Whites power past Divis

Indeed, rivals Bangor, Balmoral and Lisnagarvey are already carving up the title between themselves while Saturday’s visitors, Divis, themselves have serious ambitions for 2012. The mighty Whites responded by going on the warpath and revealing the type of form that has netted them so many titles in the past decade.

On Rink one, JR Wilson led his side to a 23 - 16 victory. They won nine ends but scored heavily at every opportunity. Two fours and a faultless five ensured that they were never behind. Dynamic second, Jason Tweedie, was still on a high from his Junior Cup triumph on Friday and led the opposition a merry dance. Though the Belfast four won plenty of ends, most of their successes were singles and that was not enough to subdue the home side.

The Caldwell four continued their victory trail on two. Andy Rankin is relishing his new-found fame; he has formed a fruitful relationship with Sean Mullen who responded by digging deep into his talent resources. The Divis skip was Brendan Power, but he was unable to trouble his eager hosts or prevent the decisive 23 - 10 result.

Philip Weir also added to his recent run of triumphs. He has taken promotion to skipping duties in his stride. Jack Montgomery and Billy Browne made the game look easy while Matthew Crawford was at his belligerent best in the 31 - 12 rout.

It was left to Barry Browne to complete the task on Rink Four, which he promptly did. He led out no fewer than three players recruited from Curran over the last two seasons and they did not disappoint. Their 21 - 14 scorecard was just reward for a fine evening’s bowling.

The resultant seven points brings Whitehead right back into the title race. They still trail by a few points, but have games in hand. In addition, all the big teams still have to play Whitehead.

Result: Whitehead (98) 7 points v Divis (52) 0 points.