What a week for croquet

It was an eventful week for Narooma Croquet Club as play was conducted for the first time on the temporary court of bowling green No 1 at Club Dalmeny as well as finalizing the competition in the Christmas Cup for association handicap singles croquet.

Janet Jones won the Christmas cup and the $50 winner's cheque with victory in the third and last round against Pauline Wilcock who finished in second place. Congratulations to both players for their skillful performances. Details of golf croquet play last Wednesday and the Christmas cup on Saturday were as follows:

Association Croquet

On a warm, sunny Saturday on Dalmeny green No 1, Round 3 of the Christmas Cup (association handicap singles croquet competition) was held, whereby two time-limited matches were played. Game 1 was the decider between Janet Jones and Pauline Wilcock. Early in the match Pauline went to a handy lead, but Janet then began to put her shots together to overhaul Pauline and go on to win 21 points to 13 when the time limit was reached.

Then in game 2, a match was played to decide third place between Pearl Hanson and Len Favier. Here Len played steadily in managing the new court layout and went on to win in scoring 13 points to 6 points by Pearl. Overall, in the three rounds of the Christmas Cup, played on December 12, December 19 and January 16, the full results were:-

Janet Jones, handicap 11, First place - 3 wins and 64 points. Pauline Wilcock, handicap 16, Second place - 1 win, 1 draw and 54 points. Len Favier, handicap 20, Third place - 1 win, 1 draw and 44 points. Pearl Hanson, handicap 18 Fourth place - no wins and 22 points.

Golf Croquet

On a hot, blustery Thursday morning nine players from Narooma Croquet Club presented for the first playing day of golf croquet on the temporary court of bowling green No 1 at Dalmeny Club. Included in the playing numbers were Paul Chenoveth and Cathy Sforcina on their second outing of competition croquet, with some coaching along the way by Club Captain Christine Stent. This, plus the time taken in setting up the temporary court, and the players taking time in getting used to the speed of the green, tended to extend the time for each match, with the result that only four matches were completed in the morning session. One group of four players competed in two doubles challenge matches (games 2 and 4) with Louise Starkie partnering Heather McGourty against Pearl Hanson and Sally McGourty, with the honours being shared. Otherwise, in games 1 and 3, novices Paul and Cathy tested their skills competing in two doubles matches against established players Janet Jones, Christine Stent and Len Favier. The highlights were:

In game 2 Pearl Hanson scored a one-shot hoop with the white ball at hoop 4, and game 4 was decided at the 13th hoop, while in game 3 Len Favier and Paul Chenoveth were down 1 to 4 before they staged a whirlwind finish to win 7 to 6 at the 13th hoop, against the doubles pairing of club champion Janet Jones and club captain Christine Stent.

Full scores of the matches thus were: Game 1 - Janet Jones and Paul Chenoveth 7 def Christine Stent and Cathy Sforcina 3, Game 2 - Sally McGourty and Pearl Hanson 7 def Louise Starkie and Heather McGourty 4. Game 3 - Len Favier and Paul Chenoveth 7 def Christine Stent and Janet Jones 6. Game 4 - Louise Starkie and Heather McGourty 7 def Pearl Hanson and Sally McGourty 6. Mary Ryan, Fay O'Connor, Jean Phillips, Helen Stannard, Pauline Wilcock and Dianne Sims each had bye.

Schedule of Competition Matches (on Green No 1 at Dalmeny):

Monday, January 18 - Training day at a time to be arranged and supervised by Club Captain Christine Stent.

Wednesday, January 20 - Golf / Association Croquet at 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm

Thursday, January 21 - Golf Croquet at 9am to 11.45am.

Saturday, January 23 - Association Croquet at 9am to 11.45am.

Bookings:

Golf Croquet - Fay O'Connor, telephone 0421 352 527, keeping to COVID-19 protocols.

Association Croquet - Christine Stent, telephone 4476 3506, keeping to covid-19 protocols.

Narooma men's bowls

Social bowls winners' circle

It was a great day for bowls on Wednesday with 48 bowlers making up eight rinks of triples. Winners were decided by Lowest Winning Margin and this week the winners were Julie Smith, Margaret Naylor and Sandra Breust (skip) who had a close game where they were down 10 to 14 after 11 ends and then were all square on six occasions including the final score of 22 all, and up on ends, for a win against Tony Fryer, Warren Bender and John Downie (skip).

Second place went to Steve Smith, Mick Cavic and Terry Lewis (skip) who were down six to 16 after nine ends before turning the match around for a 24 to 23 win against Vince Stocks, Garry Evans and Neville Butt (skip).

The resting toucher was won by Garry Evans who confirmed his good bowls to claim the prize. Thank you to Rapley's Quality Meat, Narooma Plaza, for their continued support.

On Saturday there was a great turnout of players with the money decided by Lucky Rinks. First place went to John Redman and Les Waldock (skip) who went from seven all after seven ends to hit a hot run to lead 21 to seven before Julie Smith and Gail Howe (skip) came back strongly, but in vain, as John and Les took the match 23 to 16.

Second place went to Kyle Zucco, Jim Baker and Tony Palmer (skip) who were down eight to 12 after 11 ends before they got in the groove and finished strongly to win their match 21 to 18 against Mitch Davies, Jay Guernsey and Graham Cummins (skip).

It is great to see the new bowlers coming along and showing great promise.

On Sunday we had 30 bowlers for five rinks of triples. Winners were decided by Lowest Winning Score and first place went to Pat Wood, Sue Wales and Kevin Callaway (skip) who were all square at eight all after 12 ends and the game remained close before they edged clear for a 16 to 13 win against Graham Howden, Jan Rapkins and Janet Murphy (skip).

Second place went to Sue Bender, Clare Cork and Peter Hiscox (skip) who had a great game against Rob McIntyre, Cindy Newell and Sandra Breust (skip) and after being two shots up after 10 ends they kept that margin for a 17 to 15 win.

Singles Consistency Championship

Matches played this week were - Peter Jones played Les Waldock in a first-round match and after end seven, where the scores were level at 35 all. Les hit the front and was not headed as he went on for a 100 to 84 win.

Les then played Mick Cavic on Sunday and after the scores were level after eight ends Les began to get the upper hand to win the match 100 to 80. Garry Carberry played Col Armstrong in a match where Garry got away to a flyer to lead 37 to 13 after five ends and he never faltered in his 100 to 59 win. Dave Herman and Allan Chisholm played their second-round match, and it was a thriller. There was never more than nine shots difference throughout the match and the lead was continually alternating and with the score 96 to 94 to Allan with one end to play Allan picked the major score and even though Dave picked up six points Allan, being first to 100, won the game 100 to 100.

To ponder

To a smart girl men are no problem - they're the answer. Jestyer Weight

Narooma women's bowls

Social bowls

It was great to see an enthusiastic group on the green for the first social Tuesday for this year.

Three games of triples were played while a fluctuating breeze tested a few and made some interesting results. The 'lowest winning margin' was the decider for the day's prize and the winning team played on rink 6.

Heather McGourty, Clare Cork and Dawn Kenny (skip) combined well in the conditions against Sue Sansom, Sue Bender and Leila Gosper (skip). for a six shot win. Scores were level on the 16th end, however Dawn and co. finished well.

The raffle, a meat prize, was won by Jenny Coulson. Thanks to Rapley and son for their support.

The first competition starts tomorrow with the Novice Singles - good bowling ladies. Entry sheet for minor singles is on the board.

Bitmoregrass