Many of us were at home, awaiting the call that the Mixed Fours Winter Championship was again postponed but, no call came.
Perhaps it really wasn’t too bad; on my way to the green, I passed a couple out for a walk with their baby in a pram, the husband well wrapped up for the drizzle that was falling, the wife, dressed in summer casual clothes!
9.00am and the games started, all except ours, which was delayed because one of the opposition players was still at home, presuming that the games weren’t being played.
Eventually round one was played and then completed, in our case, a loss to Omeka, Stafford and Marion and skip Christine Ryan. Their team played well, especially Christine, who was drawing constituently well.
Our second round match was a game which we won, though on paper, and on the green, things didn’t look too good. Ra Walker’s team played really well but a bit of a late rally from us saw that we only need 3 points on the last end to get a draw. By the time our skip, Susan Boxall, came to play her last bowl, we were holding two points. Her bowl arrived, gently pushed one of our nearby bowls in to count, and then her own bowl rolled over and joined in the scoring – 4 point for the win. Quite unexpected, but we took the result with pleasure.
Our last game which we needed to win if we were to qualify for post section play, was against a team that on paper, had not done well. By the end of the game, we managed to hold a very slight lead for the win and thus had made it!
In all, five teams qualified and the draw was made and resulted as follows:
The first round will be played on Saturday 25 June in the afternoon, following the club’s AGM. Dates are still to be set for the other games.
We managed to get through the day without too much rain but did have to stop play a couple of times when the green started to puddle. Personally, I’m not too sure that play needed to be played in such weather; it is not a Centre event and I do wonder what people leaving the nearby church thought when they were on their way, seeing us play in the gloomy drizzle. Was that a good advertisement for the game??
Still, we got finished and survived.
At times, it was difficult deciding who some of the player were, in the clothing they were wearing.
Can you recognise the following bowlers??
Keep dry and keep warm