PUNCHING ABOVE MY WEIGHT

25/5/22
Eagle Members League Div-1
v LEE KERSHAW W 21-19 (Off 3-3)

Every match is a big challenge for me in the Eagle Members League. This week I faced Lee Kershaw who has his place in the upper sanctum of the club's best players.
I think I made the mistake of not genuinely daring to believe against top player Phil Bradshaw last week and as a result played nervously and didn't give him a decent enough game.
It was important to reset the mindset back to the opening league game against Andy Sexton - knowing full well it could be a tight game if I play well enough - but having that underlying raw belief that I could take the win.
A run was overdue so I shook off some cobwebs in advance of the match with a three miler in 21:07, not a bad time given the stark mileage of late which has barely hit double figures most weeks. It seemed to put me in the right frame of mind.
I lost the toss but won the first end and then built up a lead of five or six on my favourite patch until a minor lapse of concentration when I sent the jack too far in to the more trickier contours of the corner. My two woods weren't hurrendous, but just not tidy enough and Lee got in with the tightest of measures. "By a midge's dick", was the official conclusion.
Lee then kept hold of the block for a while with very good lead bowls, but crucially I was managing to get close enough to limit him to single scores.
I think the score remained quite tight from there onwards. I recall conceding two consecutive two's that were poorly contested from my point of view and I got a bit cross with myself. But despite all this, after landing a good winner down towards the front of the clubhouse, our scorer Arthur 'The Cap' Parker was there to tell us it's a cracking game to watch and it's 15-16 on his scorecard. There's nowt in it.
I win the next two ends to go 17-16 ahead and proceed to land two quite decent efforts back on my favourite mark. Inexplicably, Lee's second bowl was looking a touch narrow but glanced off his short first one before rolling up nearest the jack. Serious expletives were muttered to myself. Good luck and bad luck tends to even itself out though during a match.
All level then and it was a bit of an adrenaline pumped blur as I went behind again but somehow brought it back to 19-19.
I then sent us round peg to an area I'm familiar with and was a bit disgruntled at my lead bowl, slightly narrow and a little short. Lee then gets the road more accurately but goes past the target maybe eightteen inches. I get my land right second time, with a bit too much zip but knock in to Lee's bowl and I'm on. Lee's second goes off wide and when we approach, my less than great first one counted too and that's game. A really close match, but managed to get myself over the line when it could have gone either way.
I move up to fourth in the table and just a point behind third placed Lee. But it's still early days with some better players behind still to get in to winning ways. So far though, I'm punching above my weight and on current form a top six or seven finish wouldn't be such a deluded ambition. 

FINALLY GOT IT RIGHT AGAINST A LEFTY!

19/5/22
Chorley & District League Div-3: Eagle & Child 'A' 168-109 St Marie's 'A'
v JOHN FOWLER JNR W 21-10

For a third successive match I faced a left-hander and finally put to bed my 0% win rate against bowlers from 'the other side'.
It's been coming - I seemed to find a way to play against them last week and have since shook off that lefty fear factor.
My opponent John was no pushover, but I got off to a very good start. With the exception of a few lapsed ends, I maintained the standard to win by what nevertheless felt a slightly flattering margin in the end.
John particularly had success when straight pegging long to the corners, but generally I had the upper hand on the shorter round peg marks, despite John's striking abilty which caused disruption a couple of times.
It would be ignorant I feel, to dismiss and avoid the subject of my opponent's challenges with cerebral palsy. But John's bowling abilty was in no way compromised. He's a good player and, as he told me afterwards, has been in the game since he was a lad and proudly represented England on the indoor circuit. More than that though, his excellent sportsmanship and lively personality on the green make him one of the most genuinely pleasant chaps I've had the pleasure of playing against.
There's always one or two poker faced miseries who take themselves way too seriously at this level. They could learn a few things from John Fowler Jnr.
The whole St Marie's team were a really pleasant bunch all in all and this, despite them going down to a heavy team defeat on the night as a full house of individual victories ensured we strengthened our place at the top of Division Three. 

