------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

.
.

November 15, 2007


REPORT ON ‘ONE WHITE’ 2007 / 2008. PREVIEW - ROUND 3

Ok – two rounds in and the measuring sticks have been well and truly used. I still haven’t seen anything to change my mind that every club in this Division is going to be competitive. To back up that statement I see that once again every team picked up some points last week.

All the forthcoming games are good but I choose two as my standouts for very different reasons. The top of the table clash between Yokine and Dalkeith-Nedlands should be a goodie and should tell us a bit more about where Yokine are at the minute and also about how good Dalkeith-Nedlands are.

The other is the clash between Mosman Park and Gosnells because neither team has snared the all important aggregate points yet and obviously both want them badly and one will. (I’ve probably just ensured a draw right).

LAST WEEK:
Dalkeith-Nedlands 92 (7) defeated Mosman Park 75 (1)
Bassendean 79 (7) defeated Gosnells 65 (1)
Yokine 79 (6) defeated Leeming 69 (2)
Morley 86 (7) defeated Safety Bay 61 (1)
Thornlie 96 (6) defeated Kardinya 82 (2)

LADDER:
Yokine 13; Dalkeith-Nedlands 13; Thornlie 13; Bassendean 9; Kardinya 8; Morley 8; Leeming 8; Mosman Park 3; Gosnells 3; Safety Bay 2.

TEAMS:
I didn’t intend to list the teams each week and will just play it by ear. I have this week because a few clubs have advised me of significant changes.

‘My Predictions’:
Last week 5 from 5. For the season (8 – 2) winning rate. ---

YOKINE V’s DALKEITH-NEDLANDS

YOKINE
Rod Heaton (Sk) Ian Cooper John Bills Bill Morrison
Tony Kay (Sk) John Gallop Terry Fulcher Chris Busing
Scott Edmonds (Sk) Rob Bowron Juris Lorencs Ian Goghill
Adrian Durrant (Sk) Darren Kellond John McGrath Wayne Coffee

Rod Heaton’s rink powered to a 40 to 8 win against their Leeming counterparts. The week earlier against Morley, Rod was constantly the ‘change agent’ for his side by regularly converting losing heads into significant winning heads and was an obstacle the Morley rink just couldn’t overcome. This week he mainly only had to direct the traffic, cover and play the extra counters as his front three, Bill Morrison (Lead), John Bills (Second) and Ian Cooper (Third) set up the big win.
At one stage with plenty of room to draw Rod only had to add his last bowl for a full 8 count - but missed. When confronted by his teammates he tried the old “I didn’t think it was etiquette under the circumstances guys” but it didn’t wash and he had to buy the drinks for the way home.

The rink of Scott Edmonds had another win, this time by 2 shots to make it 2 from 2. Scott’s premier league experience shows as he knows how to close out his opposition in the final ends of close games. These important points all add up at the end of the year and are the difference between making the 4 and/or getting promotion etc.

Tony Kay’s boys drew the pretty hot Danny Comrie rink and stayed in touch before going down by 10.

Likewise Darren Kellond’s rink fought hard but went down by 14 shots despite some good conversion shots by Darren.

For this week skip Adrian Durrant comes back in so Darren Kellond will move back to third. John (Scnapper) Gallop will move to third for Tony Kay so Chris Busing will lead in the same rink. Graham (Smokey) Dawson is out after 2 great games in 1st Division for the doggies and you can bet he’ll be back after impressing the selectors. Smokey came through the corporate bowls ranks only a relatively short time ago. He is an example of the pressure on the starting 16 from the doggies second side, so it’s a health atmosphere at Yokine where practice and performance are both a must.

DALKEITH-NEDLANDS
Marco Krajancic(Sk) John Morgan Norm Sutton Ross McKenzie
Tony Skoric (Sk) Ross Donald Steve Back Vaughan Colley
Peter Bacich (Sk) Mark Lindsay Alex Gryta Peter Gason
Tom Williams (Sk) John McKintosh Gordon Wilson John McCormack

-------------------John Morgan, Dalkeith, in action last week

------------------------

Dalkeith-Nedlands were very impressive last week in what was billed as being a pretty tight affair but the Dalkeith-Nedlands 16 prevailed courtesy of rinks that combined well over the course of the match.

The John (Rags) Rainoldi / Marco (Krackerjack) Krajancic clash was always going to be a beauty if they drew with an official, and an unofficial legend of the game going head to head. Marco got the points by virtue of his great game and the outstanding support up front. Ross McKenzie clearly won the duel of the leaders, Norm Sutton continued his great form at two and John Morgan had a good duel with Mark Simpson.
Marco and his boys got away well but later handed over 10 shots in three ends to let their opponents back into the game before Krackerjack steadied the ship. The 10 shot victory probably flattered the visitors who didn’t really click on the day.

