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After a successful launch in Week 1, time moved quickly as we got to Week 2 of the Spring/Summer 2024 edition of Manning Jack Attack, The Greatest Social Bowls Competition Between Manning Road And The Canning River, and it was wonderful news this week as last season’s total of 24 teams was matched with the arrival of Sausage Bowls and Chiko Bowls, two teams full of new bowlers brought to us by Di Macpherson…

And the latest name change has been implemented, with This Is How We Roll now known as B Cups 2, matching up Sharyn’s pre-season name change for Stop Drop & Bowl to the B Cups.

Unfortunately the uniform change hasn’t taken effect just yet, and to be honest I was a bit disappointed B Cups 1 and 2 didn’t come dressed like this on Wednesday night:

On the weather front, the weather in Perth took a sharp turn on Monday and Tuesday, with some late Spring rain giving D Green a much-needed drink after a couple of weeks, and while the rain had passed by Wednesday night, the humidity had well and truly stuck around, which made it even tougher for the teams who got drawn on the grass as the dew kicked up and caught unsuspecting players out.

There’s always a trick to playing on D Green under lights, and it’s from the timeless words that our former Manning bar manager Lee ‘Lord’ Such (Now at Victoria Park) told us one Wednesday night… play a metre through.

The Spider Challenge

Week 2 began with the first of the Spider Challenges, formally replacing the Corner to Corner challenges that we had on Wednesday nights for the last couple of years, and the reason for making the move from the Corner to Corner to the Spider Challenge is that quite simply, the Spider allows more players to get involved in the novelty events.

So that said, the concept of the Spider Challenge is simple – Every single player from the night lines up around C Green, the jack gets placed in what we think is the middle of the green, everyone bowls on the whistle, and the closest 2 bowls to the jack get the prizes.

As it played out, 70+ players let rip on the whistle, and with several players using bowls from the same set we did have to go to the video replay, and it was determined that the winner ($20) was Tristan from Shapes, with young James from Bowl Movements getting 2nd shot and $10, and at the current rate of inflation, that’ll be enough to get him a pie at the tuck shop at school on Thursday.

On that note, here’s the link to the replay of the Week 2 Spider Challenge

The Overall Night

With the Week 2 fixtures based on the Week 1 results, the fabled fixture parity kicked in as only 2 teams recorded double-digit margins in Week 2, with 5 games being decided in tiebreaks, and 2 more having drawn sets.

1st Overall did go to a countback with 2 teams on +12 shots, but thankfully for myself and Pricey it only got down to the third tiebreaker of ends won, and it meant that Rock N Bowl got the overall win for Week 2 with +12 shots and 9 ends won, as they handed Rip it Up a straight sets defeat on Grass Rink 3, giving up just the 1 end for the night, the opening end of the 2nd Set in which they gave away a 4.

The Rippers also featured the return of Manning Rippers stalwarts Brad and Carleen Coopes, and evidently the return of Brad in particular has restored Rip It Up to a familiar position of comfort…. losing by double figures.

That meant 2nd Overall went to B Cups 2, as their name change seemed to work a charm for the former This Is How We Roll, defeating Holding Shots by 12 shots with 7 ends won on the adjacent Grass Rink 2, and evidently I didn’t pay much attention to the B Cups, as most of the photos I got from bowlers on Rink 2 were all from Holding Shots, plus some far shot of Lisa and Lachie:

It stands to reason that B Cups 2 are better when I don’t pay attention.

In a surprise to themselves, 3rd overall went to Manning Up, who finished 9 shots up on Ten Pin thanks to winning the 1st Set 11-0, but it is Ten Pin I’m writing about, and the team with more tiebreak appearances than anybody in Manning Jack Attack history came back and won the 2nd Set 4-2 to set up a tiebreak, but micromanager Mark dobbed a bowl on the jack for Manning Up, which Ten Pin (And Phil, his own teammate) couldn’t remove, giving the micromanagers the win, avoiding the hilarious scenario of finishing in the money despite losing the tiebreak.

That game also featured the highlight of Coral from Ten Pin claiming the penultimate $5 toucher prize on the night, and for the purposes of entertainment, we’ll claim that I offered to go double or nothing with Coral if she got another toucher with her next bowl…

True to life, Coral’s next bowl was a toucher.

