Winning week for Henley

Henley visited Pangbourne last Wednesday in a five mixed triples OTL match which started at 6pm. As it was still a very hot day, it was decided that the game would be played over fifteen rather than eighteen ends, no trial ends and only 1 shot counting on the first two ends. Having only just lost the home fixture, Henley did not want to let Pangbourne claim the double, and fortunately, managed to win on three rinks with an overall score of 66-45 giving them 10 league points to Pangbourne’s 4. Henley’s highest winning rink was skip Joan Edwards, with lead Ken Rumens and number two Pete Falle. They had a steady and comfortable win only losing four ends to triumph 18-4. Kevin Browne, with Angelika Crisa and Peter Watkins raced to a 5-0 lead  after four ends and with the help of picking up a couple of 3s, comfortably held on to win 15-8. Peter Menhinick, aided by excellent bowling from lead, Nigel Bridges and number two, Sally Daniells had a great start to lead 7-0 after four ends and from then on contested an equal game to also win 15-8. However, Simon Hatcher, with Andrea Tate and Norman Daniells had a very different match. Their rink 1 was being used for the first time this year and as feared, played inconsistently and despite leading 4-0 early on and with some valiant bowling from Daniells and Tate, the skip failed to follow suit and lost the next six ends to trail 4-6 and were eventually defeated 8-10. Paul Scrivens, with Romy Painter and Peter Borsberry started slowly to trail 0-6 after four ends. After this, they started to read the green better and the comeback was well and truly on, leading 8-6 after nine ends. However, their opponents rallied well and Henley only won one more end and lost 10-15.

On Saturday (15 August), Henley entertained Reading in a five mixed triples OTL match with Henley winning on three rinks and losing on two with a convincing overall score of 94-60 giving them 10 OTL points and Reading 4. Highest winning rink was skip Joan Edwards  with lead Nigel Bridges and number two Hylton Jenkins. In a dominant display, they led 14-3 at the halfway point of nine ends and in the second half of the match they only dropped 1 more shot to coast to a 30-4 victory. Simon Hatcher, with Sally Daniells and Peter Borsberry, were always leading and although the number of ends won was close, Henley won ten and Reading eight, Henley won the match comfortably 23-10 as they were always picking up twos and threes but dropping only ones. Peter Menhinick, with Andrea Tate and Pete Falle, trailed 2-4 after three ends but then kicked into gear to be leading 14-5 at the halfway point. The second half of the match was level resulting in a 21-13 win to the home team. Kevin Browne, with Glynis Holland and Paul Scrivens were under the cosh and trailed 2-7 after six ends. However, they showed resilience and were back in the game with the scores  8-10 with four ends remaining but then lost them all to go down 8-14. Steve Cooper, with Angelika Crisa and Norman Daniells sprinted out of the blocks to be leading 4-0 after three ends but, facing a strong team, they were trailing 8-9 at the halfway stage. This game looked like it would be a very close one but from this point on, Henley could only win two more ends and lost 12-19. The return game at Reading comes very quickly next Wednesday evening and Reading will be looking to gain revenge then.

Henley visited Wargrave on Sunday (16 August) in a four mixed triples friendly match. With a slightly cooler day than had gone before, Henley won on 3 rinks and lost on 1 with an overall score of 89-52. Henley’s highest winning rink was skip Hylton Jenkins with lead Glynis Holland and number two Chris Swann. Henley only took three ends to work out the green and by the fourth end were 4-3 up. Over the next fourteen ends, they only lost 3 ends to Wargrave and dominated the game to win convincingly 32-6. Joan Edwards, with Dougie Duguid and Ian Ayres, had a great start with a 3 on the first end followed by a 4 on the fourth end and an 8 on the fifth to take a commanding 16-1 lead. Wargrave then pulled their game together a little to win seven of the remaining thirteen ends but never closed the gap significantly and Henley won 26-12. This was Joan’s third great win of the week. Paul Scrivens, with Susan Barbour and Keith Lawrance, were a little slower off the mark but took the lead by the fifth end at 5-3 and always stayed ahead. By the tenth end they were 13-3 ahead and eased up slightly only winning two of the remaining eight ends but still won comfortably 17-11. Captain for the day Kevin Browne, with Nicki Tulloch and Melinda Swann, took a friendlier approach to their game and dropped a 3 and a 4 on the first two ends. With some great bowling by Wargrave, Henley never really challenged them and although they closed the gap to 12-14 by the twelfth end, dropping a 5 on the fourteenth made it a forlorn task and they went down 14-23.