Peter Bacich started well and maintained that form throughout the clash with Steve Withers. Steve’s team had a good win in the first game of the season and would have started warm favorites but Mark Lindsay at three had a day out against his old team and Alex Gryta played brilliantly as second.

Tony Skoric put his shock loss from last week behind him and led his team to a relatively easy win over Doug Rogers despite dropping the last three ends. Tony played all the big shots when needed and Steve Back again played extremely well at two. Ross Donald is warming to the task at three and will only get better as the season goes on and Vaughan Colley was the clear winner of the leaders.

Tom Williams’s rink was beaten by Lester Mortimer who was absolutely outstanding throughout the entire match. John McKintosh is in career best form at the moment and that form continued on the weekend and he was given good support from Gordon Wilson, but Lester was sublime.
There was no disgrace in losing this game. Big Macca must be wondering what he has done wrong because on Thursday his entire team was brilliant only to be beaten single handed by Geoff Ellis who played one of the greatest games any of them had witnessed. Dalkeith-Nedlands are combining well and getting better. There is a great feel and camaraderie that surrounds the team and they go in against Yokine very confident and with an unchanged line up.
My Prediction: DALKEITH-NEDLANDS.

MOSMAN PARK V’s GOSNELLS

MOSMAN PARK
Steve Withers (Sk) Steve Novak Rad Anderson Tom Reid
Doug Rodgers (Sk) Lindsay Hicks Glenn Ellis Peter Freund
Lester Mortimer (Sk) Wyn Ferris Peter Cole David Teague
John Rainoldi (Sk) Mark Simpson Jarrad Rainoldi Tom O’Neil

Last week was a bit of a let down in that the Mossies were expected to take it right up to Dalkeith-Nedlands but were well beaten. Last week Lester Mortimer's rink were 9-0 ahead and ended up losing, this week they were 1-9 down and ended up winning. ‘Go figure’ as my kids would say! Lester’s team of Wyn Ferris (3rd), Peter Cole (2nd) and David Teague (Lead) all played their part but Lester constantly came up with huge conversion shots to ensure the win.

Doug Rogers and his boys tried hard but every time they got into the game Tony Skoric snuffed out any hope with his own brilliant conversion shots.

The Steve Withers rink was a bit of a disappointment for the Mossies in that they had been playing very well but last week went down by 7 shots.

John Rainoldi's four struck the very solid and consistent rink of Marco Krajancic and went down. At one stage the Rainoldi rink was down 12/1 and it would have been a lot more if not for John Rainoldi’s talent and experience. They managed to claw their way back into the match before going down by 10 shots at the end.

So the reported changes for this week are that Jarrad Rainoldi goes from three for Withers to two for John Rainoldi, Steve Novak moves up one to play three for Withers, Tom O’Neill goes from two for Rogers to play lead for John Rainoldi, Peter Freund goes from lead for Rainoldi to lead for Rogers and lastly Glen Ellis jumps up one spot to play two for Rogers.

(Note - I think I better list the teams because my Gossy club have a heap of changes as well).

GOSNELLS
Brett Holland (Sk) Jason Bryan Maurice Crabb Gordon Bradford
Neville Mulcahy (Sk) Bert Cruickshank Mike Jaworski Mike Rickard
Alan Corby (Sk) Roy Sharp Doug Weir Andrew Hay-Hendry
Kevin Bairstow (Sk) Trevor Gibbs Peter Hodgson Peter Gale

I picked Bassendean to win last week because they are a stronger side than many people think so Gosnells can take some heart for that reason.
The Brett Holland rink recorded their second win by 23 to 10 in another good team effort. Brett was terrific and played some ‘pearlers’ to convert and Maurice Crabb played solid again.

Alan Corby’s rink battled hard all day and were level at 14 all coming to the last end before going down. Alan was the standout closely followed by Roy Sharp.

Kevin (the bear) Bairstow’s rink drew the inform Justin Opie’s rink and lost by 10 shots despite the best efforts of Trevor Simons (lead) who played very well for Gosnells and was praised by the opposition.

Bert Cruickshank’s rink had a good battle for the first 10 ends with both sides playing well. It only took a couple of things to just fall their opponent’s way for the all important momentum to surface and the Basso rink seized it and kept it to get home by 12 shots.
The selectors consider that we are in a rebuilding phase at our club and have shown already that they aren’t afraid to try new players and/or new combinations. There are a couple of players that are unavailable this week, there are a few moves within the 16, there are a few new players appearing for the first time this year and there are a couple of players who are given a break from the top side.

