Hamstead & Baldwin take massive step towards Promotion
Hamstead and Baldwin took a massive step towards promotion from Division One of the Summit Garage Staffordshire Premier Bowls League in week 13. They both won away 9-3 to move clear of Triplex, who lost out 7-3 at Langley. Hamstead captain Craig Dugdale was “really pleased and proud of the boys performance on Monday. We talked before the game and thought there was a chance that both Baldwin and Triplex could win away potentially leaving us in third spot. We therefore knew we had to do something special at Woodfield, a green we don’t usually do well at but the team rose to the challenge and produced possibly our best performance of the season. We got off to a great start with three winners out of the first four to lead by 15 shots, two cards to mention in that first four, Ben Harris running out from 10-9 down (to get MVP and best winner) and Andy Sprason winning 15 from 14-8 down. The first card off in the last four was a 21-10 winner (Craig Dugdale to be best winner) putting us 26 shots up making it very difficult for Woodfield to come back from this, we had a further 11 winner and some good battling by our last two getting 16 and 17 to see us home by 27 shots with 5 winners. The Woodfield stalwarts, Nick and John Newey both played very well winning 17 and 13 respectively, John being best winner and Nick getting MVP. The recent weather certainly helped us as the Woodfield green was not running as it has been on our previous visits.”
Baldwin captain Jim Kernick said it “was a great term performance and a deserved victory at Victoria Park. Once again the heavens opened for another game of bowls, and probably suited us being the away side. However the green did seem to have a few tricks left in it. Best result and MVP for ourselves was debutant Karl Taylor who bowled very well on one particular mark winning to 8.” For the Park it was captain Stu Edwards who was best winner 12 and Chris Ward MVP for winning 18. Triplex lost out 7-3 at Langley to damage their promotion hopes, despite Matthew Caines being best winner and MVP 11. For the home side it was Kris Norgrove best winner 11 and Jonathan Blakeman MVP for winning 15. Belmont Services beat Bradmore 7-3 to keep their chances of avoiding bottom spot alive. Best winners were Richard Staley, James Southern and Kevin Starkey all 11, but captain Brian Jordan got MVP for winning 16. For the visitors it was Dave East best winner and MVP 6.
Hamstead are 3 ahead of Baldwin and another 6 ahead of Triplex. Joe Bown is one win ahead of Ben Harris, and Jonathan Blakeman has won the most MVPs with 6.
| Won | Agg | Pts | Home Team | Division One | Away Team | Pts | Agg | Won | H | A | CH | PP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 147 | 7 | Langley | V | Triplex | 3 | 137 | 3 | ✓ | |||
| 5 | 141 | 7 | Belmont Services | V | Bradmore | 3 | 125 | 3 | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| 3 | 124 | 3 | Woodfield | V | Hamstead | 9 | 151 | 5 | ✓ | |||
| 3 | 131 | 3 | Victoria Park | V | Baldwin | 9 | 154 | 5 | ✓ |
