HOWARD'S WAY (JUST)

Thursday 22nd June 2023
Leyland & District League Div-3:
Hoole Village Hall 'B' - Eagle Reds
v LUKE HOWARD L 18-21

"You like playing good players and this lad's a good player", says captain Harry Glynn who also remembered Luke's grandfather, Maurice, as a fine crown green bowler.
In the return fixture from last week as the Leyland league hit the half way mark, strangely, whoever I played, I was more confident of playing better on this well watered surface of greenery at Hoole than I was on our tricky running home green.
I saw a bit of young Luke playing last week at our place and knew anything less than maintaining good form of late would result in a drubbing.
A good start was vitally important and I did start well, yet still ended up trailing 2-8 without rolling anything less than very reasonable. Luke's lead bowls were excellent and took some shifting, but once again I surprised myself by keeping my head in the right place and plugged away at trying to break him. When the opportunity came, round peg marks against my opponent's continued straight marks got me in to the match and at 11-16 I had at least slowed the deficit and made an impact in the game.
Confidence grew and I was landing some very good woods to keep myself in the game, rolling up to 17-18 and a real chance at that point. But a couple of below average woods let Luke in for an easy two at a critical time. Next end I sent perfect weight with my second bowl to save the match and squeeze back in to 18-20. After indecision where to go next with the whole green at my mercy, and nowhere from this particular spot I remember having success with, I round pegged in front of the visitors end and a poor lead falls disappointingly short. I should've just chucked it long to a corner and been a bit more brave. Luke punishes me by responding with a fine bowl just inches away. After some debate whether to strike or draw, I decided to try and draw the perfect bowl but just ran through a touch and that's game. Luke can pick up the mat and it's another tight away game that just got away from me.
The damage was done early on. Aside from a bit of luck not going my way, I genuinely did everything I could. It was a good game and Luke played very well throughout.


THREE WEEKS AND COUNTING ON THE SIDELINES

It's a good job the bowling form is gaining momentum because it's difficult to gauge when the running shoes are to be slipped back on. The offending knee feels rested enough, but just lately a general tiredness and lethargy has descended and just surviving a day on my feet at work seems exhausting, never mind running there and back as well. What's happened?
Hot weather and poor sleep? Doing too much and not stopping enough? Another round of what's left of coronavirus perhaps? I don't know. But day in, day out, I never feel recovered just now. I can see three weeks out extending to at least a month and then it's a long way back again. To think just two months ago I felt good enough to turn up at a race. 

ONE FOR THE ROAD

Monday 19th June
Chorley & District League Div-2: Farington Cons 'A' - Eagle & Child 'A'
v ANN YATES W 21-14

It would be fair to argue what benefits actually outweigh the sheer pointlessness of documenting my bowling matches in this ritual fashion. Sometimes though, it can be a means of sporting catharsis.
Last week I lectured myself that it's about time I started turning matches in to wins on the road and about time I ticked off a victory at Farington Cons.
First on against Ann Yates, who I know to be a good player having seen her win well in home matches both here and at neighbouring Farington club St Paul's, the stakes on the night ran four-fold for me and in no particular order: 1) Justifying a place in this very good team. 2) Repaying the captain's faith at chucking me back in last week and also risking me in this important away game. 3) Getting a good result that contributes positively to the team. 4) Proving to myself that I can go further than just give good players a game on their patch, but also see out the win.
Ann gets off to a flying start, rolling four very close woods for four points off the first two ends. My efforts looked exceedingly below average, but rather than winding myself up as usual, I managed to stay relaxed and concentrated on just trying to match Ann's woods. I knew I needed a breakthrough before she started to dominate proceedings.