EASY PICKINGS FOR TOP BLOCK

18/5/22
Eagle Members League Div-1
v PHIL BRADSHAW L 10-21 (Off 3-3)

For Phil, this was little more than a bit of extra practice on a Wednesday night. For me, a big match that I was looking forward to.
The opportunity to play our club's 'Top Block' was my second fixture on the Members League card and although a likely defeat in prospect, having played some good stuff against a good left-hander two nights previous, I felt I could squeeze more points out this game than expected.
Unfortunately though, I didn't hit the heights of Monday night. I wasn't finding accurate length at all and anything less against Mr Bradshaw just doesn't get you very far.
I think I dragged Phil down a bit to start off with, managing to win one of the first three rather raggy looking ends. But then he started getting to the target more often and I just wasn't getting in there to threaten. I didn't do enough to push him from the comfort of cruise control.
I did manage to put a few good shots together to notch more points than I felt my overall game was worth, but all in all I was a bit disappointed not to make a better account of myself against top mon Phil.
He said I'd improved, but perhaps he was being kind. He offered me some good advice about tactics and got the feeling this chap knows the game inside-out. Not only one to watch, but one to listen to. 

A PROPER GAME, LAD

16/5/22
Chorley & District League Div-3: Hesketh Bank 136-146 Eagle & Child 'A'
v ANDREW LUND L 15-21

This game of crown green bowls can play with your emotions. Descending back down to earth from a winning streak, I was feeling very ordinary about my bowling again and was sucking up the hard lessons taught in the last two games. I had also come to accept that perhaps I'd hit a plateau for the time being.
Then I go and play some of my best bowls yet.
I am well informed that Andrew Lund is a very good player, so to give him a very good game on his own patch is undoubtedly a feather in my cap, despite losing the match.
It can be horses for courses a bit in this game, and whilst struggling on the currently rougher surfaces at New Longton and Lea lately, I seemed to take to the beautiful green at Hesketh Bank immediately.
The first end epitomised the rest of the game really as my two well planted deliveries would normally win an end, but Andrew knocked himself in brilliantly.
Tight exchanges continued until contentious goings-on briefly brought the match to a halt. Our scorers had a difference of opinion: I'm 9-7 in the Eagle corner and it's 8-8 on their card.
Our scorer Michelle Anderton was adamant I was 9-7 up and I absolutely believed her. "I didn't take my eyes off that game, John", Shell assured me later, and added that the other chap was seen chatting away at times.
But we had to get on with it and given that I didn't actually feel as though I was ahead, I said let's just carry on from eight-across and wipe the slate clean. Maybe I diddled myself out of points? Maybe Shell thought I was wet behind the ears and too lenient? But I was happier in myself to be the martyr somewhat and sportingly take the hit.
I found out later that the rulebook states starting again from where both scorecards last corresponded, if no agreement is reached. Maybe I was a little bit too agreeable then, but it's another learning curve.
After our restart, Andrew got five or six ahead after I rolled a combination of a slack end or two and a bit of hard luck. The score saga hadn't affected me though it must be said. I hit a blip and you just don't get away with poor bowls against this chap. I didn't know it at the time, but that's effectively where I lost this match as my opponent just about maintained that margin to the end. But it was a slow burn of many closely contested ends with some great bowling from both of us at times.
Another plus to take from this match was dealing with Andrew's left-handedness and whilst I've still to get one over on a lefty, I seem to have found a way of understanding them at last!
Over at Hesketh Bank (or 'Ecky Bonk' as it's colloquially known) I've noticed Ecky Bonkers have a habit of calling you "lad" at least once every sentence. It's incessant. But to hear Andrew say afterwards, "That was a proper game, lad" was a real compliment actually and one doesn't get many in this game so I'll take it and absorb it, thanks!
I think I showed tonight that the potential could be there to score better against very good and experienced players. But I'm way short yet of doing so on a consistent basis.

I suppose this is all part of the journey. Still in a relatively early process of continuing to improve and learn, it's impossible to be consistent at the same time, as much as I would like to be. 
The Eagle team clocked up enough wins and points on the night to take a good away win and we now sit pretty at the top of the table three games in. 

