LAST week Cadoxton Bowling Club players came up against an exuberant team at Dinas Powys in their Munro Cup first round tie.

Nevertheless, showing great spirit and some strong resilience, the rinks skipped by Ivor Robertson and Kelvin Chedgzoy held their opponents to close quarters, but with Robertson’s side suffering potentially fatal body blows of six and eight shots, before each Cadoxton rink prevailed, scoring winning shots in the final end.

Rob Byrne’s rink found it difficult, despite some enterprising bowls from Glen Solomon, to keep up with their Dinas Powys opposite numbers, while Howard Craven’s rink tumbled to a 14-shot deficit.

Scores: D Hammond, M Curtis, D Brook, I Robertson 23 – D James, T Hurley, J Ackland, M Gershenson 22; E Heppenstall, A Prince, P Ellis, K Chedgzoy 18 – T Gittings, P Hanley, C Bates, P Marks 15; J Stacey, D Fanning,

G Solomon, R Byrne 13 – J Follow, J Manfield, A Jones, N Giles 19; W Craven, I Heppenstall, G Davies,

H Craven 10 - C Daw, N Williams, J Coles, G White 24.

Father and son, Howard and Will Craven, later redeemed themselves somewhat, winning both prizes in the post-match raffle.

The Cadoxton bowlers struggled valiantly to get the better of an experienced team from Aberkenfig in last Saturday’s Carruthers Shield match, losing three rinks and drawing one before succumbing to an overall 31-shot defeat.

Howard Craven’s rink delivered the best performance in a steady contest with neither side achieving any substantial winning ends, although each team scored three-shot victories at opposite ends of the contest, before running out at 16 shots each.

Next door, despite winning three ends with masterly scores of two fours and a five, Kelvin Chedgzoy’s rink couldn’t get the better of their opponents who ploughed steadily ahead to a 14-shot victory.

The outcome was much the same for Roy Harding’s rink, which tried hard to recover from a first-half drubbing but didn’t manage to hold back their opponents who maintained a relentless progression to notch up a 14-shot win.

Ivor Robertson’s rink looked for a time as if it was going to record a victory for Cadoxton, building on impressive opening bowls from Jim Stacey, but the Aberkenfig players took hold of the game halfway through and ran out comfortable winners by three shots.

Scores: W Craven, R Byrne, P Ellis, H Craven 16 – R Prime, R Carlyon, T Sinnott, J Prime 16; E Heppenstall,

D Hammond, D Brook, K Chedgzoy 18 – M Davies, T Bousie, D C Jones, M Fairburn 32; G Solomon, J Papoutsou, G Davies, R Harding 12 – C Pride, V Prie, C Lloyd, K Eaklam 2 6; J Stacey, A Prince, I Heppenstall, I Robertson 16 – D Jackson, A Sollis, N Hillier, A Sutton 19.