MID-MATCH MISHAPS LEAVE TOO MUCH TO DO

Thursday 25th May 2023
Leyland & District League Div-3: New Longton 'B' - Eagle Reds
v STEPHEN FARRINGTON L 17-21

With this big green running quick and a few close games adding to the time consumption, including 1hr 25mins for our Malcolm's eventual 15-21 reverse (He told me I was lucky, his record is 1.37!) it seemed an age before squaring up for the last match of the evening.
Goodness knows why there were only four and not five games on at a time here to speed things along, there is plenty of room for it. Especially as the New Longtonian powers that be seemed to have no intention of putting the floodlights on as my game descended in to dusk's depths.
I started the game brightly enough though and won the first three ends, but these singles were quickly cancelled out as Steve clearly liked the long game and early on was leading with such precision from distance that even rolling a saver in second place required a bloody good throw.
Aside from a few bad ends, I hadn't played too badly at all yet found myself trailing 8-16. Then, as Steve's accuracy broke a little, so too did his run with the jack and I got a well rolled two which I followed up with some very good lead bowls on shorter, round peg marks down the sides of the green that slowly got me back in to contention.
At 15-18, my own momentum must have got the better of me and I mistakenly kicked the bowls in before Steve had quite seen them. A cardinal sin in this game.
He accepted I'd already informed him I was on, and that all my teammates in that corner agreed, but the grimaced face suggested that wasn't enough. He nodded that he was fine with it, but I sensed he really wasn't. It felt like there was a bit of an edge to him throughout the game.
In hindsight, I wished I had offered him the two points outright, for I was in the wrong and it would have rinsed myself of guilt. But I wasn't entirely sure of the rules at the time.
With focus now compromised a little by this incident (questioning the justification if I did go on to win) it didn't stop me sending good woods on the next two ends and getting myself in to a potentially match winning position at 17-18. I left a bit of room though on the next end and Steve played a very good winner with his second bowl.
My opponent then takes us as far as he can reach from our position in front of the clubhouse, to the far corner and his first bowl makes the trip but nips off narrow and wide before his second one does the same. My first bowl had the better road... potentially... but ran up short. Just how short I only realised as my second bowl barely past it and I couldn't believe just how short I actually was!
Disappointingly, that was game. Steve clinching victory with a less than impressive twosome, but they went far enough which was all that mattered.
I could barely make out distance by this point, the fading light made yardage over the crown seem deceptive. Perhaps I should have asked for more detailed advice from the sidelines or gone and had a proper look for myself? Just another one to put down to experience I suppose.
Overall, I played well and my captain Harry Glynn said so, so it must be true. As I've pointed out before, he doesn't say so just to make you feel good.
Take out four ends in which I was sloppy and gave away easy two's (including the last end) and my opponent has much more of a match on his hands. As it was, I left myself a little bit too much to do.
So far, no good, at this green at the bottom of Windsor Avenue. Four defeats from four, but eventually I'll break the duck here.
My match finished in the twilight of flippin' 9:45pm. Too late for a school night and I only got home just past my regular bedtime.
Some good wins from our Eagle Reds team on the night, almost grabbing our first win of the season but unfortunately losing by just one single chalk in the end.

SUB-STANDARD

Sunday 14th May 2023
CHORLEY SUBS OPEN

At Chorley Subscription Club
First Round
v JOHN PHILLIPS L 9-21

Some underlying virus seemed to be slowly suckling the life out of me leading up to my latest ill-fated competition appearance.
The whole morning felt like a blur. I wasn't particularly excited about the prospect of bowling that morning and in fact could have done without it.
No excuse though for poor shot choices and idiotic, repetitive mistakes. Just not enough fight in me to try and make things happen either. This was a meek defeat lost over mainly short marks that I should have had the conviction to attack with some venom.
No disrespect to my Salopian opponent though, who now plays his bowls in the East Lancs leagues. Similarly a debutant on this green, John grew in strength and by the end of the match had made the gulf in class between us quite clear.
I got off to a solid start though, going three ahead until the tide began to turn with the bulk of John's scoring coming from an annoying diagonal straight peg mark in front of the clubhouse. Bowling out, a little bump I just couldn't negotiate, mainly rolling short to but pegging away if I landed on it. Bowling back in, slightly downhill and just not getting a length there until finally a good one landed to save the match.
Salvaging a few more ends from there, a tidy two over at the opposite side looked on and a venture in to double figures, but John landed a perfect winner, good enough to win any game as I pointed out to him as we shook hands.
Naff day at the bowling office, didn't play well but I felt that at least this was an environment in which failure wasn't smirked at. Owen Jackson would have been belly-rolling with laughter at this one. 

