Month: July 2024

The Bustards travelled to the picturesque Meyrick Park ground on a perfect day for bowls, to take on bottom of the league Broncos. It should be noted that this is their development side. Both rinks were very quick & seemed to have a straight side & a swing side.
Rink 4 – Tony, Rod & Geoff W33-8. A 5 on the first end got us off to a good start & we were never behind. After a 2 & a 4 on ends 5 & 6 we led 11-6. After 3 lost ends, we won 8 of the last 10, which included a 6. Apart from a 2, the home side only scored a 1 on 6 other ends. Well done guys, another brilliant performance.
Rink 3 – Muriel, John & Ivan W27-7. Again, we were never behind. For some reason the home team insisted on playing down the straight side & after 7 ends they were losing 10-2. We also won 8 of the last 10 ends, which included 2×5. The home team scored 1×3, 1×2 & 2×1, as they persisted with the straight side. This was the perfect response to last week’s poor performance, very well done.
Match score Bustards 60 v 15 Broncos, easily our best performance of the season. Bustards 6 points, Broncos 0 points. We remain second in the league, now 13 points (& 127 shots) ahead of the Kingfishers, but we are 14 points (& 89 shots) behind the Dolphins, who won their game in hand 6-0. There are 5 matches left, so there are 30 points still on offer. We also play the Dolphins at home in the season finale, so it’s not over yet!
Next Saturday is a bye week. The week after, we are at home to Solar Electric. Today’s winning team will remain unchanged. This match starts at 10am & the bar will be open from midday. All spectators welcome.
Ivan Buss 27th July 2024.

Unlike the away match, where we lost both rinks to half of their first team, today we faired much better against their normal side. The rooks had done their best to make a mess of the green, which after some light rain played very, very slow & bumpy.
Rink 3 – Tony, Rod & Geoff W24-8. Winning 10 out of the first 12 ends with two 3’s & a 4, we lead 18-2 after 12 ends & this one was never in doubt. 3 more ends were won on the home stretch, leading to a convincing 24-8 win. Well done guys, a brilliant performance.
Rink 4 – Muriel, Ivan & Lewis L12-25. Good job the other rink played so well, as this team were soundly thrashed. To be honest, we were lucky to win the 7 ends we did win! Scoring 5 shots over the last 3 ends helped make the score somewhat respectable (double figures) & helped us to win the match overall, but losing a 5 on end 8 & a pathetic 6 on end 14 to trail 7-22, was really embarrassing. We need to regroup & play much better than that next week.
Match score Bustards 36 v 33 Kingfishers, thanks to the boys on Rink 3. Bustards 4 points, Kingfishers 2 points. We remain second in the league, now 11 points ahead of the Kingfishers after today’s win, but 8 behind the Dolphins who also have a game in hand.
Next Saturday we are away to Bournemouth Broncos, who are bottom of league, but are good fun to play against & their ground is very picturesque.
Ivan Buss 20th July 2024.

This proved to be a very challenging morning. Both teams found the rinks to be inconsistent & hard to read, which resulted in a very close match.
Rink 5 – Tony, Rod & Geoff L15-16. Nip & tuck all match with each team winning 9 ends. We were behind until the 12th end when we led 12-10. Trailing 13-15 after an 3 on end 15, we rallied to 15-15 with one end to play. Lying 2, their skip played a brilliant last shot of the match, to take 1 shot & the win. Another great effort from our team, who were very unlucky not to take the win.
Rink 4 – Muriel, Ivan & Lewis W20-18. I decided to change the positions in the team around & after 4 ends we were winning 6-0. After end 5, the wheels came off, losing 3, 6 & 3 on the next 3 ends to be trailing 14-6. A 4 on end 9, closed the gap & we took the lead back 16-15 on end 14. A 3 on end 17 gave us a three shot cushion & we hung on to win 20-18. A really tough match & a very well deserved hard fought victory.
Match score Bustards 35 v 34 Panthers. Bustards 4 points, Dolphins 2 points. We remain second in the league.
Next Saturday we are at home to Knyveton Kingfishers. It’s a 10am start & the bar is open from midday. All spectators are very welcome.
Ivan Buss 13th July 2024.

Last weeks match against Swanage Seagulls was cancelled, due to our ground being flooded.

Under the comp rules, we have to mutually agree a date to play the match within 15 days. The Seagulls would not agree to any of the dates I offered, so the match was deemed to be a tie, 1 point each.
That meant we remained in second 8 points ahead of the Seagulls, but are now 12.5 points behind the Dolphins, who won 5.5 to 0.5.
Ivan Buss 13th July 2024.