started his game. A quick reshuffle saw Alan Hughes in the 1st four and Alan fought hard throughout before finally losing 19-21. Mally Andrews, making his debut for the afternoon side, could easily have won his match with a bit more luck but went down 20-21 at the end of a tough encounter. The Vics unfortunately had 4 losing blocks in the 1st four but did share the spoils in the middle four. Bernard Davies stepping up to the 1st team for the holidaying Skipper, carried on the fine form that saw him 3rd in the “B” team averages last year and produced an excellent, hard fought 21-20 victory. Club Secretary, Peter Dodd, had a good 21-10 winning start to the season to erase the memories of his ignominious opening game hiding last year. Robby Franklin, a late stand in for the sick Eddie Clayburn, carded a fine 21-16 win to provide the Vics 3rd point of the day and hopefully we can gain the extra point in the return fixture at West Kirby next week. The 38 shot deficit is not insurmountable and Billy Atkinson will be hoping for an improved performance from the team and with every individual winner now claiming a point there are plenty of points available to add to the 3 gained today.

The Vics afternoon “B” team started off the new season in style after last season’s promotion to Division Two, with an emphatic 10-2 victory over Harrison Park “B” at a truly excellent Ashton Park green today. Ernie Peers outshone everyone else on view with a majestic 21-02 winning performance that can only bode well for new Skipper, Keith Etches, and his team. Ernie completely outplayed his opponent in double quick time to set the Vics on the way to having 8 winning blocks out of 10. Ian Cameron showed he has lost none of his appetite for Ashton Park, with an equally impressive 21-07 winning display, to keep up his fine home form from last season. Mally Johnson, perhaps with a point to prove after dropping down to the “B” team this season, and Keith Etches both had comfortable and classy 21-10 victories with Peter Walker not far behind with a fine 21-11 win. There were more difficult games for Derek Thomas and John Brandon but both persevered to post 21-18 winning cards. Bill Purcell very nearly had to go the full distance but managed a really tough 21-19 win in the end. With the new points scoring system now in operation, the Vics collected 10 points in a more than impressive display and Keith Etches will be confident of more individual winners at Harrison Park next week and with a 56 shot lead will be looking for the aggregate point as well.

The Vics afternoon “B” team, ably captained by Derek Thomas, won the Birkenhead Afternoon League, Division 3 Title for 2008 after their defeat of Thingwall, home and away in their final league fixtures. This is a tremendous acheivement by Derek and his team as 1st team call ups, and sickness meant that Derek had to call on 19 players during the successful campaign. The vital 5 away victories, more than any other team in the Division, were to prove crucial in the Vics collecting 42 points, 2 more than nearest rivals Bromborough Pool. Derek has decided to call it a day as Captain after the Title triumph and Keith Etches has been proposed as the new captain for next year. Ken Bidwell, with an average of 1.30 just pipped Keith Etches (1.29) and Ernie Peers (1.28) to the averages prize. Congratulations to every player who turned out for the “B” team during the season and hopefully next season will see the team challenging at the top of Division Two.

The Birkenhead and Wirral Crown Green Bowling League, Afternoon Section, Centenary Cup came back “home” to the Vics on Monday when Brian Buck’s “Buccanneers” beat Royden Hall by 187-174 in a swashbuckling performance at Cammell Laird. The Vics “C” team received 20 shots from their higher ranked opponents who were Division Four Champions last year and with 5 winners each the handicap proved to be just about right at the end of the day. The first 4 blocks were shared with our resident “Master Chef”, Peter Walker’s, excellent 21-09 grilling of his opponent proving decisive later on. “Bluey” Davies continued his piracy for the Vics this season with another crucial 21-11 victory for the team. Bluey has taken to this afternoon bowls caper like a duck to water and his competitive streak has rubbed off on his team mates with “Rocket” Ray Farrell proving just why he is top of the averages with another 21-13 win. Ray is another in the “Bluey” mould of never accepting defeat lightly and “Tiger Ted” Lawrence is the 3rd “C” team player of the same ilk. In Ted’s 1st season back in bowls after a long lay off, he has now won 17 out of his last 18 league and cup matches and yet again on Monday a vital 21-17 win for Ted came at a crucial stage of the match. Brian Buck can only be delighted that John Davies. Ray Farrell and Ted Lawrence have all started off their Vics membership in his side this season. “Mr. Reliable” Tony Ryding was the Vics fifth winner on the day with a hard earned 21-19 victory, and Tony knows that this is the least the writer expects from him every time he plays. Reg Armitage, Eddie Dodd, Calvert Jones, Ian Wilson and the evergreen Harold Rutter, another player making a successful return to bowls this season after a long lay off, all did enough in their games to ensure the “C” team won the Cup for the Vics for the 3rd time in 4 years after previous victories for the “B” team and the “A” team. Skipper Brian Buck was understandably delighted with his side and all the players who have played for the “C” team this season can consider themselves part of this success.