At 3-6 I'd started to let her know I was there and a few ends later had an excellent spell and started to find really good length on a few marks to put Ann on the back foot.
Unaware of the score at the time, 15-8 had been built up until Ann fought back with some cracking woods, particularly over the crown towards the flowerbed end.
At 15-13 now, I managed a timely intervention and got back in, utilising a couple of marks that I seemed to hit well and push towards a winning position. I'd started playing with a bit of confidence.
Ann did get one back before I broke again to hit nineteen. I decided go somewhere different and round pegged in to the low sun, hoping it might bother my bespectacled opponent more than me. My two deliveries weren't world class, but there or thereabouts and thankfully Ann couldn't beat them and I'd played well, kept my composure and ticked off a good win. My first at Farington Cons in five attempts.
Since the dry weather has broken, green conditions everywhere are changing from day to day, even during a single day itself.
I turned up perhaps ten minutes in advance of our away team's allotted practice time and thought it really strange there was only one home player left on there when I arrived.
Then as the night progressed, I heard a few home players cursing their own green, saying it wasn't pegging enough, that opponent's lighter woods were stopping too quick, that it "wasn't bowling'" on there. Born of frustration rather than malice, nonetheless I thought this a slur on their own very well respected groundsman in my opinion.
In my all be it short experience of this green, it's always in impeccable condition whatever the weather chucks at it. The chap in charge clearly knows his stuff and given the extremities of the prolonged dry spell, followed by significant rainfall, the surface was incredible. It was a bit of a push, but it had rained earlier in the day. Not a bit of surface water though and velvety short grass consistent across the whole green... how's that "not bowling"?
Perhaps they should have utilised the entirety of their own practice time afterall?
One cliché that springs to mind is that it was the same for both teams.
Excuses are futile in this game, but here the implication from one or two Cons players seemed to be that they had lost their matches rather than our team winning them on merit. Case in point, I scored Michelle Anderton's match and she played an absolute blinder. In the aftermath I overheard her opponent blaming the weight of his woods, the way in which the green was running... utter twaddle. He had time to adjust, Michelle played very well from the start and that was that.
With six winners out of eight on the night as our team claimed an elusive away win in this league. Although, not that elusive as it turned out. Uncannily three other sides also broke their away duck that evening, but Eagle & Child hold on to second spot. 

HOME AND DRY JUST ABOUT

Thursday 15th June 2023
Leyland & District League Div-3: Eagle Reds - Hoole Village Hall 'B'
v PAUL CAFFERKEY W 21-18

It's still weather for idyllic thoughts of spending a whole afternoon sat under a mature English oak tree, munching luscious wedges of Moroccan watermelon with a wandering mind as one stares in to the hazy mid-distance.
As such, our green has turned in to an arrid plain again in which the expected and the unexpected outcomes of bowling deliveries sometimes produce role reversal.
This game marked my 100th official bowls match in all competitions. But more than that, it was a home fixture. With a decent home record at the Eagle & Child to maintain, they say sometimes that extreme conditions on the green can be more favourable to the opposition who take it as it comes. The pressure is certainly on the home bowler, whose green knowledge can be compromised by the unexpected.
Tenth man, I faced Paul Cafferkey who I came up against at their place in my first season. At the very least, I expected myself to run him a bit closer two years on. But Paul's not a bad player and I figured he might well have improved himself over that time.
A left hander with a short flick of a delivery, Paul's not easy to follow when he's got the block and early on, neither of us could keep hold of it for long.
I didn't start particularly well and was seriously irritated as soon as the very first end when inexplicably missing my land on an uncomplicated straight mark.
A good match evolved though and whilst there's always going to be some wild ends at our level when the green's so quick, there was some very good bowling from both of us at times. When I heard the scores at ten-across, I was surprised to hear I wasn't behind because it certainly felt like I was. That seemed to be the spur for a decent run of ends in which good leads and sometimes a good second too, stretched Paul and I found myself breathing much easier at 19-12.
Perhaps I breathed too easy, for I didn't quite land the next end with satisfactory accuracy. Two good bowls got Paul back in and he then ground out four solid singles to come back to eighteen.
All of a sudden I'm right under the cosh and need a bowl of perfect length to save another two and the Hoole player from taking the lead. Fortunately I landed one when it mattered. Then rolling for the match, despite my lead bowl slipping from my hand, completely off line and down the ditch, Paul surprisingly didn't take advantage and my second bowl won despite not being excellent by any means.
For me, it was an intense game overall and with another near 10pm finish, no chance of winding down or managing to nod off any time before midnight I suspected.
Team mate Malcolm Jones keeps telling me to believe in myself. He thinks I can do well. He was a player in his day and so his cooments do give me a lift.
There is a belief there overall, otherwise I wouldn't have come this far or continue to practice and think about the game the way I do.
But sometimes on the green I do just lack that killer instinct, which either makes victory much harder for myself or costs me a chance of victory in the latter stages.


