On a pleasant Saturday afternoon, we headed up the valley to play Llanhilleth in this Friendly which was arranged only a few days notice. Llanhilleth don’t have a second team so this was a good opportunity for us to play someone different and make new friends!
On a rather tricky green, Llanhilleth edged ahead by 7 shots after 5 ends, extending that to 10 shots on 10 ends, 13 shots on 15 ends, with Llanhilleth finally running out winners by 21 shots – 67-46.
On rink 1, gentleman Keith Davies, the remarkable Malcolm Goldie, with his partner in crime John Sheldon and the dependable Alan Taylor were behind 3-6 on 5 ends to A. Green, M. Blancher, A. Chiswell, T. Transir, it was 6-12 on 10 ends, before the mister men narrowed the gap to 13-11 on 15 ends, before eventually losing 16-13.
On rink 2, the four of Richard Beaugie, Beynon Jones, Andrew Willmott and Richie Jones trailed Llanhilleth’s C. Jones, T. Phelps, I. Jenkins, and R. Daniels 4-3 on 5 ends, 10-6 on 10 ends, 13-10 on 15 ends before the Llanhilleth rink secured a 16-11 win.
On rink 3, the mister men foursome of Martyn (Spanner) Watkins, Phil Huntley, Alan Elliott, and Tom Guy took on J. Parker, H. Meek, G. Jones and Laurence Jefferies. The “Athletic men” didn’t trouble the scorers in the opening 5 ends dropping 5 consecutive singles, but came back to trail 8-4 on 10 ends. Llanhilleth won 3 of the next 5 ends including a “5” on the 14th end to lead 15-6 on 15 ends, before they won comfortably 18-8.
On rink 4, the front end pairing of new bowlers Simon Webb, Jamie Roberts, played with in form Sean Kenvyn, and reliable skipper and Capitan Ian Collier who led Llanhilleth’s M. Sheen, B. Jones, J. Jenkins, and G. McCarthy 3-5 on 5 ends, and 6-10 on 10 ends, before the home team narrowed the defect to 12-13 and with a “4” on the 16th end the Llanhilleth men won narrowly 17-14.
The mister men thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon and thank Llanhilleth for their hospitality and wish them a successful season.