Bowls round-up: Bylet make a break at the top of the league
Bylet have made a break at the top of the new Allscott Heath Winter Bowling League to heap the pressure on their title rivals, writes Malcolm Fletcher.
The Bridgnorth club pulled 14 points clear with an 83-56 win on aggregate over high-flying Trench on Monday night on the artificial green.
That that earned them a 19-10 victory on points with Joe Dicken again leading the way with 21-8 card in the four singles clash.
Unbeaten Shifnal and Allscott Avengers remain Bylet’s fellow championship hopefuls with games in hand – and both play on Thursday against bottom-of-the-table Atcham and Telepost respectively.
Way forward for Tanners League
Vital votes on Thursday night will determine the way forward this year for the Tanners Shropshire Bowling League.
An EGM at Old Shrewsbury BC at 7pm will see the first key vote ahead of the annual meeting (7.30pm) that needs to solve a number of issues, including a structure conundrum that is plaguing the Shrewsbury divisions on Fridays.
A change to a straight majority deciding on voting issues is the sole item on the agenda of the EGM – and then the real discussions will begin.
“We have a rule proposal put forward from Battlefield wanting to reduce division one on Fridays to 10 players per team (from 12), but the management are fully against that proposal,” said league secretary Dawn Gray. “The management actually offered Battlefield the option to drop down to division two, which is already 10-a-side, but they have refused.
“The Shrewsbury divisions on Tuesday nights also have a proposal from the management for the first division to go up to 10-a-side (from eight) and then allow any Premier League registered players to play for any first division team only.”
But the main problem for Gray & Co in the countdown to the 2025 season is whether to have two or three Shropshire divisions on Fridays to cater for applications from Ludlow Castle, Monkmoor and Chirk B.
“We have three new teams and one withdrawal in Greenfields B, so we are left with 31 teams on Fridays,” said Gray. “Not wanting to refuse any teams, we have presented the possibility of going to three divisions of 11 sides,10 and 10 - but obviously that would mean a later start to the season and fewer league matches per division.
“We could have two divisions of 16 and 15 but then we would need to start early April and finish late September and introduce Wednesday night fixtures.
“Knowing what to do for the good of the league is rather tricky!”
Potteries Panel
County bowler Sam Millward is off the mark in the £4,000 Potteries Panel.
The Wrockwardine Wood man, who returned to the Shropshire senior team fold last year, had lost his first game of this winter’s campaign.
But Millward – a Panel finalist last winter - recovered to beat Darren Beardmore 24-15 on the artificial green at Biddulph last week to climb to halfway in the 24-strong table.
At the same time Danny Williams (Sinclair) was losing his £100 Cash Challenger game 29-12 against Stoke legend Kerry Morris.
Reigning champion Callum Wraight is top of the table going into Thursday night's round five fixtures with the top eight guaranteed places in the finals night on April 10 to play for a £1,000 first prize.
Senior deadline
It’s high noon on Friday for the Shrewsbury Senior Citizens Bowling League.
“Clubs are reminded that the deadline for entering or withdrawing teams is 12 noon on Friday, February 28, with the 2025 fixtures going live online during the afternoon,” said league chief Chris Kershaw.
“We ended the 2024 season with 57 teams and to date we will be welcoming a further three teams for the coming season - Craven Arms C, Llanymynech B and the return of Hanwood B.”
- Edgmond BC is the venue for the county association-organised Greenkeepers Community Event on Thursday at 7.30pm, sponsored by Dennis UK-Sisis.