Finishing off the results for Week 2:

The bowling blaggards Verse 1 maintained top spot on the ladder, overcoming a slow start against the debuting Chiko Bowls to win in a tiebreak on Grass Rink 1, and it was one-way traffic in the 1st Set as the beginner’s luck was on the side of the Chiko Bowls (Featuring Denise, Rob and new bowler Greg with Pricey’s bowls), going on to win the set 8-1, but as the sun went down and the green got heavier, the rookies lost their way as Mick, Peg and Ronni picked up a 3 on their powerplay to win the set 8-3, and got the outright win in the tiebreak.

That game also featured another case of a double toucher, which came via Denise of the Chiko Bowls, as I set the jack for the rink and witnessed as the first bowl touched and stayed within a foot, and the second flicked the jack and finished a perfect metre behind in a catching position.

Between this game and the Alan Jones police charges, I’m getting nervous talking about touchers.

Grass Rink 4 featured the domestic derby as Ebowla Bad, Ibowla Good played against the CDs, pitting Dave of EBIG against his bride Marg of the CDs, and it would’ve featured Ben of EBIG against his wife & CDs drinks bitch Helen, but I can only assume Helen was still a bit hungover after the Manning ladies went through several bottles of ‘sparkling water’ during their successful visit to Mundaring on Tuesday… the post-game celebrations at Manning lasted longer than the rain-delayed game.

As for the game on Wednesday night, EBIG won the 1st Set 5-4 (After being 0-4 down) before falling behind again in the 2nd Set, with the CDs leading 3-2 ahead of the final end, but EBIG had the last end powerplay up their sleeve, leaving them needing just 1 shot to win the game outright, but Dave gave them a comfortable cushion and drew 2 shots, team captain Lee then covered the T, and Nat couldn’t save the day as the husbands got the points, but consigned themselves to sleeping on the couch on Wednesday night.

The Bowling Stones are up to 3rd place on the ladder thanks to defeating B Cups 1 in a tiebreak on Synthetic Rink 5, and it was a game of violent momentum swings as the Stones convincingly won the 1st Set 10-1, followed by the B Cups evening the overall shot count by winning the 2nd Set 13-4, making it a high-scoring 28 shots in 10 ends, setting up the tiebreak which the Stones ultimately won, as Sharyn’s suggestions of a trademark drive were ultimately unanswered.

Stop Drop & Bowl would’ve won that tiebreak.

Norfolk Enchants are still about the place in 4th position thanks to a straight sets win against the Bowled Guys on Synthetic Rink 4 (4-3 7-2), and it seemed the more interesting part of the night for the Norfolkers was Quinny trying to understand how the set points system works, even though I quite literally write it above the ladder every week, and it’s also written on the scorecards – 2 points if you win a set, 1 point if you draw a set or win a tiebreak, meaning you can win a maximum of 4 points in a game.

Speaking of Quinny, here’s this lovely photo that I mis-timed of him in his bowling motion:

It looks like he’s been holding in a whopper all the way from Dunsborough.

The horse that Half Price wants to be on right now is the Shapes, as they recorded another tough win against the Buffed Helmets on Synthetic Rink 1, as Craig, Tristan and Pete salvaged a 6-6 draw in the 1st Set after being 0-6 down after 3 ends, then came back from 0-3 down to level it at 3-3 after 4 ends to set up a winner take all final end, which did make the Shapes’ final end powerplay somewhat redundant, although they did ultimately hold shot to take the win by 2 shots.

The game also featured a calamity in three parts, as the Shapes were holding 2 shots with a measure for 3, only for Peter to come through with at least a metre too much weight and play what we call in the business a ‘bad good bowl’, as he tucked the jack over to a bowl belong to Carry from the Buffed Helmets to give away 1… the body language of Tristan says it all.

Still, the Shapes found a way to win.