But the Open's organiser, Phil Goodman, was welcoming and appreciative of me having a go. Thankfully, not so much obsessed about my weak CV and short history of competition bowling.
Chorley Subs has a cracking little set up there and although finding their green a bit of a frustrating challenge, would have a go at future competitions there I think.
Bowling and running have simultaneously gone off the boil this last week. 
Not feeling well enough to run and, with one thing or another, for the first time feeling I've lost a bit of love and drive for the game of crown green bowls.
Having lost my place in this Monday's team and with no fixture Thursday, an opportunity to step away and see how much I miss it.  

HOME FORM STILL RELIABLE

Thursday 11th May 2023
Leyland & District League Div-3: Eagle Reds - Hoole Village Hall 'A'
v CHRIS COXHEAD W 21-12

The now regular slot of playing last on the bill at number ten has taught me to expect nothing less than a tough match against my opposite number on a Thursday night.
This one could have been a lot tougher if my opponent hadn't taken a while to get going. I did start the match very well though and an early lead of 7-0 wasn't one of flattery, despite a knock or two also going my way.
This early domination broke though and a period of rolling up short brought about a bit of frustration which then seemed to affect everything for an end or two, although I did enough to limit Chris to mainly one's. The odd spark of the way I started the match returned often enough to sustain my lead as I later heard 15-9 called.
I had a little word with myself at this point (literally, as Chris thought I'd just said something to him) and order was restored as I saw the match out getting back to a run of more consistent woods.
At nineteen I mistakenly sent the jack to the green's sloping edges. Holding one, but not safely in my opinion, I turned over peg with my second delivery and with a little too much vigour, tapping the target as it arrived but just about keeping it in play. Malcolm Jones, as ever at greenside these days with good information for me, says, "You do like to do things the hard way, Sutty."
Chris surprisingly rolls his second wood short and the risk paid off. It's always good to win on home turf. I've got a decent record overall on the Eagle green and whilst by no means a fortress, a place where I can grind out wins even when my form and confidence doesn't feel great.
It most be said, Chris was an honourable opponent, a nice chap with good manners and it was good to be part of a match again that was played in the spirit it ought to be. 

IDDON GEMS JUST TOO GOOD

Monday 8th May 2023                            

Chorley & District League Div-2: Penwortham Sports - Eagle & Child 'A'

v DANNY IDDON L 13-21

As much as I get excited about rolling bowls out upon the lush and distinctive contours of Penwortham Sports, even the mere sniff of a win there remains something of a fantasy.
Young Danny is a good bowler with bags of potential. Very steady, unruffled - all the things I'm not! - but not infallible as he left me with enough opportunity to latch on to his coattails and give myself half a chance if I could hang around in this match long enough.
Danny had the edge though, for example taking a good two off me with a perfect turnover, going in the other way to steal. Danny almost apologetic about this gem of a shot, whilst I remember saying, "No, no, it was brilliant Danny. I like it!". Both my head and the scorecard were still in a good place at this moment.

Then, as we rolled in to double figures I gave away a really daft two, pegging in to the infamous slope at the far side of the green. After a wet day the jack held and my bowls might have done too if I'd got land and pace right, but I sent both narrow and in to the gutter. I couldn't believe I'd been so bloody stupid. A wry chuckle to myself turned to annoyance though and my heckles were up as I hear a sarcastic chirp from the sidelines behind me. 
It's either of two spectators, Owen Jackson or the bloke he's stood next to. My money is on Jackson. He got a rise out of me, which totally screwed my concentration from that point on.

More damaging two's went Danny's way and purely on his own merit from my opponent's point of view as good woods were sent, but I had a run of sending more rubbish and the match got away from me.
There's no doubt Danny fully deserved to win the match, but if I hadn't bitten the bait from the sidelines then perhaps I could have run him a bit closer.
That proved crucial as our team lost by just one chalk overall and I couldn't help but feel I personally carried the burden of this narrowest of defeats. Mainly because I allowed myself to get a little overheated by that comment from yon mon, to which I should have just ignored. 

In this squad, strengthened further since last season's promotion, tonight's defeat might well cost me my place too.

SIDELINE SARCASM CLARIFIES SUSPICIONS

I know I'm not good enough for tournament bowls, but I want to have a go. Learning from losing and learning from playing much better players will, I feel, benefit my game in the longer term. I don't think I strut around pretending I'm any good. Delusional with ambitious perhaps, but I definitely know my place. 

