Category: Results

Another beautiful day for bowls on the best green we’ve played on this season. Fast & true, it was a pleasure to play on.
Rink 3 – Tony, Rod & Geoff W17-15. 7-14 down after 11 ends, this one looking like it was slipping away. Then we managed to win 6 ends in a row to lead 17-14 & despite losing the last end won 17-15. Thanks to Rod for guesting & well done gentleman on an excellent comeback victory.
Rink 2 – Lewis, Muriel & Ivan W19-9. We were never behind in this match, but it was too close to call until the 17th end, when we collectively played a brilliant end & scored 6 shots. Another excellent team performance.
Match score Bustards 36 v 24 Gulls. All 6 points to the Bustards. With three straight six point wins, we are now second in the league behind runaway leaders Swanage Dolphins.
Next week we have our third away game in a row, when we travel to Highcliffe Leopards, who are currently ninth.
Ivan Buss 8th June 2024.

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Another lovely day for bowls (apart from the gale force wind), on an excellent playing surface. SE were second in the league, but due to mix up, only five players turned up.
Rink 5 – Tony, Paul & Geoff W27-11. Playing against two opponents was a new experience for our team & it took a while to get going, but once they did, 3×3, 2×4 & a 6 on the last end saw the team through to a big win. Well done, an excellent team performance.
Rink 4 – Lewis, Muriel & Ivan W20-15. Having lost 7 ends in a row & losing 5-10 after 10 ends, we finally woke up, scoring 14 shorts over the next 4 ends to lead 19-10. Well done on a great recovery.
Match score Bustards 47 v 26 Solar. All 6 points to the Bustards. With two straight six point wins, we have moved up to third in the league.
Next week we travel to second bottom Poole Park Gulls & we are one short. If you are available to play, please kindly let me know asap.
Ivan Buss 1st June 2024.

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A perfect day for bowls, warm, dry & sunny and a green that played really well. Congratulations to the green keeping team.
Rink 5 – Tony, Paul & Geoff. W24-15. A great team performance, with everyone at times playing some excellent bowls. Winning 5 ends in a row from ends 3 to 7 scoring 11 shorts did the early damage & a 3 & a 4, on ends 9/10 sealed the deal. Ends won 11/7.
Rink 6 – Lewis, Muriel & Ivan. W15-14. After 7 ends the score was 7-5. Then we played a brilliant end, scoring 6 shots. We should really have won by more, but we got a bit sloppy near the end, losing 9 shots on the last 4 ends. Both teams won 9 ends. Again, another good team performance.
Match result: Bustards 39 v 29 Broncos. All 6 points go to the Bustards.
Next week we travel to play second in the league Solar Electric, with an unchanged side.
Ivan Buss 25th May 2024.

No sign of the threatened thunderstorms, which was good news as the green appeared to have been watered. Having said that, it was still quick & played really well.
Rink 2 – Lewis, Muriel, Ivan. Lost 13-17. We were 10-6 up after 10 ends & 13-12 up after 15 ends where we got a brilliant wick to go from 5 down to 3 up! Sadly, on the 17th end, we had an unlucky wick & went from 1 down to 3 down, effectively sealing our fate. Considering we only won 6 ends, this was a good team effort.
Rink 1- Paul, Alan, Geoff. Lost 11-25. Another tough day at the office, but never gave up & reached double figures on the last end, having lost a 6 on the 17th end. A good effort, against a very strong trio.
The Kingfishers are also struggling for players, so they had to use a couple of players who normally play at a higher standard, which included their men’s first team captain! They have also had to decommission one of their greens, which looked very sad.
Match result Bustards 24-42 Kingfishers. All six points to the Kingfishers. We are now down to eighth, one place above the relegation zone.
Next week we are home to Bournemouth Broncos. The bar is open from midday. All spectators are very welcome.
Ivan Buss 18th May 2024.
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  On what looks like being the last day of summer, the Bustards took on what proved to be a very strong Panthers team, with lots of short ends on a very slow green.
Rink 6 – Lewis, Muriel, Ivan. Lost 11-13. This was the one that got away. From 2 up to 1 down on end 10 & 1 down to 3 down on end 5, did the damage. We won the last two ends, but couldn’t quite pull it back.
Rink 5 – Rosemary, Alan, Geoff. Lost 7-23. A tough day at the office against a trio on top form.
Match result Bustards 18-36 Panthers. All six points to the Panthers.
Next week we are away to Knyveton Kingfishers, looking to bounce back with a good win on the road.
Ivan Buss 11th May 2024.
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The Bustards made the long trip South to face Swanage Seagulls, in their first match of the season. Both rinks were both wet & bumpy, so not the easiest to play on, but who cares when the sun is shining & you can play in shirt sleeves.

