CORNERED BY AVENGING CHRIS

Thursday 27th July 2023
Leyland & District League Div-3: Hoole Village Hall 'B' - Eagle Reds

v CHRIS COXHEAD L 12-21

I'm growing to like Hoole's green and was looking forward to playing there, but on the night I just didn't roll sufficiently against this chap who chucked long to the corners very well and consistently mopped up my sloppy leads when I had a chance to make more of a game of it.
After losing the first end, Chris was difficult to break down and scored four more singles before I managed to land something perfect.
However, possession of the jack was short-lived and my opponent ground more points out of me with continuous long marks on this big square green. An extremely disappointing opportunity to score when Chris finally sent two duffers got my heckles up a bit. I seemed to squander every little window of opportunity.
I don't think I played poorly overall, just not well enough or consistently enough on the night. More or less every point I scored required a very good bowl.
Trailing something like 8-14, I sent two round peggers towards the clubhouse that I was almost smug about, then Chris rolls up with a touch more pace and licks the sandwich filling of my efforts (the jack) and tapped on to it perfectly. A cracking bowl. What can you do? It was at this point I said out loud, "What the f*uck do I have to do to get summat 'ere?"
I don't recall keeping hold of the jack for more than one end, perhaps twice on one occasion, so with that in mind it was a worthy effort to score twelve. Inadequate lead bowls let me down and a few cheap two's tossed away only served to fan my opponent's confidence.
Chris played really well and kept the pressure on throughout the game. This left us equal on aggregate over two matches, having met in the reverse fixture at the Eagle earlier in the Summer. But given my similar margin of victory at home was a little flattering, no flattery here. I got done over.

NERVES CREEP BACK IN BUT IMPORTANTLY, A WIN

Monday 24th July 2023
Chorley & District League Div-2: Eagle &Child 'A'  -  Coppull 'A'
v MARK RIDING W 21-14

Another chance beckoned in Steve Marginson's double promotion chasing side.
A recently floated statistic is that no Leyland team has ever got to the top flight of the Chorley & District League. With this maiden season in Division Two becoming more successful than anticipated, a real opportunity has arisen to maintain a place in the top two and make a little bit of history.
Our captain's priorities have had to change this season accordingly. There's no room for sentiment or experiment. Choices made are based on getting results.
This was another chance to stake a claim, but knowing full well I would have to sit out the following week's away match at Hoghton with no experience of their green. That's how it is and I fully appreciate the situation. I think Steve has grown in the role of captaincy. I certainly know where I stand and couldn't ask for more than that. It's up to me now to play well enough.
I didn't have a great game as it turned out and nervousness returned as we started the match. Feeling pressure to get the win for this team and make a positive impact.  It was an inconsistent mix of sublime and ridiculous against Mark, but thankfully enough against this opponent who himself blew hot and cold throughout the match.
Once again home turf felt like a real challenge and particularly on finding a good length. I missed a chance for two on the first end which wrankled with me straight away, but early on I kept my nose in front and just about stayed there.
Two ends on the trot when Mark's first bowl sat less than inch off the jack, I rolled up even closer and without contact. The callipers were out, but my bowls were in and were crucial to keeping a steady lead. That was the sublime, but the ridiculous was one of the worst shots I've ever played on home soil on a mark I know well towards the entrance corner. Overshot and completely missing the land to the point were it looked like I'd sent wrong peg.
It was a strange match and I probably wouldn't have got away with a victory against one or two other Coppull players on the night, but importantly it was a win and also another one for the team to hold on to that second place. 

 A JOLLY GOOD SHOW

JOLLY MEMBERS DAY

THE BLACK HORSE, CROSTON

The Eagle & Child Bowling Club's Jolly Members* Day almost had the dampeners put on it having rained through the night, in to the morning and threatening more in the afternoon.
Mercifully, local precipitation held off for a few hours and the bowling doubles competitions commenced. This was testimony to the remarkable green at the Black Horse in Croston. Aside from being a cracking surface with a challenging crown and contours, kept in top condition by second claim Eagle member Tony Dobson, the surface water miraculously disappeared and you just couldn't tell it had been sodden on there at all.
Arguably, the beer takes presidency from the bowls on this day, but all were relieved to be able to get our woods out and be spared a rainy day inside competing at darts and dominoes instead.
As knives and forks were placed down and our breakfast plates were cleared, our club's indomitable organiser of events Steve Wilson announces our partners and I was delighted to get Vernon Robinson. It prompted a mutual thumbs up across the pub. I like Vernon and he's a Bolton Wanderer like my Dad was.
I fancied us doing quite well and after an atrocious first game in which we both played poorly and got tonked by Geoff Bibby and Colin Campbell, we then tonked Alan Robinson and Frank Goldthorp, who in turn went on to tonk Geoff and Colin. A bizarre tonk triangle which really opened the group up. 

