MIXED with other bowls results, Balmoral has made the top of the ladder for the first time since round two.

Heywood being the home side put up a valiant fight, but the Balmoral side was able to gather six more shots than the ‘woods.

Rick Angelino defeated Nev Trotman by two, Mick Swan lost to Peter Merryfull, 17-19, so the win by Tom Simons over the home team skipped by Angelino made the six-shot difference, Balmoral winning 53-47.

The other game that had an influence on the top rung was between Memorial and Hamilton.

The home side won on two rinks and the third game went to Hamilton, while Memorial still lost overall.

How did all that eventuate? Greg Hoggan defeated Bill Satchell, 28-24, Ken Evans defeated Norm Pech, 20-13, and the avalanche was against the Des Pitts team when Richard Martin won, 31-11.

As far as data is concerned, both Martin and Evans are the ones with six wins from seven games.

The 12 points dropped Hamilton down to second, as Balmoral got 14 for its win over Heywood.

Portland doubled Casterton’s score plus a few extra.

John Rappard 26 to Andy Alderton 13, Bob Bowden 28 to Neil Shannon 10, and Peter Cottier rolled up 32 to Styx Russell 18.

The win got Portland to within five points of Memorial.

Penshurst had another rock buster game, this time against Grangeburn.

Two of the rinks jumped away to good starts and the Robyn Thomassen team had Trev Landwehr well under control.

The wind burst changed things on that rink and with one end to go the scores were 24-24.

The home team rolled up a 3-0 end to go up 27-24.

David Cook defeated Prewey, 28-23, and to round up the seven, eight, nine-line, Cam Wilson won 29-10.

The ladder after one complete round is Balmoral 88, Hamilton 87, Memorial 69, Portland 64, Heywood 49, Penshurst 36, Grangeburn 31 and Casterton 24.

Division two

THE second division had two games won by four shots.

The ladder is very close at the top and then in the middle, although a fair way back.

Portland Gold was equal on the ladder with the Hamilton Gold side before this week, 80-80, with shots being the separator in Portland’s favour.

Memorial had a second northerner visit and had to submit to Hamilton Gold by one of the four shots mentioned.

Gerry Watt lost to Trev Schultz, 16-17, Leonie Buchanan likewise to Maurice Jolly 14-21, making Maurice’s team one of two to have won six of seven games this season.

Peter Fasoli then reversed the trend and defeated Allan Crane, 21-17.

Gold gathered 14 points after its dominant performance.

Macarthur put up a heck of a fight as well and the result came out as four shots in favour of Portland.

Clifton Tonissen drew with Tom Alexander, 24-24, as Alexander became the other six-game winner, and his team also has a draw to its name.

Jean Schroeder 14 to Barry Huppatz 26, and Anthony Bourke got 23 on the card to Daryl Alexander 15.

The ladder is Hamilton Gold 94, Portland Gold 93, Memorial 52, Portland Blue 49, Macarthur 31, and Hamilton Green 17.

Division three

IT was a light results sheet for Division three with only one result available and that was for the game between Hamilton and Coleraine.

The home side accounted for the visitors by 18 shots.

Jim Nichol lost to Allan Mcintosh, 12-25, Peter Clapham took care of Steve Cooper, 28-14, and Bill Edge had the big score with 31 to Vern Spencer 14.

One could speculate on ladder positions, but we do know that the three top sides have 60 plus points.

The Grangeburn and Memorial score was not available to report on.

Division four

WE know Coleraine is still on top of the ladder.

The side was at Hamilton with division three colleagues and played the Gold side.

For Gold, Kevin Buck rolled up seven to Paul Guy 26, and Miriam Tonissen 14 to Arthur Guy 24.

The win got Coleraine 14 points and kept the top rung safe.

Dartmoor awaited the arrival of Heywood and the welcome mat was set up for a win to the home side.

The team wins were however shared, but Dartmoor got the 10 winning points.

Ross Kerr with 20 lost to Thelma Hoggan 24, and Peter Holmes got to 31, leaving Rob Hamblin with only enough room to score eight.

In the most gorgeous bowling green surrounds at the Penshurst water garden, where the wind front came through and almost tore the trees behind the clubhouse down, the home side did exactly that to the Hamilton Green, 66-23. 

Ian Mclean, who couldn’t miss anything he was called to do by Nugget Linke, amassed 32 to Norn Schwarz 10, five of which were scored on the last two ends.

Basil Eales was in a similar vein with 34 to Neville Blackmore 13.

Great to see Michael Cameron back having a roll.

The final game to report on was between Macarthur and Casterton.

The home side being denied any ladder points.

Roger Moodie 12 to Charlie Palmer 23, and Carole Dunn defeated by Teresa Sealey, 14-21.

There were no results available for the Grangeburn-Balmoral game at the time of composing this report.