WBA Carruthers Shield matches have been the early season fare for Penarth Bowling Club, with captain Phil Davies and his trusty teammates firstly having to contend with the visit of local rivals Murch.

New member Colin Grant took no prisoners and showed little mercy for his former colleagues with a convincing 18-10 victory. He was ably assisted by son Robert, Roger Gidman and Terry Buckingham.

Bob Hill, another ex Murcher, was keen to repeat the feat, but just failed to overhaul his former clubmates despite picking up eight shots on the last four ends. His rink eventually succumbed 19-21.

Both the Bob Lewis and Dave Dalby rinks managed to rattle up 30 shots each, winning by 30-9 and 30-8 respectively.

The overall winning margin of 49 shots was a very positive start to the WBA campaign for Penarth.

Winning ways continued on Saturday when, on a severely windswept Cadoxton green, Penarth secured an 89-77 victory. Conditions were described as the 'windiest ever' experienced, resulting in the cap worn by lead Tony Thomas disappearing over the adjacent clubhouse and never to be seen again. Three successful rinks were skipped by Clive Fry (24-19), Dave Clements (22-18) and Dave Dalby (26-18). Colin Grant's rink went down 17-22.

This win leaves an all important and much more testing visit to Caerau Athletic this coming weekend. Difficult opposition will provide a real challenge for the Rectory Road boys and a win is a must if they are to have any chance of progressing to the knockout stages of the competition.

PG2 games continued over the last two weekends, with both games resulting in defeats against Cardiff (71-82) and St Fagans (56-122). Rumour has it that captain Lawrence is to issue an abacus to certain rinks to assist the score keeping. After St Fagans, things can only get better!

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