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ONE BLUE NORTH REVIEW

December 11, 2007 ROUND SIX REVIEW

With one third of the season already past we now head into the next critical phase whereby teams at the top of the ladder will want to assert their domination whilst sides at the foot of the ladder will need to start producing or face the obvious relegation woes.
The third group make up those that want to push further up the ladder rather than slip into that dreaded bottom four. Last week I managed 3 out of 5 with home teams Doubleview and Sorrento proving poor choices against an emerging Stirling and a high flying Wanneroo respectively.

Scarborough 98 (7) def Osborne Park 64 (1)


A very good win for the “Seagulls” playing a home game at Osborne Park (if that makes any sense). Due to the closure of Scarborough’s greens the “Saints” were kind to reverse the fixture venue.
Despite a promising start on three rinks by Osborne Park it was the Scarborough who gradually pulled away to record a comfortable win.

The rink of Barry Powell was always in control leading 19-3 before finally winning 28-11. Barry Powell himself was in sublime form to the point that not too many people in the State would have wanted to have played him in that sort of form last Saturday.
Brian Axford for the second week in a row has come from a fair margin behind to record an equally impressive 24-15 win. Steve Stokes proved too good for Ken Sutcliffe whilst Keith “Chalkey” White also played a blinder to just overcome Ron Kuziela to grab Osborne Park’s only point.

Talking to the Scarborough selectors on Saturday night they explained that for the first time in some years they are in the enviable position of having to drop form players to make way for people like Michael Murray who is returning after a two week absence. There are also a number of very good players who did not start the season but have indicated their willingness to return. At the moment things look quite bright for the “Seagulls”.

Stirling 83 (7) def Doubleview 73 (1)

Stirling travelled to “the View” on Saturday and set about finishing the home sides unbeaten season. Stirling win was set up by the rink skippered by Tony Krajancic with a solid 10 shot victory over “Bomber” Haring and his boys.

Mark Pasalich Stirling (pictured) Top class skipper for Stirling over the seasons

Gary Nelson did his best to offset that margin also with a ten shot win over Andy Tucker but the other two rinks skippered by Tom Norac and Mark Pasalich recorded wins over Winton Langdon and Eddie Johnson (who suffered his first defeat).

Stirling is gaining momentum and are closing in on the top clubs. On the other hand, as they say in racing parlance “you give a good horse one bad run” and that is what we will do with Doubleview.
I think at the end of the day they will be there or thereabouts.

North Beach 72 (7) def Morley 71 (1)

The “Blues” have won by the narrowest of possible margins but at the end of the day I guess that is all you have to do.
Good to see Alan Schrauf back in harness and his win was the catalyst in the North Beach victory.
Geoff Devenish lost 12-23 to Morley skipper Hall. I know Geoff well enough to know that he will fire up for the next game. Unfortunately that is against Scarborough so whilst I personally wish him well I hope he doesn’t fire up too much. The week later maybe.

Warwick 89 (6) def Bedford 84 (2)

Warwick won this game as I expected but not with any stamp of authority. They can again thank Brian Friend with a thumping 31-17 win over Mike Browning but if not for that performance it would have been a gloomy atmosphere back at “Magpies” headquarters last Saturday.

John Martin Warwick (pictured) Played a big game against the Bulls. John was also the winner of the Senior Master Pairs along with John Mather


Barry Gartrell continues his winning way and is an asset to the “Bulls”. Unfortunately for them he can only skipper one rink at a time leaving Bedford slightly vulnerable.
Evan O’Sullivan also had a good 26-18 win over Graeme Campbell.

Wanneroo 86 (6) def Sorrento 68 (2)

In last week’s column I suggested this was a toss of the coin job. These are two of the better sides in the competition and that showed with two rink wins each. The difference in this game was Echo Widermanski and his crew handed out a 29-11 thrashing to John brown and his team.
John Hammond kept his perfect record (6-0) intact with a win over Derek Bowen. Hammo, I did not think it possible but you must be getting more wicks than when I played at Sorrento. Look forward to playing you so you can show me all your tricks again.

Getting back to Derek Bowen I find it incomprehensible that he has a 1-5 record. The day we played him he and his rink would have taken it up to most Premier league sides. Having said that, I see you have lost Gary Cox to the Premier league.

My selections for this week

Wanneroo vs Bedford
Hard to make a genuine case for Bedford particularly that they have to travel up Wanneroo Road but you never really can be certain about predicting bowls results. However I am sticking with the top side namely “the Roos’.

Warwick vs Doubleview
Whilst it is being played at Warwick they haven’t exactly filled me with enthusiasm in the past few weeks. I suspect Doubleview will bounce back.

North Beach vs Scarborough
This will be a good game but I think the “Seagulls” are just starting to settle and may get the lion’s share of the points in this one. .

Osborne Park vs Sorrento
Osborne Park probably had their worse performance for the year last week so I am not reading too much into that. However, Sorrento are a solid side and I expect them to win this one. .

Stirling vs Morley
In a word “Stirling”.