Defending champion Kowloon Cricket Club began their journey for a record-breaking 15th top flight Lawn Bowls Premier League title with a flying start.
KCC beat Indian Recreation Club away in the first game of the new season, which started last weekend May 3. This year the team has been boosted with the recruitment of Hong Kong international Jerry Ng from arch-rival Kowloon Bowling Green Club. He joined the rink consisting top Hong Kong bowler Noel Kennedy and Ken Chan.
Despite an early setback, when they were trailing 5:2 after five ends, Kennedy’s team did not really face any problems throughout and finished the game comfortably at 32:11.
The same results happened in the team led by former Hong Kong International Danny Ho, who opened up a lead of 12:1 after seven ends. They won 22:10.
The only disappointment in KCC’s day was from the team skippered by former Hong Kong international Chadwick Chen. The team was leading by one shot into the last end and was holding another shot in this end. KC Ching of IRC took out KCC’s closest shot with his last bowl and the skipper JS Dhillon drew two more shots to win five in this end. Chen lost 19:15.
After the first game, Craigengower Cricket Club (CCC) lead the table with eight points after defeating the Police team at home. They are followed respectively by KCC, Hong Kong Football Club and Kowloon Bowling Green Club, who all have six points and are separated by shot difference.
Both KCC and CCC share the best record of top flight titles with 14 trophies each. KCC won four titles in the past seven years, while CCC’s latest achievement dates back to 1994.
Women’s Section
In the women’s Premier League, defending champion Hong Kong Football Club-A (HKFC-A) is having a similar fate to the men’s reigning champion when they could only beat B team clubmates 6:2.
The team is playing for their eighth consecutive title and has recruited top youth bowler Vivian Yip as reinforcement.
The HKFC team are now second on the table, a point less than the Island Lawn Bowls Club team that beat the Police on the first day.
Claudius Lam is an Officer with the Hong Kong Lawn Bowls Association.
