The Plumbmaster Limited Rayner Shield final between Castletown A and South Ramsey A was held at Marown Bowling Club on Friday evening on a superb surface.  

The draw took place ahead of the match, with a light-hearted preview posted to generate a bit of interest.  

There was a good crowd in attendance to watch events unfold on a fine evening for bowls with good support for both teams.  

League leaders South Ramsey were the clear favourites on the night, but the Town men would have been hoping to pull off a huge upset. 

First off the green for South Ramsey was David Bradford who stormed to a 21-1 win over Town captain Jordan Drewett, with the game finished in only 16 ends.  

Next off was Peter Collister who put in a solid display to beat Nathan Hamilton 21-8, scoring seven twos and conceding only eight singles on his way to victory. 

The last two games of the first half were good to watch, with Nathan Cooil leading 11-6 and 12-8 against Dido Kelly only for a subtle change in tactics from the latter which saw the South Ramsey man score 13 of the next 15 chalks to run out with a 21-14 win. 

The final game of the first half was between Bob Clark and Aaron Richardson. The South Ramsey man a big favourite to win but Richardson was quickest out of the blocks performing brilliantly to take a 13-0 lead, with the South Ramsey man not doing a lot wrong in the early exchanges of the game.  

Clark closed the deficit to seven chalks at 7-17, only for the Town man to pick up three singles to lead 17-7. The South Ramsey man dug deep, scoring eight chalks to close the deficit to only two chalks at 8-17.  

Clark scored two doubles to take the lead for the first time in the game at 19-18 and was counting two for game only for Richardson to play a superb last bowl to level the game up at 19-19.  

A single was scored by the Town man on the following end, with Clark playing a crucial last bowl to save game. With Richardson 20-19 up, Clark scored his eighth double of the game to win 21-20 in a compelling game to watch.  

Richardson won more ends (18-13) in the game, a lot of credit must go to the Town man who put in a great performance, playing the right bowls throughout the game. 

At the halfway stage South Ramsey were 4-0 up with a commanding 43-chalk lead, so it would take something special to win all four games and pull back the chalks. 

The first game off the green in the second half of the match officially sealed the win for South Ramsey, as Jordan Cain won 21-16 against Dean Kinley. But after leading 15-1 the South Ramsey man was on the receiving end of a fightback from Kinley who closed the deficit to four chalks at 13-17.  

With Cain counting for one Kinley struck and missed, gifting Cain a golden opportunity to score two which he pounced on to take the game away from Kinley at 19-13. Kinley went on to score a double and a single, only for Cain to secure the win with two singles. 

With the pressure now off both teams, one of the more experienced Castletown players Ian Watson was up against James Teare, with Watson taking a 10-4 lead.  

A good scoring run from Teare saw the players tie at 12, 13 and 15, with Watson making his move to score five chalks and lead 20-15, with a double from Teare to put the score at 17-20.  

The Town man secured the one chalk needed to get a Castletown win on the board with a 21-17 victory. 

The last two games finished within moments of each other as Glynn Hargraves took an early 7-1 lead against David Quayle, only for the Town man to level up at 8-8. The South Ramsey captain kept his opponent to four more singles to secure a 21-12 win. 

The last game on the green was youth versus experience, but both players are known to be fairly vocal on the green and love to have a strike so the game soon become one that the spectators couldn’t help but watch. 

George Foy, who is still plying his trade for the A Team, is the last remaining man from the league and Rayner Shield winning team in 1996, and hit all four strikes on his way to beating Stefan Kelly 21-12 to secure a second win for the Town men. 

The presentation was made by competition committee officer, who thanked Plumbmaster for sponsoring the competition, Marown Bowling Club for the use of the green and their club members for assisting throughout the evening.  

The Rayner Shield was presented to South Ramsey captain Glynn Hargraves who congratulated Castletown on reaching the final who had put up a spirited performance, and went on to congratulate his team for a solid performance.  

South Ramsey’s win was their eighth success in the competition, retaining the shield for a fourth consecutive season. 

GLYNN HARGRAVES