As the stats worked out, a one roll play-off was required and Vern, busy hugging a pint at the time, sent me out there for the pressure bowl. Although second to Andy Vurley's winner, two from three went through and we scraped in to the quarter-finals.

From here, Vern and I began to play much better. A not so pretty but crucial four on the first end contributed to seeing off self-proclaimed "6-4 favourites" Harry Glynn and Steve Wilson in a tight game.

In the semi, we built up a good lead against Aaron Hayhurst and Jim Turner to win with an end to spare.
In the final, another good start left Colin Procter and Jimmy Sloan requiring a four to tie on the eighth and final end. Despite my poor woods, Vern got one close enough and that was it. Jolly Members* Day champions 2023.
We decided to dedicate our victory in honour of The Trotters having a promotion winning season ahead.

* Jolly Members Day replaces the same day out formerly known as the 'Jolly Boys' to be inclusive to our female members.
I was rather surprised to hear one or two grumbles about this. Nobody is stopping any of the more old fashioned fellas having a traditional lads outing of their own, but for an event organised in the name of the club, exclusivity is unnecessary and doesn't help purvey the impression of a progressive club. The Eagle & Child is lacking in female members compared to many other clubs in the area and needs to attract more lasses rather than isolate them in any way.

Personally, I think it's the way forward and that actually, our club's ladies should be more clearly and warmly invited to next year's outing. Only one girl broke the mould this year, hopefully a few more in 2024.

THE ONLY WAY IS UP

After a few weeks of yet another gentle running restart and reintroduction to something that could be classed as a comfortable trot, a bit of proper running was back on the agenda during a stay in North Wales.
The only right of way was upwards from our campsite, in fact nearly two miles of continuous elavation until any stretch of land relating to some sort of plateau was reached. So when opportunity struck, some tough runs were bashed out.
In between, 'active rest' walking which included the stunning Cadair Idris. Up and down the roughest and steepest route from Dol Idris, I cannot believe I've not been up there since I was about 16 or 17. What an absolutely wonderful mountain. Hopefully I won't be leaving it as long for my next summiting.
Feeling stronger again, I can start looking at races once more and particularly for the Autumn when the bowls season starts to dry up.
Whilst having a little bowling break and starting to buzz again about running up and down hills instead, I've realised that being able to run is still the most important sport of the two for exhilaration, physical and mental well-being.
If someone said to me today, "Right, you can run fells if you pack bowls up, or bowl if you pack fell running up", it would be the former of the two options without the blink of an eye.
This acknowledgement of which code of sporting life really matters most, might actually kick my bowling back in to shape. Yes, I'll still be practicing, striving to be a better player, but not so obsessively. If bowls plays second fiddle to running, it could help me relax, remove some of the pressure I place on myself and just play my game which is ultimately what I simply have to get on top of in order to not only improve, but actually just damn well enjoy the game for what it is.