CAUGHT SHORT

14/5/22
Hugh Hornby County Merit Trophy
First Qualifying Round (At Lea Bowling Club)
v STEVE EDWARDS L 5-21

As expected, I got beaten up hard again in my second taste of tournament bowls. The final scoreboard might suggest that time and money is being wasted on such ventures and that I'm out of my depth.
Well, out of my depth? Yes. But a pointless exercise? No.
It's a challenge for me to turn up at a green I had never even seen before and with no practice allowed, take on an experienced First Division Frenchwood bowler who must've had more than a few rolls here at Lea over the years.
Steve's short game had me clutching at straws throughout and there was no let up. Rarely anything strayed enough to demand something other than excellence to break the cycle. Over and over the middle of this pronounced crown we trickled our woods on a tricky surface that was quickening all the time under a strong sun.
When I did briefly escape from his territorial stranglehold, I just didn't have the belief, somehow. I scored a really good two in a corner and then pegged down the side of the green trying to find some joy. There was potential over there, as Steve didn't adjust well to this change of scenery. I held on to the block another end before going short - twice - and allowing Steve back in with nothing special, other than getting past my weary two. A double error resulting from sheer tension I think and a lack of confidence at this level.
Back to his patch again then, and whilst a touch unlucky here and there, I wasn't aggressive enough to do even a bit of random damage and instead kept trying to find the perfect shots when, more often than not, Steve had already landed them.
Interestingly, he continued where he left off on the same short marks to beat a far, far tougher nut to crack, Pete Harris, in a similar vein and make it to finals day at Galgate. Steve will be joined by that talented lad next door Aaron Hayhurst, who (thankfully I avoided in the draw) came back from a slippery start in his first match and then got better and better to win his second round match convincingly. I've mentioned it before, the lad is on his way to the game's upper circles.
What I learned from my own match and subsequent exit was to try not to leave myself with too many regrets from a match. When deciding on what shot to play, to let instinct take over and particularly when up against it.
Here's a short list of key regrets...

1) Didn't ask for long tape, especially on Steve's first mark early on. That one was super-short. Wouldn't have changed the course of the game, mind you, but he might have stretched a bit further to avoid the disruption of further calls for a measure.
2) Not striking on such short marks all the time when Steve had two close ones. The one time I did, I was very close. I should've just gone for it!
3) Despite playing a match there, I still don't know much about the green at Lea! With Steve's toing and froing over the middle, there's at least 70% of it that I haven't played. 

BACK TO REALITY

12/5/22
Leyland & District League Div-4: New Longton 'B' 186-160 Eagle & Child Reds

v GEOFF MYERSCOUGH L 12-21

A record run of five successive wins in all competitions came to an abrupt termination at New Longton.
Taking absolutely nothing away from Geoff Myerscough - who thoroughly deserved the win - I didn't feel I gave him a close enough game that I felt I was capable of.
Geoff proved to be a very tidy home bowler and particularly on the way to building up an 11-2 advantage. His lead bowls were very good and whilst the odd time I was a touch unlucky, basically I wasn't getting close enough and not reading the pace of the green well.
Geoff's game did drop off a bit and the second half of the match was 10-10... trying to muster a positive spin on things, anyway.
I struggled with the New Longton green, not so much on finding the correct line, but the correct weight and as such, recent confidence drained away. It can be tough away from home in this game though and if there is a lesson to be learned, it's not to get too used to winning!
As I departed, captain Harry Glynn was his usual dry and matter of fact self, telling me, "Note from teacher; Must do better!" 😆
That goes for all of us, going down to a third team defeat in four matches and loitering at second from bottom in the table. 

VERY GOOD WIN... JUST

11/5/22
Eagle Members League Div-1
v ANDY SEXTON W 21-20 (Off 3-3)

The Eagle & Child's innovative and enthusiastic organiser in chief of competitions and events, Steve Wilson, has devised a Members League this year to keep us on our toes.

Personally, I think it's a cracking idea.  Benefits for both the club and players on many levels, Steve has thought it through to the last detail and on Wednesday night, he delivered.
I rolled the very first jack of this new competition (I seem to have a habit of winning the toss and doing so) and faced the first of a programme of twelve tough matches in the top division against Andy Sexton.
We have a bit of history after Andy thrashed me in last Summer's President's Cup final. I went in to this match confident of giving him a better game than that day. On current form, I felt I had a right to believe that if I could play well enough, then I had a chance.
It turned out to be a very tight game. I'm not sure if Andy was feeling the tension, but I certainly was. Probably because I had dared to believe.
For once, I didn't start on the back foot and in fact nudged ahead from the off, building up to a lead of 12-8 at one point. But Andy turned the screw midway through proceedings and was bowling consistently tight to turn things around to 14-16 in his favour. I then managed to grasp back some momentum and win a few ends back to regain the lead in the closing stages. 

