Bowlers return to action

Their first match back is a quarter final tie in the Irish Bowling Association Senior Cup against Castleton. So Far this season the Ballymena men have enjoyed comfortable wins against Coleraine (H), NICS (H), Salisbury (A) and Blackrock (H) and they will hope to progress in to the semi final stages after Saturday's match.

The Seniors are also well placed in the Northern Ireland Private Greens Senior League Division 1. An opening day defeat at the hands of NICS (H) was not the start the Seniors would have hoped for but wins against PSNI (A), Larne (H), Belmont Park (A), Old Bleach (H) got them back on track.

A second defeat at Ulster Transport stopped the momentum but maximum points against Falls (A), Salisbury (H) and Pickie (H) have left the Ballymena Seniors only 3.5 points behind the current leaders, Dunbarton.

In the Northern Ireland Private Greens Senior Cup, wins against Cliftonville (H), Ulster Transport (A) and Belmont (H) have seen Ballymena Seniors progress to the semi final stages where they will play Dunbarton on Thursday 5th August at 5.30pm at Hilden Bowling Club.

JUNIORS

Ballymena Juniors are in the best position to bring back silverware to the Old Ballymoney Road club rooms.

Ballymena are also back in Irish Cup action this weekend. Wins against Dungiven (A) and Balmoral (H) along with W/O's against Balmoral (H) and Castleton (H) have see the Juniors progress to the quarter final stages when they travel to Dunbarton on Saturday.

This will be a difficult match for the Braid outfit who are the current holders of the IBA Juior Cup as Ballymena and Dunbarton fill the top two positions in the NIPGL Junior League Division 1, however Ballymena will not give up their

Ballymena Juniors have made a good start in their defence of the Northern Ireland Private Greens Junior League Division 1. A full house of 7 points against Forthriver (A) was just the start the Juniors wanted, however this was followed by a narrow defeat against Downpatrick (H) in the next game.

Since then the Ballymena team have remained unbeaten with wins against Larne (A), Belmont Park (H), Old Bleach (A), Ulster Transport (H), Falls (H), Ards (A), Willowfield home and Pickie which leaves the Ballymena team on top of the league at the moment.

In the NIPGL Junior Cup, Ballymena Juniors have only played one match as they received W/O's against Castleton and Belmont in the early rounds and a win in the quarter finals they beat Belmont Park to progress in to the semi final stages where they will play Knock on Thursday 5th August at 5.30pm at Larne Bowling Club.

SENIOR PARK

Ballymena Senior Park have had a disappointing campaign to date.

With 3 wins out of 9 league match Division 2. Defeat at Shaftesbury, Hilden, Malone was not the start that Ballymena Senior Park would have hoped for and it was not until the first Saturday that the Senior Park tasted success when they won at home to Albert Foundry.

Further defeats against Shorts (A), Forthriver (H) and Ballywalter (A) followed, but Ballymena Senior Park saved their best performance of the season so far when they whitewashed league leaders, Ards in their final match before the holiday break. They will be hoping to continue where they left off when they travel to Cliftonville next Saturday.

Both cup campaigns ended in first round defeats. In the first round of the NIPGL Senior Cup the Braid men lost against Ewarts (A) and in the first round of the IBA Senior Cup against CYM, Dublin (A).

JUNIOR PARK

It has been a difficult season so far for Ballymena Park Juniors in the Northern Ireland Private Greens Junior League Division 2.

The team has struggled from time to time to get a full team out, but there is a core of dedicated players who want to see the team succeed and they have done a good job to date. The season started with a home win against Shaftesbury followed by defeat at Belfast.

A second win against Hilden (H) was unfortunately followed by four defeats - Owenbeg (A), Comber (H), North Belfast (A),Ballyalter (H) but the Junior Park got back to winning ways with a win against Salisbury (A) in their last match before the break.

This weekend Ballymena Junior Park have a home match in the league when Cliftonville are the visitors.

In the NIPGL Junior Cup the Ballymena men received a first round w/o against Cliftonville, but lost at Belmont Park in the next round.

The Park Juniors had a better run in the IBA Junior Cup. A first round win against Castle (H) was followed by another victory against North Down (H) in the second round. Unfortunately Ballymena Junior Park had to concede their third round match when they were unable to field a team against Pickie.

MIDWEEK PARK

Ballymena Midweek Park have exceeded expectations since they took their place in the Northern Ireland Private Greens Midweek League a few year ago.

The 2010 campaign however started off poorly with 4 straight league defeats in May to Cliftonville (H), Mossley (A), Ards (H), Dunbarton (A).

A change of month brought a change of fortune and since the start of June the Ballymena Midweek team have only been beaten once in the league by Ulster Transport (A) but they have recorded four victories against Pickie (H), Forthriver (H), Larne (A) and Magheradroll (H) and are now in a good mid-table positon.

In the NIPGL Midweek Cup the Ballymena men lost in the early stages to Belmont (A).

LADIES

The ladies have had a very good season so far.

The 2010 campaign started off with 4 straight wins against Limavady (A), Coleraine (H), Portstewart (A) and Magherafelt (H) however this run was brought to an end when the ladies suffered a narrow defeat against Dunluce (H).

This has been their only defeat so far as wins against Ballymoney (A), Londonderry (H), Limavady (H) and Coleraine (A) see the ladies presently sitting on top of the PTWBA Senior League. The ladies are back in action on Wednesday 21st June when they entertain Portstewart.