I often hear the quote of, "No substitute for experience." A sound statement across the board in all walks of life really. Certainly true of crown green bowling. I've come to accept that there's no fast track to making big steps forward in this game. Or at least, not for me.
Whilst still something of a Spring chicken in bowling circles, I'm very much in the Autumn of my running exploits now. With only a couple of races under my belt in the last four years, one might say Winter is here. But this year I've realised there is still potential to get out there and have a go if I can tailor my training and body parts more effectively.
It's all about how I feel these days, allowing a little more time for recovery and sometimes going on the bike instead.
What a load of thinking aloud rambling this is and pity the two poor random souls to have viewed this blogged scripture lately and ploughed through tedious thoughts about my humble sporting endeavours.
For me though, one day in some eutopian future when I'm sat with a large cafetiere and a pile of digestive biscuits on a morning with actually nowt else to do, I will read back on all this indulgence and ponder then, whether there was a point to it afterall.
Apart from the simple (even for me) platform of Blogger.com, one thing I won't be embracing is more complicated technology to transmit these reports to text. 
For example, these days you can get sports watches that do just about everything to monitor performance. Whilst at the less technological end of the scale, a classic Casio digital stopwatch still roll out unchanged from the 1980's. But it's difficult to find middle ground in this market for a basic GPS watch that covers my essential need of time, distance and elavation.
Extra jazz seems to come with all sports watches as standard now and priced accordingly to how much jazz you want (or in my case, will begrudgingly accept)
Admittedly, there's more stuff on my training watch than I need. I just want to know how long, how far, how high. Even to find this information I must flick through a load of stuff like HR zones, speed zones, average this, maximum that, cadence, calorie burn and... 'Run Index'.
'Run Index' was 62% on my last run in Wales. Even though I don't know what the flip that means and disappointed with myself for even paying attention and caring, I was a bit put out by this miserly percentage rate. Presumably gauged on height, weight, age, heart rate, speed and route profile, 62% did not feel proportionate to my efforts on this particular run!
Ages ago, I remember filling in my profile on the watch. So I checked it was still up to date. Sure enough, it had defaulted itself at some point.
I was now down as two inches shorter, forty pounds lighter, nine years younger and registered as a pro-athlete... In which case, I'll happily take the 62%!  

BONUS MATCH, BONUS WIN

Thursday 6th July 2023
Leyland & District League Div-3: Wymott - Eagle Reds
v KATHLEEN SALISBURY W 21-18

So much for a bowling sabbatical. Assured I had been dropped from the Thursday team, I rang Harry to ask if he minded me just staying away entirely as I had some other stuff I could be doing. "Oh I see, but you're down to play now. Jimmy Sloan can't make it."
I was in the first four, so a chance to scoot off after my game. It would have been rude to decline.
The only thing certain about this unexpected match was that I wouldn't be losing my rag. A week's worth of thinking time since, a switch has been clicked. Sometimes you have to go to a bad place to find the good one.
Down the road at Wymott, whilst waiting for the loo before I go on, I'm told of possible plans for a brand new green and pavilion as part of plans for the construction of a third prison, should that get the go ahead. Such is the collosal speed that fields and meadow are disappearing around here, I find myself no fan of another huge development swamping yet more green acreage. On the flip side, brand new facilities for Wymott Bowling Club would go a long way to securing this little club's future in the long term.
Kath Salisbury is waiting for me at the mat, wondering where I'd got to and saying she thought I'd run scared. I came up against her in a doubles comp at Ashton-on-Ribble last year and seen her play very well on her home turf last year against us.
A good game this turned out to be, I started well but as soon as I got creative with the jack, I lost it and Kath had a good spell in possession of it to take a slender lead going in to double figures. I came back well though and had a good run playing at the lushest and least complex half of the green, until rolling two off in the far corner after sending the jack deeper than I'd wished. (No dummy spitting, just a wry smile it should be noted)
Even after that freebie two for Kath, scorer Banksy tells me I'm still up 15-13 so I'd recovered well from the earlier deficit.
I broke Kath straight away and progressed up to nineteen when, reverting to an earlier error, I go tactically off-piste and think I can nail a tricky round peg mark over the middle of the crown. Bad move. The only bowls that nailed it were Kath's.
My opponent then starts finding her form again and puts the pressure on to creep back up to eighteen. Kath then sends two well weighted good ones, as my first bowl just slipped by on a dip behind the block. My second one had a touch taken out of it and held up perfectly - it bloody well needed to be. It put me all-but when I could have easily have been 19-20 down instead.
On the next end, an opportunity to win the game on roughly the same mark that I sealed a win with here last season in front of the cabin and sadly demised social club end. Two decent bowls sent, but I was a touch annoyed not to back up behind the jack on my second bowl. This gave Kath enough opportunity to spoil things, but fortunately for me her weighty wood that was looking for trouble found only a gap and a deep breath of relief was had.
Wymott's occasionally bobbly, unpredictable surface isn't my favourite green by any means, but it's two wins from two there now and that modest statistic nevertheless makes it my most successful away destination bar none!
So now a couple of weeks away from the green can actually start in earnest and on the back of a win and a decent game, feels a better place to leave it. With regards to the state of my bowling equilibrium, Jimmy Sloan staying longer at his second home on the Lleyn Peninsula was quite possibly a blessing in disguise. Thanks Jimmy. 