Rink 1 – Tony, Paul & Ivan played a good, solid game & comfortably won 19-8. They won 12 ends to 6, with no more than 2 shots won on any end.

Rink 2 – Rosemary, Alan & Geoff took control of their match with a 5 & a 6 on ends 10/11. They finished up with an excellent 21-13 victory.

Overall score: Downton 40 v 21 Swanage. Downton 6 points, Swanage 0 points.

Our next match is at home to Highcliffe Panthers next Saturday, with a 10am start. All spectators welcome & the bar is open from midday.

The Dragons are winners in 2023

The Downton Dragons have won league 5A of the Bournemouth and District Morning Triples league and have been promoted to league 4. They will receive their trophy at the B&D Presentation Dinner.

The main Downton Dragons team is as follows: Steve Allen(Captain) Charles Burrows (Vice Captain) Neil Gillespie, Colin Morris, Cathy Burrows, Dawn Allen, Lynda Hale, John James and Nick Purkis. Simon Stacey and Geoff Warr also played one match for us.

Steve Allen

Downton Captain

The last match of the season pitted 3rd place Bustards against bottom of the league Falcons. Although there was only pride to play for, both rinks produced some great shots, on what was probably our best green of the year; and the sun came out!
Rink 1 – Rosemary, Alan & Geoff. Nine rinks each, but a four to start & a six to finish, gave our team the edge in a 23-13 win.
Rink 2 – Ivan, Muriel & Cathy. A close game until a winning six end streak mid match put the home team in control. A four & a five also helped, as we won eleven ends & the match 22-13.
Overall score – Bustards 45 v 26 Falcons. Downton 6 points, Falcons 0 points.
In my first season as captain, I would like to thank Cathy, Paul, Muriel, Alan, Rosemary, Geoff, Tony & Lewis for playing for the Bustards, for playing so well throughout the season & for the support & commitment they have given me. Coming third & winning 11 out of 14 matches, is a great achievement. Thank you & well done.
Congratulations to Lyndhurst & Swanage on their promotion. As they were the only teams to beat us all season, they thoroughly deserved it.
Congratulations also to the Dragons, who have won division 5a. Well played team.
Ivan Buss – 2nd September 2023.

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 The Bustards travelled to Bournemouth for our final away game of the season. We have got to know several of the Bournemouth players really well this season, as they switch their players between the Broncos & the Buffalos. Their players are good fun, they like coming to Downton & we have really enjoyed playing our four matches against them.
The green was very wet when we arrived after heavy overnight rain, but luckily the match started in bright sunshine. Sadly, after an hour or so, we had a heavy shower & had to leave the green for a few minutes. When we came back on, we managed to play 15/18 ends before the heavens opened & the match was abandoned, with the result at that point to stand.
Rink 1 – Rosemary, Alan & Geoff. If we had only played the minimum 12 ends, this match would have been lost, but after 15 ends the score was level 11-11. Well done on fighting back to get an important point.
Rink 2 – Paul, Ivan & Cathy. A four on the second end, set the trend & after 15 ends the score was 18-10, with our trio having won 9/15 ends.
Overall score – Bustards 29 v 21 Buffalos. Downton 5 points, Buffalos 1 point.
With Highcliffe losing today, we are now guaranteed to finish third. Congratulations to all of the Bustards squad members, on winning 10 out of 13 matches, with one to go.
Final game of the season is at home to bottom of the league Branksome Park Falcons next Saturday (2/9), with a 10am start. The bar will be open from midday, so why not come along to support the team, enjoy the match & have an end of season beer with us.
Ivan Buss – 26th August 2023.

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Match Report 26th August 2023

With Dawn and Charles both recovering from hospital operations and Neil unavailable we had to call upon Simon , John and Nick to replace them. We were playing top of the league Highcliffe D. It was without doubt one of the toughest matches we played this season with the lead changing back and forth during the games.

John, Cathy and Nick managed to win the last end to win 14 shots to 11 shots.

Steve, Simon and Colin went down by six shots on the second end but slowly climbed back up to draw and then overtake the opponent to win the game by one shot 22 shots to 21.

We are now top of the league with one more match to play. If we win this match we will be promoted!

Hoorah!

Steve Allen