An unfortunate strike from Andy took his own bowl out and that two took me to 19-17.
I sent a decent lead on the next end, but was pretty furious with myself at sending the second bowl short. I was lucky Andy didn't steal in as his own second effort reared up when another two inches would have taken it.
Now all-but and with a half decent lead bowl sent, still room for Andy to get even nearer and he did. I'm annoyed again as I send my second bowl unforgivably short.
He then takes a good two off the side of the crown and it's all down to the last end.
Andy goes long from corner to corner towards the entrance. I crouch down to get a proper look. I'm surprised he sends his first a bit short and a little narrow. I realise this is it. I'd decided on my line, found it and made sure I put enough in to it. It was a very good bowl from there and landed quite close. Andy will have been very disappounted with his second as it bared even further left and that was it. Another win, a very good win against this chap too. 

QUITE A COMEBACK

9/5/22
Chorley & District League Div-3: Eagle & Child 'A ' 155-137 Farington Cons 'A'
v JEAN PRIVETT W 21-17

Coming back after going behind has become something of a trait in recent weeks. But this one will live with me for quite a while I think.
I was on the rack trailing 6-16, literally thinking about nothing other than how I might find a way to scratch double figures for the team at least, as Jean edged closer to a seemingly convincing win.
The experienced former Leyland Motors bowler was murdering me with short, straight peggers just over the crown. Consistently near the jack, rarely just behind or to the side - but shielding it from the front - leaving me with restricted options and very difficult ones at that. Jean had a couple of lucky knocks her way too, just to pile on the misery.
A better bowler than me would have found a way out, but Jean had me at her mercy and she knew it. Whenever I did briefly get the jack back earlier on, places to go that I felt might switch on some confidence seemed limited by the proceedings of other matches.
There was a lot of head shaking going on and composure was leaking quickly, but I really appreciated our captain Steve Marginson's continuous encouragement, saying, "It'll come John, keep plugging away", but I'd started to think my opponent was too tough of a nut to crack. 
The intensity of Jean's grip on the game did start to slowly loosen though.
At last an opportunity came to send the jack somewhere different and as long as I could, to a corner - too far really - precariously near the ditch. My two bowls were off course but made the trip, thanks to a fortuitous connection from my over-shot second bowl. I was due a bit of luck though.
I then sent the yellow target bowl towards the vistors end and despite getting on a good road, I overran both deliveries, leaving fairly easy pickings for Jean to adjust and take the single. I think it was 8-17 at this point.
But then, the beginning of Jean's very unlikely undoing was when she sent us round peg off a ridge from the centre of the green I know quite well and where I had earlier made rare success with a closely knitted two. Jean uncharacteristically faultered and I mopped up another decent double.
So, back to that corner again, the déjà vu completed with two more disappointingly loose cannons, but good enough weight again to count.
The real turning point came here as our skipper Steve called across that my favourite mark is on. (He knows what I like, I used it against him in a practice game a few weeks ago) I'd been a bit unlucky that it hadn't become available earlier.

And then... I started playing some bowls.

 
Confidence soared through my previously defeatist veins and six ends later, I'd won it. I had to pinch myself.
Excellent captaincy from Steve this evening, although I should grant myself a little credit too. Perhaps down to lack of confidence and subsequent paranoia, I've been a little unsure of where I stand with my Monday captain at times. Being on the same page doesn't feel so far away now.
On an evening of some excellent bowling matches all round, I was chuffed to see Steve win the final match on the card to garnish a brilliant home win against our illustrious local rivals, who don't lose many. 

A FLATTERING BATTERING

5/5/22
Leyland & District League Div-4: Eagle & Child Reds 169-164 Hoole Village Hall
v MIKE SLINGER W 21-8

This was a strange match, in that I don't believe I was a particularly better player than my opponent on the night. The scoreboard however, suggests otherwise and that this win was won handsomely.
For reasons unknown to middle aged man, I had been drowning in to a progressively tired state all week. I certainly hadn't got the energy levels to run, work days felt much harder than usual and by the time Thursday evening came around I could easily have nestled down for a nod than find a second wind to rush down to the Eagle for a bowls match. I could tell during practice that concentration was going to be a challenge.

