Top Club Success

Bletchley men took on Bradwell last night in the second round of the Bowls England National Top Club Competition at home.

The 2 wood singles saw Malcolm “pops” Pratt win 6 of the first 7 ends including a couple of 2s to take an early 8-1 lead, Bradwell closed the gap slightly to 9-4 before Pops strung a few more ends together to lead 13-5 at 16 ends he then conceded a single before picking up a 2 on the 18th end to make the score 15-6 with just 3 ends remaining to clinch the 1st and very important point of the evening

1-0 Town

In the Triples we had the dream team of Jamie Seymour, Dave West and Don Savage who absolutely flew out of the blocks picking up a 4 on the first end and raced away to a 18-1 lead after 9. Ends were pretty even there on in but the impressive start was more than enough for the Bletchley boys to pick up the 2nd point with the final score 24-7 after 16 ends.

2-0 Town

In the singles there was a change from the first game as Mal was otherwise engaged but up stepped one half of the successful SAS, Alex “The Ice Man” Squires. What a game of singles this was, Squires trailed early on as Bradwell led 5-1 before a 3 and three 1's saw the game leveled at 7 all, the game was very even from here with the lead swaying backwards and forwards. With Alex trailing 16-15 he managed to pick up a 3 to take the lead 18-16 and get within touching distance of the finish line, he continued to pepper the jack on the next end to hold the 3 he needed to win the game before Ben Butlin from Bradwell held his nerve to save the game by getting second wood. Squires continued the next end in the same form and again held game before Butlin bowled another “heart breaker” to trail the jack to pick up 1. Now with the game at 19-17 it was anyone’s to win. Alex was holding 1 shot with 1 bowl left each. With the crowd all wondering if Butlin could do it again. He tried very hard as he just slipped through the gap between Alex’s bowl and the jack to leave Alex holding 1 and with two foot to draw to win the game. The Ice Man strolled back confidently to the mat with all the eyes of the club on his shoulders he releases the bowl on the back hand. He likes it as he starts a little trot down the green, the weight looks good..... the line looks good..... it was an unbelievable bowl as it comes to rest next to the jack. The crowd goes wild as Squires takes the 2 shots he needed to win the game 21-17.

3-0 Town

In the pairs a new partnership was formed with Rhys Lee and Gerry Smyth taking on Nathan Nimmo and Paul Sapwell, again this was a very close game with the scores tied at 11 all at 10 ends 14-15 at 15 ends and 15-18 at 18 ends before a massive 5 from the Bradwell pair on the 19th end saw them take a 8 shot lead with 2 ends to go, the Bletchley pair did pick up a 1 and 2 on the last 2 ends to close the gap to 5 but Bradwell had their first point.

3-1 Town

Our four of President Pete Benson, Dave Labrum, Dave “the game changer” Clay and Club legend Mick Golder. Got off to a good start leading 9-3 at 5 ends and 13-8 at 11 ends before Bradwell went on a run of 4 ends picking up 7 shots to take the lead for the first time in the game. Bletchley scored a game changing 5 on the 16th end to regain the lead 18-15 they pushed on from there to win 3 of the remaining 5 ends to win 24-17 and to finish a good evening for the town

4-1 Town

Next up for the Town is a home tie against Wolverton Town