It’s tight at the top in the First Division Pairs League

The Dragons, winners of the premier team league, pictured with IOMIBA President, Win Kewley
The Dragons, winners of the premier team league, pictured with IOMIBA President, Win Kewley

We start this week’s Indoor Bowls Report with the First Division Pairs League which promises an exciting battle for the top spot which could go down to the very last match on Tuesday 16th March. In the latest round of matches we saw leaders Points Make Prizes take a 4-0 win against OK while second placed TOU beat Super Hoops Terriers 3-1 and the third placed Officials won 4-0 against Enigma. Ramsey Wallys drew 2-2 with Spinners and Kencoe and 1 in 4 also drew 2-2. This sees Points Make Prizes hold on to first place with 41 points while TOU are second with 39 points and the Officials are third on 38 points.

In the Tuesday Morning League we saw leaders Bushwhackers beat Jacks on a Roll 5-1 and second placed Villans beat Cushags 4-2 while the third placed team Ramsey Raiders went down 4-2 to Early Birds. Maxums and Thru the Gap ended in a 3-3 draw and Onchan Royals beat Hillbillies 5-1. The end result of this is that Bushwhackers retain the lead on 74 points followed by Villans on 66 points and Ramsey Raiders on 64 points.

In the Friday afternoon Pairs League we saw the leaders Dragons take a 4-0 victory against Sunset Rollers and second placed High Jacks beat Powered by Prosecco also 4-0 while Celtic Thunder drew 2-2 with Low Rollers. In the remaining matches Cowley Cannonballs and OK drew 2-2 with Southpaws and Woodbourne Reds also playing out a 2-2 draw. Dragons now are clear at the top on 50 points followed by High Jacks on 38 points and Cowley Cannonballs on 32 points.

The Singles League saw Andy Foster beat Michelle Cowley 23–8 and Mike Moyer lose 23-3 to John Kewley while Rob Mathews beat Win Kewley 14-7 . In the remaining game of the night Mike Ashmole beat Gary Lenton 15-11 while Paul Cowley had a walkover because unfortunately Edward Carlyle is still out of action with a shoulder injury. This leaves Muriel Cain top on 27 points followed by Paul Cowley on 25 points and John Kewley on 24 points.

In the final night of the Premier Teams Competition we saw the Dragons Team who had already sealed the League win play Bay City Bowlers in a game that was won 4-2 by the latter team. Cheesemakers beat Ramsey Raiders 4-2 and Villans beat Saltire 5-1 while in the final game of the night DNA lost 5-1 to Birdies. The final league positions then are Dragons as Champions on 64 points followed by Bay City Bowlers on 58 points and Cheesemakers on 55 points.

This week also saw a preliminary round of the Island Indoor Bowling Pairs Championship and in that we saw reigning Champions Dee Lewis and David Quirk eliminated as they lost to Muriel Cain and Marcia Pearson, Pauline Cowley and Mary Manuja beat Jim and James Teare and the highly tipped pairing of Clive and Mark McGreal beat Colin Brown and Mike Ashmole.