Chester Road start their winter campaign with successive wins

The Roaders, boosted by new recruits Martin Lloyd and father and son Carl and Ben Hinton, recorded two wins during opening week of the District Invitation Winter League on the back green at the Whitchurch club. But it was Chris Nicholson who led the way with a 21-9 card as they beat Elephant & Castle 8-2 (112-91 on chalks) in the first fixture in the four singles and two doubles competition.

The Roaders followed that up 48 hours later with an 8-2 (104-91) romp against Wem USC, Gary Beff & Steve Rogers winning one of the doubles clashes 21-5 to help their side go top of the early table.

Reigning champions District A started with a 7-3 (113-93) success over Malpas Sports on Friday while District A got off to a winning start too as they edged E & C 9-4 (107-104) and Bridgewater and Adderley drew 5-5.

This week’s fixtures see District A take on Bridgewater tonight, Malpas Sports meet E & C tomorrow, Adderley face Wem USC on Thursday before Chester Road look to power on at the peak with a big win over District B on Friday.

League official Jamie Brookes, armed with an in-depth risk assessment as Covid-19 refuses to release its grip, said: “The same eight teams from last year are competing and will play each other four times.

“But we will be playing games on a Monday night for the start of the season to combat the possibility of a bad weather stopping play during the winter.”

n Bowls clubs in Shropshire and Wales have been given the green light to carry on playing, despite the reduction to the number of people allowed in social gatherings to six from 30.

Many feared that the cut in numbers, introduced yesterday, would curtail action on greens. But Mark Bircumshaw, the CEO of the sport’s governing body the BCGBA, said: “Clubs can continue to offer organised bowling activity in a Covid-safe manner.”