A new look Kowloon Cricket Club team consisting three of Hong Kong’s best bowlers failed to get the defending champions off to a flying start in the first game of the 2013 Hong Kong Lawn Bowls Association Premier League season. However, they do sit equal top in the standings.
KCC started their campaign at home against last season’s third-placed Indian Recreation Club (IRC) on Saturday April 27 under a cloudy sky with occasional gusty winds. In fact, it was quite fortunate that the game went ahead as Hong Kong experienced a lot of rainfall for the whole week leading up to the opening round.
All eyes were on the team led by former Hong Kong number one player Noel Kennedy as it includes two new recruits from arch-rival Kowloon Bowling Green Club, Ken Chan and Bernard Leung. Both Hong Kong internationals, Chan finished fifth in the World Cup two weeks ago and Leung is considered one of the best front men in town.
Kennedy was drawn to play against ex-KCC team-mate Dawood Karamdin, who moved to IRC a few seasons ago. The game was a tight affair and was level at 13:13 on the 15th end.
The turning point was on the 16th end when IRC player Benson Fung succeeded in hitting the jack to hold three shots. Kennedy failed to cut down the loss with his two draws, while Karamdin added two shots to the head. KCC lost a five in this end.
Kennedy pulled one back in the following end, but was still trailing four shots in the last end.
The KCC team played some risky shots in search of a late victory, but the efforts did not materialise into valuable points. Karamdin won the game 20:14.
On the other two rinks, JS Dhillon from IRC surrendered a 10-shot lead to Chadwick Chen and lost by a single shot. Meanwhile, KCC’s Danny Ho beat APS Grewal convincingly at 19:9.
While the overall result of 6:2 was not too bad for KCC—as none of the other teams gained full points on the day—the defecting highly rated players had not sparked a clean-sweep.
The table is led by four teams who all secured 6:2 victories on the first day, with newly promoted Island Lawn Bowls Club topping the table by a better shot difference. KCC are fourth in the table.
Women’s Section
For the ladies, defending champion Hong Kong Football Club (HKFC) played out a similar fate to the men’s champion when they can only beat their B Team club-mates 6:2. They are now second on the table, two points less than the KCC team that beat Seabird Sports Club on the first day.
Former HKFC top bowler and Hong Kong international Tammy Tham began her life at Club de Recreio with a victory, despite the team losing 3:5 on the overall results against Craigengower Cricket Club.
Claudius Lam is an Officer with the Hong Kong Lawn Bowls Association.
