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Weekly Match Reports
Week 3 - Thursday, 21 May, 2026
Match Reports for 2026
I’d like to apologise for not providing a match report for the first and second matches of the season. The first match was when I was touring with the Burford Bowls Club in Norfolk, and as the tour organiser, I could not find the time to write the report. The next day after returning, I developed a form of influenser, which laid me up for a few days and although I feel better, I’m still not back to my normal self. Fridays for the last two weeks have largely been a need to correct the software which I use for collecting the results and altering the league tables accordingly. At this busy time of year, I found last week was difficult to catch up on all the work I take on, but thankfully, I have caught up and the week 3 match report is below:
Week 3 – 21 May matches
Last year's Champion contenders have all started well in division 1 with Carterton A leading as a result of Headington and Banbury Central playing one game less. Carterton had a close game this week, away against Adderbury and won three rinks which led to 5 points, although Adderbury were only 5 shots adrift at the end, thanks mainly to the good win from Kev Myton’s rink, beating Sharmy by 24 shots to 9. Headington beat Oxford C & C by 86-54. Howard Watts set the pace with a blistering 31 shot win from his team against C. Scott’s rink. Andrew Eastgate’s rink showed some resistance by securing a point after a 19-13 win, so the game finished a win , 5-1 to Headington. Despite their good start in Div 1, Chipping Norton, lost to Kidlington, even with local advantage on their quick green by 65(1 pt) – 79(5 pts). Graham Box secured the one point for Chippy by beating Jim Feeley’s rink 20-9, whilst the other three rinks slipped past the 20 shot target which led to three rink wins.
Division 2 started as predicted, as all teams are capable of beating any of the others and after 2 games, South Oxford are the only team to produce 2 wins at this stage. The South Oxford team narrowly beat Witney Mills by 6 shots to take the 2 points after each team won 2 rinks each. Dave Tidball had the best rink for the Oxford club winning 23-4, whilst Les Days had the highest rink for the Millers by 25-15. The match ended as a 4-2 win for South Oxford. There was another 4-2 win at Banbury Borough for their guests Carterton B, with Darren Wakeman skipping for a 24-7 win over their opponents. The margin was 58-72 in favour of the Carterton team . In the third game of div 2, West Witney hosted a match against Burford, who mastered the green better than their opponents and achieved a 5-1 win. Bob Parker, for the visitors rink, managed to beat Kevin Alder’s rink by 20-6 and both John Hurren and Jack Lafford managed to win close games to secure the points for the third win. The overall score was 71-63 in favour of Burford.
In Div 3, only one team again managed to win both their first matches, and that was Banbury Chestnuts. They took the top spot of the league table by beating Headington B by 4½ - 1½ in a close match where there were only 3 shots between them. Daryl Wall had the best rink win, with 23 shots to 15. Whilst S Rogers and Ian Kibblewhite shook hands for a draw. Steve Gould secured a full point for Headington with a 20-10 win against Rus Vircaus’s rink.
Witney Town beat a West Oxford side by 22 shots with Gary Panon’s rink getting a 28-15 score. The Witney Team picked up a 5-1 win and look to do well in this division this year. Charlbury also claimed a stake in the title race with a 5-1 win at Bicester. Captain Chris Beard led the way with a 20-10 win and a 21 shot lead for Charlbury at the end indicated they were a team to be reckoned with.
Finally in Division 4, we saw our first 100 plus score, virtue of the Thame team who secured a 106(6pts) – 27 (0 pts) and rightfully claimed the league leader’s spot. All the Thame players played well to amass such a big score and it would be wrong to single out any particular Thame player. Hanborough will need to re-group and start again next week, to lose their memories of this game.
Bloxham had a close encounter with Banbury Central B’s side and the honours went to Bloxham for their 2 shot win, gaining 3½ points overall. Des Jones had the highest winning rink for Bloxham of 25-7 shots. Glen Mullard saved the overall score for Central by beating Ian Jackman’s rink by 26-12. The third game in the league was between Oxford C & C B and Witney Town B and the narrowest win was achieved by the Witney team, even after losing 25% of their score on one rink, due to a missing player. It is rare that the 2 points for the win goes to a team with a ¼ shot advantage at the finish. This match wins my weekly “naughty boys” label, as one card was barely legible and the other hasn’t arrived yet. From the information I could read, the match ended 59 shots and 2 points for the Oxford team and 59¼ shots and 4 points went to the Witney team. County President, Alan Scholan set the right example to his team-mates by winning his rink 20-9.
Finally, may I draw your attention to the information I place on the county website this year, as a new method of displaying the results and tables was necessary. Gone are the four tabs for divisions and the current information can be seen by opening the two new tabs labelled “OBL weekly scores” and “BOL current tables”.
I hope you can gain all the information you want. John.