HONG KONG—The top two teams leading the Premier League table both won their fixtures last weekend, Saturday August 29, to continue their push for the title.
Kowloon Bowling Green Club-A, who lost the title to their neighbour Kowloon Cricket Club in the last two seasons, were at home against their clubmates team-B.
Heron Lau of KBGC Team A said: “It is always hard to play against our B team as they know the green too well.”
As expected, Lau’s team struggled on the newly laid green early in the match, trailing club-mate Colin Nam until the 11th end. Then Lau’s team-mate picked up the pace and got more bowls into the head, allowing Lau to play some heavy shots and get results in their favour. His team won 11 shots in the last seven ends and finished the game 19:13.
While the team skipped by Macau international James Cheng were also cruising to victory, the final result of the match depended on the rink skipped by Hong Kong international Stanley Lai, who played against China international Ye Sui Ying.
Lai held a single shot margin after seven ends, but was unable to capitalise on it. Ye and his team-mates demonstrated a high level of consistency and outdrew their opponents on a number of occasions. Ye finally won the game 18:13.
The 6-2 win is totally acceptable to KBGC-A as Kowloon Cricket Club could only achieve an identical scoreline against lowly Indian Recreation Club. The gap between the two teams is maintained at 4 points and the Police team that is in third place is a further 10 points behind.
However, to KBGC-B it was not a satisfactory result and they needed to push harder for their survival bid. They are currently one place from the bottom and need to get to at least another place higher to avoid relegation, but they are at present six points behind the team above them.
Women
In the women’s section, Hong Kong Football Club-A team overtook Shatin Sports Association for the pole position and are well on course for their eighth successive title.
Before the game HKFC-A were four points less than leader STSA. HKFC-A played team-mates HKFC-B on Saturday and came out with a victory of 6-2. As STSA lost 2-6 at third-placed United Service Recreation Club, the two teams are now level on points, but HKFC-A go top with a better shot difference.
At the bottom end of the table, the Police team started their relegation dogfight with a draw at home against mid-table Island Lawn Bowls Club. They have now moved off of the bottom, but are only three points from safety. Seabird Sports Club is now at the bottom, after losing 0-8 at Kowloon Cricket Club.
Claudius Lam is an Officer with the Hong Kong Lawn Bowls Association.