100 UP!
Stats up for a century of crown green bowls matches:

LEAGUE MATCHES
Home - P 30  W 23  L 7
Away -  P 27  W 7    L 20
Total  -  P 57  W 30  L 27

OPEN SINGLES COMPETITIONS
Neutral - P 14  W 3   L 11

EAGLE & CHILD CLUB COMPETITIONS
Eagle (H) - P 22  W 14   L 8

PRE-SEASON FRIENDLIES
Home - P 3  W 3  L 0
Away - P 2  W 1  L 1
Eagle (H) - P 2  W 2  L 0

OVERALL
Home - P 33  W 26  L 7
Away - P 29  W 8   L 21
Eagle (H) - P 24  W 16  L 8
Neutral - P 14  W 3   L 11
Total - P 100  W 53  L 47

EAGLE & CHILD
Overall - P 57  W 42  L 15

NOTES TO SELF...
I've got to be pleased with my home statistics. Given that I could still get better, there is scope to become a very strong home bowler at some point.
My away record has simply got to improve though. During my first season of 2021 in particular, opposition greens were to be feared. Since then, a positive transition has taken place in that two years later I now go away from home and relish the challenge.
I feel progress is being made in that I'm getting closer in most away games and becoming more difficult to beat. But it is about time I started finding a way of picking up more wins on my travels. 

SURPRISE RETURN TO MONDAY ACTION

Monday 12th June 2023
Chorley & District League Div-2: Eagle & Child 'A' - Mawdesley 'A'
v PETER SEPHTON W 21-11

Monday morning started with my back in a really bad place and only just able to gingerly walk the dogs on the park.
With some exercises as directed by my wife and the wonders of ibuprofen, I got moving around with some tender form of normality again by the afternoon.
I wasn't in the team for the evening's bowling match so no fears at this point about whether I was fit to bend down and chuck woods. I kept the tablets going though and thought I should show willing and get to the game early for a practice at least and was surprised to be told straight away by that I'm playing.
Yessss! With additional shot of adrenaline at this news, my back felt fine and forgotten as I quickly poured my woods on to the green and cracked on.
Down to the default of missing a couple of players and the very gracious decision of our captain Steve Marginson to put me before himself, I had this very unexpected opportunity to stake a claim for a place in the team again.
With the perished green surface at the Eagle starting to go rough with various cracks and bobbles, the club had taken the rare measure of watering the green at the tail end of last week. This was followed by a welcome bit of rain on Saturday evening and the sting was taken off it for now. This seemed to suit me and I played quite well throughout.
Peter had to earn most of his points, there were rarely any easy pickings for him at all. If my first bowl did stray, I was correcting very well with my second one. This helped keep the demons at bay and stay in a positive mental state... for once!
It's not that Peter didn't play well at times, I just started getting a bit of confidence back and that reflected in the way I played and the decisions I made.
Throughout this muggy evening we seemed to be in the periphery of thunderstorms, but apart from a few splashes, nothing major departed from the heavy skies over the Eagle & Child. 

Not so just four miles away in Chorley, as some of our 'B' team players rolled up to watch us after their match had been postponed due to a huge downpour that waterlogged the green at St George's. Very local weather and quite unpredictable, rather like my evening really.
I came down expecting to do a scorecard, see the team do well and then scratch my head even harder at how I might get a sniff of getting back in before the summer's out.
Instead, I played, played well, even won the sweep and given myself a shout for selection at Farington Cons next week.
That's a place I need to go and damn well get a win at if I'm on the card. A team win there would be massive. After another home victory tonight, but with no team other than leaders Penwortham having bagged an away win so far, picking up something on our travels would be a huge boost in maintaining position and pushing for a possible successive promotion. 

