Milford Haven 55 (2 Points) Tenby 84.75 (12 Points)
23rd April 2016
The start of the new season is already upon us and maybe its my age that makes it seem like yesterday that we were in Pembroke Dock playing our last league game of the 2015 season. 2015 witnessed Tenby beat the Pembrokeshire record of 7 consecutive league titles by making it 8 in a row under the Captaincy of Joe Richards. Least we forget that Tenby also lost in the final of the Carruthers Shield. Therefore, with the exception of winning the league again and winning the Carruthers Shield, the team / club cannot exceed last years’ achievements. Unfortunately, the team had only 13 players from their squad of 22 but under the rules, could still field a side without having to incur a penalty of 6 points.
Rink 1. The first triples combined Mike Jackson and John Roberts aided by current County Pairs Winner and Under 25 International squad member Liam Price who has joined the club from Whitland. They were pitted against Lee Power, an excellent young player who has recently returned to play for the Milford Club. John’s team raced off with three 2’s, but then dropped a sequence of 3, 4, 3 to trail at six ends (6-10). However, such an experienced triple was always likely to respond and that they did by winning seven of the next eight ends by a score of 11 shots to 1. At fifteen ends, the score was in favour of Tenby by 19-12. A late rally by Lee Power’s rink saw them lose the game 21-18 but with the 25% deduction for fielding three players, Tenby lost the game, 15.75 to 18.
Rink 2. The formidable trio of Aaron Lloyd, Peter Day and Andrew Muskett were matched against the returning former County Skip, Ernie Sturley. To be fair to the Milford Haven rink, I would not have liked to play against these three, so comfortable and in tune with each other they are. Racing off to an 8-2 lead after 5 ends, the onslaught began in earnest with the Tenby rink outscoring the Milford rink by 8-1 over the next 5 ends to lead 16-3. The following 5 ends, saw a return of 10-1 (26-4) and the final six ends saw the Milford rink finish with honours even 5-5. Therefore, a final score of 31-9. However, 25% would be deducted from the Tenby team due to them playing with three players, but a win assured despite the penalty.
Rink 3. The final triple of the hero of RTB Ebbw Vale match last year, Kieran Peregrine together with new partners of Chris Court and Cameron White played against Roy Thomas who played with a very strong rink of which comprised the returning Jim Carter and Dave Buchannan. A bad start saw the triple fall behind by 1-7. However, a recovery over the next five ends saw them take the lead, 9-8. This lead was extended by 2 shots over the next five ends (15-13) despite dropping a count of four shots on the 15th end. The Milford rink seemed to be looking strong to claim the 2 points (considering the 25% deduction for playing three players) when, on the 20th end, Kieran played a great bowl to make a count of 8 shots to extend his lead by 10 shots. The win was confirmed on the last end by taking a further count of 4 shots. Final score was 29-15.
Rink 4.The new Tenby Captain, Paul Diment played with Junior International and last years Captain, Joe Richards together with Dai Rees and Fred Broomhead. They played against the experienced Tony Ellyatt. In similar vein to the Andrew Muskett team, the rink took control early in the game and at five ends, led 8-3 which was increased at ten ends (15-5) and then at fifteen ends (19-8). Once again, identical to the Andrew Muskett score, the rink drew the final six ends, five a piece meaning a winning score of 24-13.
Conclusion:
I have always held the opinion that if you restrict the opposition to counts of 1’s and2’s, then you will always stand a great chance of winning individual rinks. Therefore, upon analysis the following facts are interesting. Kieran conceded a 3 and 4 whilst taking two counts of 4 shots a three and an eight. John Roberts conceded three counts of 3 and a count of 4. In return, John took two counts of ‘3’. Andrew Muskett dropped one count of 3 shots whilst taking a count of 3 and 4 in return. Paul Diment did not drop any counts over 2 shots and looking at his offence, took a count of 3 and 4.Therefore this week’s awards are:
Best Defensive display: (Paul Diment, Joe Richards, Fred Broomhead and Dai Rees)
Best offensive performance: (Cameron White, Chris Court and Kieran Peregrine)
Shot of the Day: Kieran Peregrine (making a count of eight shots)
This was a very good start against a strong Milford Haven team despite having 3 players short. Many teams will struggle against the Milford team and they seem to be a team once again to be feared. Tenby play against Haverfordwest at home tomorrow and once again a strong performance will be required.