After an excellent days bowling on seven superbly prepared greens on Sunday , the British Parks Club Team Knockout Competition ended in farce with West Kirby Victoria and Meersbrook agreeing to share the Trophy after the scores on one card could not be agreed. West Kirby Victoria thought they had just done enough to force a 178 -177 victory in an excellent final, played throughout with great sporting spirit by both sides, only to be robbed of victory when an error was found on one of the scorecards. Karl Sherbrooke having come off a 21-16 loser on the West Kirby card was marked as a 21-15 loser on the Meersbrook card. Remarkably, both scorers in this match had decided not to check card scores on the required ends and therefore there could be no going back to the previous checked end, as required when scorers cannot agree. Matt Gilmore 21-07, Dave Gilmore 21-13, Ian Sherbrooke 21-14 and Bill Atkinson 21-17 were all winners for West Kirby Victoria and along with the close losing cards of Jamie Fitzpatrick 20-21 and Steve Nugent 18-21, West Kirby thought that the Cup was theirs. The sting in the tale was to hit hard however with the rogue scorecard being scrutinised at the end of the match. With neither side prepared to firstly agree on the correct score, or indeed agree that it was in fact the scorers and not the Officials who were to blame, a decision had to be made by the British Parks President, Bill Maybry on how to solve the dispute. Despite unwanted representations by all and sundry around Match Officials, Bill’s first idea of a 3 end play off and then secondly an 11 end play  off were not acceptable to both Captains. With the light fading fast on any possible playing option to decide the match, the two Captains then got together and decided between themselves that the best course of action was to share the trophy for 6 months each. Bill Maybry agreed that although not an ideal solution it was possibly best all round to accept this decision. There were a few unwanted spectators dancing on the green celebrating this decision from last years winners which did seem strange as they had been knocked out earlier in the day but never mind, if they were happy good luck to them. Finally Wallasey C.G.B.A. Chairman Mike Costall invited Bill Maybry to present the Cup to the two Captains. Mike thanked all the Clubs, Referees, Measurers and Officials who had helped to make this an excellent day and eventually all retired to the club house for a well earned drink and excellent buffet prepared by Sylvia Costall. Just one footnote to the days happening, B.C.G.B.A. Laws of the game 3: Scoring, section 3.4 The result of the end shall be clearly indicated, by the winner, to the markers who must sit together and agree each other’s score cards every third end and at the end of the game. Obviously in the case of the Andy Whittaker- Karl Sherbrooke match, this was not the case and I fail to see how the match organiser can be to blame.

The vics Birkenhead League team “sailed” into the Dr. Dawson Victory Cup Final tonight at a completely rain sodden Heswall RBL green, with a comfortable 26 shot victory against Cammell Laird. The Vics had ten winners out of 12 and Frank O’Neill, obviously some kind of ancient sub mariner, completely at home in the near lake that was the Heswall green, sliced his way through the waters like a champion jet skier, to an excellent 21-07 victory. Unusually for “Rampant” Robby Franklin, the green was not quite to his liking, but no matter “Rampant” can play on anything and powered to a vital 21-10 win. Skipper, Ian Sherbrooke helped steer the Vics to victory with a fine 21-12 win closely followed by Neil Sherbrooke, bouncing back after a surprise loss last week, winning 21-13. Brian Leonard’s recent holiday abroad seems to have done him a power of good as he recorded a good 21-14 victory to supplement his fine acheivement in reaching the finals day of the Tony Vyskocil 31 up competition. Colin Saville, is still in need of water wings it seems as, after taking a 20-04 lead on dry land, he found the deeper waters in the downpour more of a challenge before finally emerging a 21-15 winner. Karl Sherbrooke and Mal Andrews piloted their way to 21-17 wins and Billy Atkinson got over his disappointment from earlier in the day, with a tough 21-18 victory. The Vics final winner of the night was John Lloyd with a splashing 21-19 winning card which helped seal a 26 shot win despite giving 30 shots to Cammell Laird courtesy of the handicappers. The Vics won this trophy in 2002 and 2006 and will be looking to make it three out of three in the Final on July 26th at Oxton, probably against Gladstone.

The Vics Wallasey League team will be looking for revenge this coming Saturday (July 12th), when they take on Queens Royal “A” in the Harold Jones Cup Final. The Vics lost out to Royal in a replay last year and are determined to recapture the trophy they last held in 2006. The match takes place at Royden Hall Bowling Club starting at 6-30 pm and hopefully a large crowd of Vics supporters will turn up on the night.

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.