BACK ON SONG DESPITE ANOTHER LOSS

Thursday 8th June 2023
Leyland & District League Div-3: Leyland & Leyland & Farington Social - Eagle Reds
v ERIC JONES L 17-21

It's been dry for almost a month now with temperatures steadily increasing day by day.
At Farington Social, a narrow strip of grass represented what once was. Clinging on to it's natural pigment along one side of the green thanks to a thin shadow cast by the North facing visitors stand.
The rest was desert. The hardest, fastest running bowling surface that I think I've encountered so far. My home green was wild enough, having had a go on it the previous day. But Farington Social's surface was just unplayable in some areas and the clunk of a jack or the following woods wobbling off the green was a frequent sound and sight for most of the evening.
Pre-match practice had gone well though and I was feeling quite confident of putting up a decent account of myself here despite the conditions. Having seen a little of my opponent bowl (and sing) in the past (I recognised Eric Jones as top billing at our annual Eagle & Child presentation night) I also knew that he was perhaps the toughest bill on the card in Farington's line up that evening, who currently top the division.
The whole match was a close contest, with neither of us getting much of a run with the jack. But Eric slowly built up an advantage to 12-17 and whilst unruffled by deficit for once and concentrating on my game, I felt the score was rough justice at this point.
A double ditcher didn't help, when I sent two woods on a perfect road that weren't bad at all really, but inconcievably were slowly sucked in to the gutter when it looked as if they had actually stopped. I'm still sure I took a bit out of that second bowl, but there you go!
Eric had a habit of producing something special just when I looked like taking some initiative at any point. Notably when playing in to the notorious far corner, twice
I send a very reasonable bowl down there, only to be trumped by two incredible touchers from Mr Jones. He also found that lonesome strip of visitor's end grass helpful to keep one in.
I came back in to it though and at 17-19 could sniff a chance again. I had to be more precise with my lead bowl which wasn't shabby in terms of weight, but Eric nicked in there with a slightly better road to bend on to the jack over the last couple of feet.
Eric then rolls another front toucher on his subsequent lead bowl and on this occasion, striking was the only option with a guarantee of killing the end if I make contact. My first one was maybe a foot wide, but my second effort was less than an inch off saving the game and got the ritual "Oooooh!" from both sets of teams.
Some ends made us both look silly, but generally it was a decent game on a very tricky surface and a new record finishing time for me of 10pm. Importantly though, I enjoyed the match, wasn't too disconcerted with the result or the way I played and got a bit of enthusiasm back that had recently been on the wane.
Despite only four wins from nine matches this season, a score of 16 in our first game at Farington Cons remains my lowest so far in this league. Whilst becoming more difficult to beat it would seem, I've got to be looking at getting these close games swung in my favour a bit more and particularly away from home.
Our team went down on the night but there were some good performances, notably from Terry Grayston and Phil Donnelly finding some form.

STILL TRYING TO TAME THE ENEMY (AND THE IDIOT) WITHIN

Thursday 1st June 2023
Leyland & District League Div-3: Eagle Reds - Wymott
v STEFAN HARGREAVES W 21-19

As team captain Harry Glynn locked the door up on another night's bowling at the Eagle green, he reminded me, "You're your own worst enemy".
He said it last Summer too. Will I ever learn?
As a grade 'A' idiot, you might think I'd have got used to being one by now and all that comes with it. But you see, there lies the true depth of my idiocy. For I am such an idiot that I forget that I actually am an idiot and set the bar too high for myself, thinking I might be something other than. (An idiot)
In sport, keeping my composure has never been an easy lid to keep screwed on. A competitive nature sometimes unnaturally manifests itself out of all proportion.
As a footballer, I struggled to take defeat with grace and could quite easily lose my rag even when my team were winning easily. As a fellrunner, if I wasn't feeling it in a big race that I'd earmarked, kicking tussocks and roaring "Fuuuuuck!" was not unheard of from time to time.
In bowls, lack of composure normally stems from a basic inability to accept that I've sent a crap wood and instead let it eat away at me, wittering away some highly self-deprecating expletives to myself... even if I end up winning the end. 