Mike started off with a selection of very good woods and built an early lead. At this point it appeared I was in for a difficult match and was trying really hard to fully focus my attention.
I managed to pull back level and it was during a spell where we both started losing our length that I seemed to be the lucky one to win a few measures and pick up some cheap twos. By the time we both started rolling some more respectable bowls again, I had a decent lead and played two or three big shots at key moments to cancel out Mike's push for a comeback.
The scoreline was very flattering, but winning games like this when not quite on it has got to be a good sign. Again, it's one that might have got away from me this time last year.
For our team, a first victory of the season and whilst narrow, against a side that drew with probable promotion candidates Farington St Paul's.
I can't afford to feel jaded next week though. If selected on Monday, a guaranteed tough game versus top team Farington Cons. Then on Wednesday, our club's Members League starts with Andy Sexton as my opening fixture. An opportunity to give him a better game after he pulverised me in last year's President's Cup final. Thursday night away to New Longton, Saturday to the regional qualifying rounds of the Hugh Hornby Merit Trophy at Lea.
My other half claims to be a bowling widow this time of year and it's normally a tongue-in-cheek thing, but next week it would seem I really will be seeing more of my woods than my wife. 

ANOTHER WIN ON THE ROAD

2/5/22
Chorley & District League Div-3: Chorley St Joseph's 'B' 110-144 Eagle & Child 'A'
v DARREN HENDY 21-12

I wasn't really expecting to play in this opening Chorley league fixture at St Joseph's, but I lived in hope. Without a final team sheet displayed in the clubhouse window the previous day, captain Steve Margy left me hanging to the last minute - just as he did in our final fixture at Victoria last year. I don't know if it's intentional, but to a keen upstart like myself it's a tense waiting experience.
Whilst I would be extra disappointed if I actually didn't get a game following these uncertain circumstances, the suspense heightens the joy when actually selected.
During practice I totted up at least four absent players from Steve's newly enhanced squad list and thought I might be in with a shout, but to assume I'd nevertheless be left on the sidelines.
Then just minutes before the match starts, I get the nod... "Areet John? £1.50?"... I'm in!... and no sooner had I put my wallet away... I'm on!
Darren Hendy is waiting for me and he's convinced we'd played before. Little does he know that I have documented all my games in this needlessly detailed fashion and could absolutely assure that him we hadn't. I think I was a scorer in one of his games last season though. We agreed on both remembering each other's faces.
Darren started the game quite well, whereas I wasn't finding my length. Trailing 1-6, agitation was just starting to rear it's ugly head when a quote from Mike Read's Frank Butcher character of vintage Eastenders years rang in my ears... "Av a lit'le word wiv yourself". And I did. I told myself I can play better than this and to keep my concentration and try my best. The old landlord of the Queen Vic would have nodded his approval as I squeezed back in to it with some very tightly contested ends to lead 7-6 and then grew in confidence.
A succession of good lead bowls and quite a few satisfying close seconds put Darren under the cosh a bit and I managed to pull away for another win on the road which contributed to a good team win to start the new campaign.

Unchartered territory, doubling my away win count from last season in just four days. Onwards and hopefully upwards. 

UP AND AWAY

28/4/22
Leyland & District League Div-4: Wymott 192-163 Eagle Reds
v STEFAN HARGREAVES W 21-14

This was only my second away win in the leagues, but at the first attempt this season and with good reason to think there should be a few more to come. Intrepidation of away greens is turning in to something more like anticipation.
On the slightly bobbly but far from unplayable surface at Wymott, my first two bowls were on the right road but ran on and clunked in to the ditch. Not a great start, but I settled down a bit after that and after some alternating exchanges of the jack, got a good run together on a patch of green I took to and clocked up a lead of 18-6, I was later informed. My opponent wasn't a bad bowler but tended to play straight peg when he had the block which always gave me a good chance of stealing it back unless his lead bowl was very good.
Once 'all-but' and needing a point to sew the game up, Stef found a side of the green were he played some good leads and went on a run which I wasn't getting near to breaking.
Fortunately for me, eventually another match played in to his favourable path, forcing a different line across the clubhouse and I got in there first time with a decent winner.
This marginal victory by just seven was our team's best win on the night in an overall difficult evening for the Eagle Reds team, going down to a second successive defeat.

Practice matches:
9-21, 10-21 v Graham Whittle (At Bretherton) After a couple of close games at the Eagle, Graham showed his class on home soil and his consistency was my undoing. I had to earn every single point. First game felt closer than the score suggests, in the second one I lost my way to trail by a very scary 0-14, but got my act together again and was happy enough to claw back in to double figures.