THE Sunday morning Men’s Triples commenced their 2009 league fixtures in a mild overcast morning with a strong South West crosswind, which made bowling very difficult at times.

After paying a minute’s silence tribute to the memory of Denis Richards, Falmouth’s longest serving member who died earlier in the week, the bowls got underway, with some very close encounters occurring across the green.

Leaders Falmouth’s Waisters, skipped by David Perrin, John Maunder number two and Paul Jordan leading, were against Redruth’s Reds, skipped by Rodney Richards, Mike Pheby number two and Sam Cann leading.

After some very wayward bowling from both teams, the Reds were first to settle and soon had a 6-0 lead after five ends, but by the 11th end the Waisters had recovered to tie the game at 7-7.

Immediately the Reds picked up five shots on the next end followed by a 1-2 to put the Waisters in trouble with the Reds 15-7 up with four ends to play and an upset looked a certainty. But the Waisters staged a real fightback and took the last four ends with 4-2-3-1 to take the game from the Reds to win 17-15. The Waisters had really got out of jail.

Falmouth/Chacewaters Frostbites, skipped by David Winnan, Chris Instance number two and Paddy McMullen leading were up against a strong Helston team, the Dancers, skipped by Russell Dawes, Terry Channon number two and Derek Summers leading.

This promised to be a very close game and so it proved to be with both teams level at 6-6 after seven ends. The Dancers then took the lead for the first time to lead 7-6 after eight ends, but the Frostbites were then stung into action and won the next five ends to take a 13-7 lead after 13 ends.

The Dancers were not defeated yet as they fought back to take a 2-1-2 on the last three ends, but finished one shot in arrears as the Frostbites won 15-14. What a great game.

Stithians Ranchers, led by Harry Barnes, Edwin Watson number two and John Knowles leading, soon took a 10-2 lead after seven ends against Falmouth’s Jets, led by John Jones, Melville Angel number two and John Daly at lead.

The Ranchers then moved ahead to lead 18-7 after 15 ends, but the Jets managed to win the last three ends with 2-3-2 but could not catch the Ranchers who won 18-14.

Falmouth’s Packets led by John Bobin, John Bishop number two and Doug Moyle leading took a 12-3 lead after ten ends against Mawnan’s Brass Monkies, led by Christ Gee, Tony Stevenson number two and Don Hall leading.

The Brass Monkies made a mini recovery to take a 3-1, but the remaining ends in the match were evenly shared, leaving the Packets winners 17-10.

A bottom of the league clash between Carnon’s Cavaliers, skipped by Doug Thomas, Peter George number two and Rick Blunden leading and Bickford Smiths Miners, led by Alan Odgers, Ray Hocking number two and Bill Bingham at lead, looked to be an interesting struggle.

First away the Miners took an 8-3 lead after seven ends. However, Carnon soon found some good form and proceeded to take the next six ends in succession to take a 17-8 lead leaving the Miners with a mountain to climb in the last five ends, which proved beyond them and when the Cavaliers took another four shots on the 16th end, that was the end and the Carnon Cavaliers went on to win 23-11, leaving the Miners wondering what went wrong after such a promising start.

Results – Brass Monkies (Mawnan) C Gee 10, Packets (Falmouth) J Bobin 17; Ranchers (Stithians) H Barnes 18, Jets (Falmouth) J Jones 14; Frostbites (Chacewater/Falmouth) D Winnan 15, Dancers (Helston) R Dawes 14; The Reds (Redruth) R Richards 15, Waisters (Falmouth) D Perrin 17; Carnon Cavaliers D Thomas 23, Miners (Bickford Smith) A Odgers 11.