Leads Trevor Simons and David (the kid) Downey are unavailable so Gordon Bradford and Mike Rickard come into to the side. Bert Cruickshank asked to have a break from skip so will play third for the very solid Neville Mulcahy who comes up from skipping in our second side. Neville is a very experienced and popular player who has bowled at the ‘Red’ level. Any position in his rink at any division is always sought after by players at our club. Mike Jaworski will play second for Neville, Peter Gale will lead for Kevin (the bear) Bairstow and Mr. Versatile - Andrew Hay-Hendry will lead this week for Alan Corby. Colin Watters and Dave Newton are out of the side at the minute.

My Prediction: GOSNELLS.

KARDINYA V’s BASSENDEAN

KARDINYA
Rex Sweet (Sk) Rob Foy Mark Abonnel Steve Vinci
Ian Hastings (Sk) Dave Wood Shaun McCormack David Phillips
Terry Ball (Sk) John Smith Kerry Eames Les Phillips
Geoff Gould (Sk) Tony Cocodis Darryl Radford Owen Sweetman

Kardinya were disappointed with missing the majority of the points against Thornlie who had the wood on them this time around. After the 78th end Thornlie only held the aggregate by a mere 3 shots and the Kardinya boys were still well and truly in the fight. However Thornlie pulled away in the concluding stages to eventually win by 14 shots.

Geoff Gould’s rink of Owen Sweetman (Lead), Darryl Radford (Second) and Tony Cocodis (Third) had a 1 shot heart stopping win to make it 2 from 2 for the season. Owen continues to lead outstandingly for the rink.

Ian Hastings’ rink of David Phillips (Lead), Shaun McCormack (Second) and Dave Wood (Third) had a good win over Paul Pohe’s rink, but their efforts weren’t quite sufficient to counteract Jim McKenzie’s big win over Rex Sweet’s rink as far as the aggregate went. David Phillips and Shaun McCormack were dominant up front and it was a nice way for Shaun, their new recruit from Melville, to start his career at Kardinya. Terry Ball’s rink couldn’t quite maintain their outstanding form from the previous week and lost by 10 shots. No changes to the Kardinya rinks.

BASSENDEAN
Gordon Gray (Sk) Phil Hutchinson Colin Irvine Fred Early
John Lynch (Sk) Jamie Davies Nolan Hall Norn Kirkup
Marcel Heruer (Sk) Ian Robertson Colin Hotker Neil Strachan
Justin Opie (Sk) Craig Greenhalgh Wes Jones Steve Black

The Basso boys would be well pleased with their good win away from home against Gosnells. Gordon Gray’s rink were 7 shots down early but fought back superbly to win by 12 shots. The win was attributed to both consistent bowls from the front and a great effort (some monster shots) from Phil Hutchinson and Gordon Gray at the back end. This new rink for Bassendean is gelling very nicely and the club couldn’t be happier.

Justin Opie’s rink performed well again to come away with a 10 shot win. Justin played some fantastic bowls and Craig Greenhalg really enjoyed a slice of sweet revenge after Gosnells grabbed the aggregate points from them in a recent midweek encounter at Bassendean.

John Lynch’s rink had a fantastic tussle with Alan Corby’s boys and on the 20th end scores were 14 a piece with ‘2’ being the highest end score. On the deciding end Lynchies team got onto the kitty early and Gosnells were unable to change the head going down a 5. John Lynch himself was in great touch.

Jamie Davies Bassendean, (pictured) plays a handy game as third

The rink of Marcel (what have you done) Hereur had their opportunities however a lot of their good work was constantly undone by some great bowling by the opposition back end and Marce’s boys eventually lost by 10 shots. However, the boys weren’t far away and didn’t give up. No changes to this side and why would there be.
My Prediction: KARDINYA.

SAFETY BAY V’s LEEMING

SAFETY BAY Unfortunately I haven’t heard from Safety Bay so can’t report on any news or changes to their line-up. Graham Scott’s rink won by 5 but the other three rinks all went down - Paul Beaumont’s rink by 7; Ray Beard’s rink by 11, and Matt Massari’s rink by 12 shots.

LEEMING
Danny Comrie (Sk) Gary Ford Peter Middleton Cameron Kerr
Don Munro (Sk) Bill West Phil Dobie Tom Glendinning
Lindsay Strange (Sk) Alan Pryce Gary Pemberton Dennis Anderson
Peter Morris (Sk) Ian Ashworth Colin Webber Ray Morley

A very interesting start to the season by Leeming and I’ll watch with interest. Danny Comrie’s rinks once again showed that they will be a force to be reckoned with this year. All members of the team contributed with Leeming scoring 9 shots to Yokine's nil on ends 12 to 15 which was a major factor in the win. Once again Gary (the jam man) Ford was on fire, literally as well, he set a rubbish bin alight with a discarded cigarette butt. (Umpire please - is this a tactic and/or is this man out of control?).