A classic contest between two colourful teams was the Great Bowls of Fire against Crawshaw CC on Synthetic Rink 6, as Jonesy absconded to Bali and abandoned Todd, who was joined by the returning Greek freak Paul Alphabet alongside their associate Jason (No, not me), while Crawshaw brought back two blasts from the past, the first being Paralympic Gold Medalist Graeme (That’s Graeme with an OAM) and none other than Disorderly Decca for his first Jack Attack appearance since March 8, 2023 due to working as an Orderly, which is ironic because people would describe Decca as anything but orderly.

How appropriate that both of them would play on a night when team leader Wilko was MIA, a fact Decca gleefully noted.

As it turned out, neither of them were the difference makers for Crawshaw, as Linda would end up the hero as the Crawshaw Crescent Crew would overcome an 0-11 shutout in the 1st Set to win the 2nd Set 8-3, then win the tiebreak.

Defending champions Macatac returned to the winners list with a straight sets win against the Pepperjacks on Synthetic Rink 3, and it was a familiar tale for the Pepperjacks, as they got out to a hot start by leading 4-0 after 2 ends, then went flat for the rest of the night as Macatac won the 1st Set 6-4, and the red wines were consumed as the Maccers won the 2nd Set 8-3.

Sausage Bowls won on debut against the Unbelievabowls on Synthetic Rink 7, as they had to get Duncan Mac out of his social bowls retirement to make up the numbers, and it was a sound decision as the Sausage Bowls got out of the 1st Set with a 9-9 draw, which swung dramatically when the Unbelievabowls held 4 on their powerplay to go from 1-5 down to 9-5 up, but the meat-filled pastry bowls got 2 on their own powerplay to create the 9-9 draw, then raced away to win the 2nd Set, and the game, 8-2.

The lucky last game to finish was the game out on the Challenger Avenue carpark between Bowl Movements and Salty Bowls, as both teams got their money’s worth by finishing 15 minutes after everyone else due to the tiebreak, which came about with Bowl Movements convincingly winning the 1st Set 12-1, only to go to sleep and invite the Salt Property team back into the game with a 7-1 2nd Set win, but the tiebreak was a bit of a non-story as Bowl Movements comfortably held 2 to get the win, their first for the season after being shutout last week.

An interesting note – No team has claimed all 8 points on offer through the first fortnight.

Results

Grass 1: Verse 1 (3pts -2) defeated Chiko Bowls (2pts -2), 1-8 8-3 1-0 in the tiebreak

Grass 2: B Cups 2 (4pts +12) defeated Holding Shots, 8-1 8-3

Grass 3: Rock N Bowl (4pts +12) defeated Rip It Up, 7-0 9-4

Grass 4: Ebowla Bad, Ibowla Good (4pts +4) defeated CDs, 5-4 6-3

Synthetic 1: Shapes (3pts +2) defeated Buffed Helmets (1pt -2), 6-6 5-3

Synthetic 2: Manning Up (3pts +9) defeated Ten Pin (2pts -9), 11-0 2-4 1-0 in the tiebreak

Synthetic 3: Macatac (4pts +7) defeated Pepperjacks, 6-4 8-3

Synthetic 4: Norfolk Enchants (4pts +6) defeated Bowled Guys, 4-3 7-2

Synthetic 5: Bowling Stones (3pts 0) defeated B Cups 1 (2pts 0), 10-1 4-13 1-0 in the tiebreak

Synthetic 6: Crawshaw CC (3pts -6) defeated Great Bowls of Fire (2pts +6), 0-11 8-3, 1-0 in the tiebreak

Synthetic 7: Sausage Bowls (3pts +6) defeated Unbelievabowls (1pts -6), 9-9 8-2

Synthetic 8: Bowl Movements (3pts +5) defeated Salty Bowls (2pts -5), 12-1 1-7 2-0 in the tiebreak

Captain’s Comments

Coral, Ten Pin: “Tiebreakers again!”

Half Price, after the Great Bowls of Fire lost to Crawshaw: “Now we know Jonesy is the best bowler in the Great Bowls”

Decca, Crawshaw: “I only turn up when Kym’s not here, like a George Foreman Grill”

Simon, Manning Up: “We thought we were going to get walloped… we were pleasantly surprised!”

Craig, Rip It Up – “We’re happy to financially support Rock N Bowl”

Brad, Rip It Up: “We’ve sent Rock N Bowl to No.1, we are the KINGMAKERS!”