It does seem though, that an uncomfortable self-consciousness felt at the Penwortham Sports competition the other week was most likely justified and not just paranoia afterall.
Perhaps I do provide a kind of laughing stock entertainment for some individuals and that Owen Jackson laughs loudest.

As the Penwortham competition's co-organiser (although not present on my most recent appearance) if I'm not up to standard for his comp, then why not just tell me rather than accept the entry fee, disrespect my willingness to have a go and then mock my failure?
Suspicions were confirmed with that one little sarcastic quip and above all, I find it really disappointing.

Yes, I played the same crap shot twice but just in case I hadn't bloody well noticed myself, it was absolutely none of Jackson's business to rub it in.
I've seen Owen Jackson play a couple of times and he is an excellent player. He wins competitions, he plays for the county and on that basis, perhaps he feels he has a right to exhume an air of smugness and arrogance within the parameters of crown green bowling?

But belittling those way below his own grade is not a pleasant characteristic.
On the night, I let Jackson get under my skin. It pissed me off and affected my game when I wasn't playing particularly well in the first place. 
In the light of the days after though, I discover that outside Jackson's inner circle, he wouldn't win many popularity contests. On that note, the title of a favourite Joy Division track of mine springs to mind... No Love Lost.

Anyway, onwards... home fixture Thursday and a singles competition Sunday.
A couple of overdue practice games with the excellent lad next door, Aaron Hayhurst, was a real confidence booster. Two close games, won one each and Aaron says I've improved a lot. 

Now there's an opinion (favourable, yes, but also well informed) that actually matters!
Young Aaron has made the last sixteen for Finals Day in the Penwortham Singles. He's on the way up and it's great to see. 

STRIFE AT BRIAN'S IS ANOTHER LESSON IN CONCENTRATION

Thursday 4th May 2023
Leyland & District League Div-3: Vernons BC - Eagle & Child Reds
v BRIAN PROCTOR L 18-21

Last Thursday I came back to win from the jaws of defeat, whilst this Thursday I slipped to defeat from the jaws of victory.
Brian started well and I began to detect a little nonchalance as he chalked up an early lead. Body language and patter, just something about him suggested that he thought he was just going about his business on the way to a fairly straightforward win.
At 4-9 down, certainly the next end had to go well and whilst Brian gave it the old, "I think it's just mine there, John?", with feet poised to kick the bowls in, it was an obvious one to get the measures out for.
So tight in fact, a dead end was declared and this was a little break that finally went my way to kick-start a path back in to the game.
I had a decent streak over the middle of the crown and eventually we were 16-16. Somewhere around this time, Brian rattled my cage by the insinuating manner in which he claimed I had declared the wrong peg. His first bowl swerved heavily to the right whilst my first was on the right road if a little short. We both leave the mat to check the bowls and jack. I should've stayed putt, it was Brian's beef. Basically, he badly lost his land on his own green and I was getting blamed for it! I let it throw my concentration and didn't manage to take two there when I should have.
Then we get to 18-18 and jack is in my hand. For the first time, a chance to take the lead in this match and good timing to do so. This was mine to win.
Brian is wittering some bowling cliché along the lines of the game being about who is in charge of the block and my way of shutting that out was just to get on with it. Lesson learned here though, I should have taken a moment at this point, plotted my next move more carefully and then maybe asked Brian, "Have you finished chatting?" before carrying on.
Instead, I rushed it. Sent two howlers, all be it on a tricky mark that Brian would confess was not the prettiest two for himself. Then I went home with regrets for not turning over the opposite peg on the next end which was another odd mark that Brian hadn't nailed, but nevertheless won to take the match.
I was a bit brassed off about this loss and it still grappled with me for a few days after.
Saying that though, Brian won't lose many on home turf this season in this division I suspect and the fact I'm unhappy with tonight's result is a measure of some further improvement I feel. I've started thinking I should be winning away games. Not too long ago, away greens were just a place of damage limitation first and foremost. 

GOOD START TO THE CHORLEY CAMPAIGN

Monday 1st May 2023
Chorley & District League Div-2: Eagle & Child 'A' - Hilltops 'B'
v JOHN DARWIN W 21-7

May Day and the first game for our newly promoted Monday night side proved to be a convincing win for both myself and the team.
Spritely eighty year old John took a while to get to grips on our green, by which time I'd got in to a considerable lead and was also playing well enough to know it wasn't going to slip.
John put some good woods up at times to halt the onslaught, and particularly when killing the end with a well weighted spoiler as I held two tidy bowls for the match.
Fortunately though I managed to sew things up on the next end and enjoy a much less closely contested match than Spring has so far offered me.


