Shropshire Star

Bayley boys are back on top of the league

Sir John Bayley leapfrogged Wrockwardine Wood to climb to the summit of the Shropshire Premier Bowling League on Friday.

Published

Bayley defeated Ifton 9-3 (234-178) with Stuart Rutter (21-6) and Scott Simpson (11-3) notching the most notable results. Ifton are sixth in the league rankings with 73 points.

Castlefields, who trail leaders Bayley by five points, returned to second spot after registering a narrow 206 aggregate victory away from home against Hanmer.

Both clubs drew 6-6 but Castlefields took home the four bonus points. Tom Palmer (21-8) was the star performer for Castfields, while Matthew Beeston (21-8) recorded the best result for the hosts.

The victory sent Castlefields 12 points clear of Hanmer, who sit fourth in the table on 84 points.

Seventh-placed Hanwood, who along with Ifton have a match in hand on the rest of the league, played out an entertaining contest at home to Highley. Jon Mansell (21-4) of Hanwood, and Highley pair Dave Wellings (21-6) and Simon Lane (21-9) were among the best performers for Hanwood.

The match ended 6-6 but hosts Hanwood edged to victory as they claimed the two bonus points courtesy of an aggregate victory of 207-193.

Chester Road powered to a resounding 12-2 victory (227-167) over bottom-placed Wem USC. Martin Lloyd registered the biggest win (21-6), while Liam Jones (21-7) and Ben Hinton (21-8) produced impressive results.

Burway capitalised on Meole Brace not being in action by leapfrogging them in the table to climb into ninth. Burway notched a 9-3 (237-196) victory over second from bottom Adderley to move onto 71 points after 10 matches. Dave Wilding (21-10) recorded the most notable win for the hosts.

Bylet and St Georges served up the third draw from Friday's fixtures. After finishing 6-6, Bylet won 209-206 to clinch the two bonus points.

Cheryl Cassell registered the best result (21-8). St Georges sit fifth in the table, while Bylet finished the 10th round of fixtures in 12th.