Another great win by Lindsay Strange and the boys - 14 shots to 4 in the last 10 ends put this one in the bag for Leeming. Dennis Anderson put on a fine display of lead bowling which helped set up the win and the opposition praised Alan Pryce for his game.

Don Munro’s rink had a really tight tussle - Yokine got a three on the first end and Leeming got it back on the second end - after that there were 14 ends of only ‘ones’ scored. However, Leeming only scored 3 points after the 11th end which proved to be their downfall. Ian Ashworth stepped up as skip for Peter Morris, and the late withdrawal of Robin Gray (injury) saw D Johnson (a previous 3rd Division and under State Singles Winner) promoted for his debut in 1st Division.
Unfortunately two things went wrong: 1) they struck Rod Heaton’s red hot rink and 2) as a team they didn’t have a good day (and we all know how that feels). They went down by 40 to 8 (ouch) and only scored on 5 ends with one of them being a 4 so you can do the math on the rest.


There are two changes to the starting 16 for Leeming. Cameron Kerr who I believe is a fairly new bowler and who will be making his debut in 1st Division as lead for Danny Comrie comes into the side. Steve Harris is unavailable so Colin Webber comes into the Peter Morris rink.
My Prediction: SAFETY BAY.

THORNLIE V’s MORLEY

THORNLIE
Paul Pohe (Sk) Jim Stein Mick Hansen Andy Lill
Jim McKenzie (Sk) Alan Petchell Rod Kimble Jake Halse
Glyn Vaughan (Sk) Ross McMillian Bruce Deters Ray Halse
Greg Reagan (Sk) Ian Rewell Terry McCormack Tony Churcher

After the opening two games of the season Thornlie are very happy indeed but not getting carried away I would think.
The Jim McKenzie rink of Alan Petchell (third), Mick Hansen (second) and Jake Halse (lead) set the tone for the day by recording a 17 shot victory over Rex Sweet. Jim and Rex seem to draw each other regularly when these two clubs meet and today it was Jim and his rink that turned it on with some great individual efforts.

The Greg Reagan rink of Ian (Budda) Rewell (third), Terry McCormack (second) and Tony Churcher (lead) turned last week’s fortunes around by recording a solid 10 shot win over the in form Terry Ball rink. This was no easy feat as Terry and his troupes were 23 shot winners the previous week and would have gone into Saturday’s game full of confidence.

The steady, Glyn Vaughan, and his chargers had a tough tussle with Geoff Gould but went down by the heart breaking smallest of margins while Paul Pohe’s rink lost by 12 shots. Still another 6 points is a winning score that gives Thornlie a share of top spot which they tell me is a great place to be.

This week Rod (Doc) Kimble is back with McKenzie as second so Mick Hansen replaces John Walker on Paul Pohe's rink. No other changes.

MORLEY
John Armstrong (Sk) John Sheridan Graham White Travis Ingram
Peter Aungier (Sk) Allan Baron Alan Haley Rod Reval
Bruce Walter (Sk) Gavin Grieve Andy Elmer Glenn Britten
Robbie Urquhart (Sk) Joe Heiden Brad Moyle Denis Mullenger

A very much improved effort by the Morley team. They say that a week is a long time in football or cricket or something, but what about bowls. The only winning rink for Morley in Round 1 lost in Round 2 and the three losing rinks from Round 1 won in Round 2. (I’m giddy after writing that).

Robbie Urquhart's rink had another good day winning by a very comfortably 12 shots against Matt Massari’s rink. They were down quite a bit early but caught up, went to the lead and just kept increasing the margin. Robbie himself is in great form but Joe Heiden, Brad Moyle and Denis Mullenger are all playing solid bowls.

Bruce Walter's rink also had a good win (11 shots) after their defeat last week by a very hot Rod Heaton (Yokine). All four players played fairly well with the front end players of Glenn Britten and Andy Elmer doing particularly well.

John Armstrong's rink had a very welcome return to form to have an encouraging win by 7 shots. Graham White is playing very well as a 2nd and the very determined John Sheridan is getting better each week as he battles his lingering injury problems.

Peter Aungier's rink came across a very dour and determined Graham Scott and went down by 5 shots. Allan Baron (the 3rd) is playing good solid bowls. No changes that I am aware of going to press. My Prediction: MORLEY.