EAGLE & CHILD SPRING DOUBLES

Should Henry Hoyles be a crown green name of the future, he was mentioned here first. 

I was paired with the 12 year old who I am told was the youngest participant in our club's Spring Doubles history.
After a first match defeat, against the odds we won our remaining two group matches and scored heavily enough to reach the semi-finals. Unfortunately, we came unstuck against silky left-hander Chris Miller and an in-form Alan Robinson 8-13 in the last four.
Young Henry has a very nice delivery which will serve him well if he decides to keep an interest in the game and hopefully he will. Henry's Dad, Matt, only started playing not too long after I did and looks like a good player in the making. He made the final with Andy Sexton and ran out Spring Doubles champions.  Both Matt and Henry could be excellent acquisitions to the club. 

INFERIORITY COMPLEX

Friday 28th April 2023
PENWORTHAM SPORTS SPRING FLOODLIT SINGLES
1st Qualifying Round
v PEDRO YATES L 11-21

Entering certain competitions might require more careful consideration than pure bravery and bold ambition in future.
It all went a bit wobbly here at Penwortham Sports, a green I really enjoy playing, but ultimately was too complex for myself in this sort of company.
My practice session started well, but as a decent sized crowd started to gather (as is the case when top player Callum Wraight is on the card) I had a ropey ten minutes of chucking all over the place and got a bit paranoid as laughs and chunners could be heard in time with my wayward deliveries. It may just have been coincidence, but I let it knock my confidence and concentration a bit. I even clipped a player's heels without shouting the warning shot of "Feet!!", then briefly lost the location of both my woods and could hear the cackles and chunners again.
A wave of uncomfortable self consciousness that I've not really experienced for a very long time flushed over me. Incidents of bungling idiocy continued during my match when I completely misread a situation and threatened to pick up the block from another game - it was Callum's block - and he rightly shouts at me accompanied by a piercing stare that I won't forget in a hurry. The ground could have happily eaten me up. Such is Callum's sheer class though, thankfully I didn't distract him and he still landed a front toucher!
A guilty pleasure of mine is the TV show Below Deck, following the captain and crew on high end yacht charters for the super rich. Ok, so my wife is the real big fan, but I'm more than happy to pick it up wherever she's up to. To the point then, and Captain Lee's analogies are never less than compelling.
Using one of Captain Lee's lines to sum up my feelings after this Friday night in Penwortham, "If you can't run with the big dogs, you'd better keep your puppy ass on the porch".
I'm being a bit rough on myself perhaps. Pedro is a very good player, gives little away and is well seasoned on this green. I started the game well and we were close for a while. In front of the seated stand, a bowl that just pegged behind Pedro's near perfect lead got some applause and even a personal commendation from the spectating crown green legend that is Simon Coupe.
On that note, another moment to savour if things never get better!
Sadly though, the game just got away from me after the first dozen ends as Pedro did damage at the far side of the green. Over there, I also scored a few but was more comfortable bowling in to this green's wild contours that ran against peg, whilst my opponent found joy rolling over the top of it and got himself towards the finishing line.
Three of four times I went narrow and looked like a dick, bowling in to the side ditch when the back ditch would have been a more acceptable failure. But I gave Pedro a slightly better game than last year when we met at Farington Cons and on that note, can grasp a small positive to counter the overall inferiority complex that descended upon me that evening. Overall though, not one of my more pleasant competition experiences. 
 

HOW DID I WIN THAT?

Thursday 27th April 2023
Leyland & District League Div-3: Eagle & Child Reds v Bretherton 'A'
v NICK ROACH W 21-20

This is a game that won't be forgotten in a hurry. Having played against Bretherton more times than most other clubs so far, I had a good idea of their team, except a chap I saw warming up and he looked handy.
As tenth and final player to go on, sure enough as the match progressed it looked more and more likely that the draw had pitted me against the unknown quantity I'd spotted earlier.
Nick proved to be a good player and really difficult opponent. A deficit soon began to open up and crucially, when I did get in I didn't quite land my lead bowl to let him back in again. Overall, I wasn't doing too much wrong as my team mate and scorer Malcolm Jones pointed out, simply Nick was playing even better and getting the odd knock his way just to intensify the torture.
For a second successive week, red mist descended. 5-13 became 5-16 and onwards to 8-18... on the brink of a record home reverse.
Despite another chilly evening of bowling, I stripped down to one layer at this point after getting literally hot and bothered. 

