Bowls: It’s a family affair

Nov 29 2007 by Our Correspondent, Merthyr Express

Blaenau Gwent 122 Merthyr Tydfil 132

MERTHYR Tydfil’s Championship side faced the sternest challenge of their league campaign so far – and came out on top.

The home side had several ex-Merthyr players looking to come back and haunt their former side.

In the morning session, Merthyr, with the rink of Julian Evans, his father Ray and brother John together with Peter Toomey, pulled no punches in annihilating Peter Williams’s rink by 31 shots and laying the foundations for the overall win.

Lee Morgan followed it up with a 15-shot demolition of Peter Carey’s four.

The other Merthyr rink, skipped by Robert Price, found themselves up against it in the form of ex-Merthyr regular and Welsh selector Les Saunders, who gave the home side hope with a 12-shot win.

Despite this, Merthyr were left with a comfortable cushion of 34 shots to play with going into the afternoon session, but things did not go to plan.

Each of the three Merthyr rinks were caught cold at the start, and although they rallied they failed to add any bonus rink points.

In fact, after the first four ends, Blaenau Gwent had virtually erased the deficit from the morning session. Steadily, the rinks of John Downey, Steve Batten and Carl Lewis gathered momentum.

Downey got back to within one of David Mogford, who then played a stunning trail on the jack to secure the rink points.

Steve Batten trailed 20-8 but was within striking distance at 21-17 before former Merthyr stalwart Eddie George rode his luck to pull away and eventually win by five for the home team.

Carl Lewis also closed the gap after a bad start but Ray Taylor, with Brian Jarrett outstanding at third, fought him off to win by 12.

Match Scores

Morning: Adam Ahrens, Peter Fullalove, Paul Hayden, Lee Morgan 26, Peter Carey 11; Roger Harvey, Steve Toms, David K Jones, Robert Price 12, Les Saunders 24; Julian Evans, Ray Evans, Peter Toomey, John K Evans 40, Peter Williams 9; Afternoon: Cliff Taylor, Clarry Wheeler, Andy O’Sullivan, Carl Lewis 13, Ray Taylor 25; Mark Jones, Craig Humphreys, Nathan Scoot, Steve Batten 22, Eddie George 27; David L Davies, Mike Powell, Richie Ahrens, John Downey 19, David Mogford 26.