The idiocy within this trait is delusion, because I'm simply not good enough, not experienced enough to be that player who expects something brilliant to happen every time a bowl leaves my hand.
Leopards don't change spots of course and I'm always going to be reactive in competitive situations. But I do need to try and broaden the threshold of more realistic expectation before I start getting upset with myself in crown green.
All that said, I feel some progress has been made in that despite still getting myself seething during a match, I've now managed to recover and come out at the other side and start sending good bowls again. Top player Greg Smith is evidence that showing your feelings and letting out frustration can actually be advantageous if channelled the correct way. There's a grumpy look about Greg most of the time and even in his match against me at Fleetwood in March, he was cursing himself and kicked a wood down the gutter. There's no point then, trying to be poker-faced and introvert. It's just not me, either.  

There was no real reason to get all worked up here against Stef though, having played him at their place last season I knew I just had to play as well as I can and my opponent would have a lot to do.
But after a great start, rolling well and going maybe seven or eight up on merit, two or three lousy ends wound me up and it became a vicious circle. In fairness, even when I got over myself, Stef had started sending up one or two great bowls and I wouldn't knock the clarity of his comeback whatsoever.
With my lead shortened to 15-12, Stef then enjoyed a period of making it really difficult for me to score, even when my own bowls were getting back on track and I sensed my opponent started to believe he could see the game out at 15-17.
To be fair to myself, there have been few games at home which slip away without a fight and I got my nose back in front until a poor lead, followed by an ill-judged and poorly executed strike saw Stef mop up a two to regain the advantage at 18-19.
Pegging quite a distance off the crown, Stef sends the jack just a yard inside the zone that was ruthlessly absorbing bowls in to the gutter tonight and then rolls two very similar deliveries both a touch narrow and a yard and a half short. But they counted. 

My first wood found the land but didn't quite wobble to a halt in time and fell down the greenside trap. To save the game with my second wood, I found the same road and this time it thought about it, but just stayed in. It was a cracking effort under the circumstances. Literally an inch from losing the match, but now very much back in it. 19-19.
Sending a very delicate round peg down to the front of our clubhouse, I finished the match with two very neatly placed close efforts and thankfully Stefan didn't quite do enough to create disruption. 
With the absolute utmost respect to this opponent, I felt I made a real meal of it to win here and was slightly fortunate to do so, although my last three bowls had to be good enough and they were.
Only my third match in the last two and a half weeks, a bit of rustiness perhaps. But loss of composure most definitely the telling factor.

BANKSY ON FIRE
Steven Banks finds himself at the brunt of most jokes at the club but takes it all with good grace. As I may have mentioned previously, Banksy is one on his own but when his head is on it, he can play some bowls.
He admittedly doesn't like a parched green running super-quick and maybe that contributed to the acute levels of concentration displayed as he had us all purring under the pavilion with consistently cracking deliveries that notched up a crazy lead of 17-0. His opponent had a nice delivery style and didn't look easy pickings by any means.
Wymott's Lee Anderson remarkably kept his cool (going off my own standards, I'd have lost the plot by then) and fought back to scratch eight on the card before Banksy inevitably got over the finishing line.
Banksy was ON it. So was the team as we finally ticked off our first win of the season.

QUARTER TERM REPORT
With a quarter of the crown green season gone already, early promise and subsequent expectation of myself to improve have hit the buffers.
Thursday nights in the Leyland & District League remain a constant, but I've lost my place in the Monday Chorley league team and it's difficult to see a way back in just now.
Match practice is now lacking.
Confidence is also knocked at present and as a result I'm just not quite enjoying the game or buzzing about it in the same way.
Equally, a few injury niggles over the past few weeks have hampered preparations for having a crack at Blencathra, one of my favourite fell races and a focal point of my training all year. Tendinitis in my right knee sends some gentle reminders to ease off now and again and I have to listen these days or I'm out for a long period.
So there's an element of frustration and disappointment in both codes of sporting activity just now. With extra stuff on the agenda in life as well, it's difficult to see where the Summer bowling and running season is heading just now.