Nick was getting joy from playing interesting straight marks up and down our green's far side. Not overly complicated, but getting very close every time and showing no signs of a lapse. In the next closely drawn end, Nick holds one and if I tap the jack on straight or to the right it's two for me - my wood jinks slightly at the death and taps the jack to the left - two for Nick instead and by now I can only smile and think this just isn't my night. It's 8-20. It's over, so let's just try and get to double figures.
Nick only needs one to win and is holding on the next end, positioned closely to the right with the other one not far behind the jack. It required a bowl of perfect road and weight and somehow I produced it, nestling on to the target to save the match when tapping it on could have knocked his other bowl in. A real chance for double figures now.
Our green had been busy with five matches on at a time, but now with only one other match still in progress, room to test this chap out on some longer marks... until I send the jack off the green. What a plonker. To be fair, I hadn't had much practice throwing it in this game.
Back to Nick's favourite mark we go, but I get in there with another toucher and another chance to get out of there and branch out. Double figures accomplished, composure restored and now my head is just playing bowls again.
Longer marks were proving to be quite rewarding and Nick was starting to show he was human. Good lead bowls put the squeeze back on my opponent and a few times I even got away with an average second bowl to count. 

Once I heard I'd edged up to fifteen I felt totally relaxed again at that point, yet also had a cheeky first fleeting thought that I might yet take this match to the wire. Sure enough, I kept sending good weight bowls and we are level. Malcolm, a fair player in his day, is loving it.
All on the last end and I don't quite send the jack towards the corner as intended. It gets sucked in over to the left for quite a tricky road to follow. My first bowl has the weight but is a good yard wide, yet in a scrappy finish, proves to be the winner.
How on earth I managed to win this game still doesn't quite comprehend, but what a win it was. 

Despite the Eagle Reds winning six games to Bretherton's four, we lost on aggregate score. Our team just can't seem to pick a win up at the moment and we hit the bottom of the table. 

GRAND TO BE BACK AT IT

Wednesday 26th April 2023
FOE EDGE FELL RACE
Cowpe, Nr. Rawtenstall
4.1 m/1100ft
Time: 40:10  Pos: 16/59

Although having pinned a number on at last year's Cross Country Nationals for more nostalgia than anything, it's been almost four years since I last ran a race in which I felt in decent enough shape. My last proper appearance was an injury inducing mess of a run on the Fairfield Horseshoe in the heart of Cumbria. It's been a rough road back since then. Plantar faciitis for eighteen months, knee troubles and niggles elsewhere.
Age + wear + tear = total crock.
However, I've never given up on it. The fells have a huge place in my heart and running and racing on them is, for me, simply the most exhilarating feeling. Fell running is the absolute sport of Kings and Queens and I say so without any doubt whatsoever.
After a fairly solid, uninterupted period of running so far this year and a regular Monday run on the moors, the time had finally come to look at the fell race calendar with more than just a wishful curiousity.
This evening race in Rossendale ticked all the boxes. Low key, turn up on the night without all the online pre-entry bollocks, pay a fiver and crack on.
I thoroughly enjoyed it, put a decent shift in and although feeling I could do a bit better with a few more races under my belt, didn't get any hang ups about it. I came unstuck a bit on the main steep climb up to Whittle Pike where an old rival of mine, Steve Smithies and impressive Rossendale Harrier veteran, Mervyn Keys, powered past and I couldn't get back at them in the latter half of the race.
Foe Edge was a cracking little race with a super steep downhill finish and overall was a good blast out.
There were some folk there who I hadn't seen for years and looked at me as if they'd seen a ghost.
Clayton-le-Moors Harrier Wayne Mackintosh was looking quite trim and has been doing well the last few years and improving vastly. But on the back of a road Marathon about nine days earlier, was he really telling me he was not only doing this sort of race so soon afterwards to "See how my legs feel", but with an intention of being on the startline of the Yorkshire Three Peaks Race in just three day's time? Maybe I've mellowed or been out of the game too long, but it seemed like utter insanity to me. Not surprisingly I didn't see Wayne's name in the results at Horton-in-Ribblesdale and I'm not sure he would have got his hefty entry fee back with such a late withdrawal either. A reminder of how nuts runners can be. 
Calder Valley veteran Steve Smithies couldn't quite grasp that I was almost a minute and a half behind him and that yet I was buzzing. But I'm in a much better, more realistic place after all that time out and I was simply grateful to be out there having a go, running hard but sensible enough to stay within the threshold of injury threat to hopefully roll up at another race soon.
Crown green bowls may have stolen the sharper edges of my competitiveness, but I absolutely love fell running. I'll never give it up so long as I can get out and do it.