HALF TERM REPORT

MID-SEASON SABBATICAL

Hoping to get back on track with two away games, instead I found myself dropped from both teams this week. Harry pointed out I've lost two on the spin in the Leyland league, Steve wasn't sure I could bring home the bacon in a critical return fixture at Black Horse in the Chorley league. Absolutely fair enough decisions from two very good captains.
This brings about an impromptu mid-season break, which would be no bad thing after flipping my lid last week. With practice time also squeezed out of possibility just at present and with some holiday breaks coming up, the game is binned off until I return in a couple of weeks. Preferably, with a refreshed outlook, rejuvenated zest for competition and a wiser head for the indifferent experiences of this season so far.
This break had one exception, a return to where my crown green bowling began about three years ago. Starting all over again by having a game with my wonderful old friend Lee on his club green at Vernons. Purely for pleasure, which is what it was all about in the first place isn't it?
We had a couple of good games and it was much needed bowling therapy.
On the whole, this season has not lived up to expectation so far, which was simply to continue the curve of improvement. Whilst strangely I feel I've played some of my best bowls at times and that I've more idea of what I'm doing, I've also intermittently regressed and struggled in some matches.
Whilst blaming a period of fatigue lately for issues with concentration, ultimately it's the same old cloud of broken composure that's cast it's dark shadow. Time and time again this old foe crops up and now look where I am... having a mid-season sabbatical to screw my head back on.
No doubt these words have been scattered before on these pages, but composure really is the biggest challenge to conquer if I'm going to prosper in this game.
Putting pressure on myself and overreacting to the dissatisfaction of rolling substandard bowls are the triggers, but just why I get myself in to such an irreversible tizz is another matter.
Interestingly and by chance, I am half way through a documentary about John McEnroe in which he openly discussed his infamous demons on court.
I'm not comparing myself to one of sport's all time greats on any level, let me be clear, but as well as both being John's, we are both human and I couldn't help but relate to many of the feelings he very honestly described when he had meltdowns during a match.
That said, all I have to do is play well and be consistent to keep myself happy! A big ask indeed to keep the red mist at bay, but if I can just slow down and get my head in gear, it's not impossible. I've still got some potential.
I've learned this season that winning isn't absolutely everything in this game even though losing sucks, but now more so, for me performance is what it's all about. 

TOYS TOSSED OUT OF THE PRAM

Thursday 29th June 2023

Leyland & District League Div-3: Eagle Reds - Leyland & Farington Social
v GRAHAM CUMMERSON L 18-21

Firstly, before the post-mortem of this second home loss in four days commences, a word of praise for my opponent, Graham.
Whilst we were both a bit hit and miss earlier in the match, he played very well to come back from behind and then produce top quality deliveries on the last two ends to take a fully deserved win. In particular, his final two woods were absolute top end.
But, these pages are basically all about me and I hit a dark place after this match for being unable to legislate for mistake after mistake after mistake.
I felt I played poorly for much of the match. Concentration was difficult to maintain and trying to concentrate on concentrating seemed to make things worse. Even when ahead by six or seven, I was dissatisfied and thought myself rather lucky to have a lead. 

I noted Graham had missed practice at the start which may have affected his game early on, but he started to find a groove and began to punish my errors and give himself a chance.
At 16-16, I pulled myself together to take the next two points, but lost the initiative yet again with clumsy woods on a simple straight mark and luckily conceding just the one. Then Graham stitched me up the next two ends with cracking woods to send me off in to a temper tantrum. I was absolutely livid.
Not that I'd lost, I'm cool about losing these days. It was the manner of it. Again, not to take anything away from Graham. I was simply unhappy with the way I bowled throughout the match. Playing well means more than winning in many ways, but then I find losing is less easy to take on home turf and this only fanned the flames of what to onlookers, must have seemed a ridiculous overreaction. It's just a game of bowls in the basement division of the Leyland & District League.
Bowls got chucked in to the rough, repetitive expletives sounded in rant format. Toys completely tossed out of the pram with dummy well and truly spat. I got so bloody unforgivably cross with myself and exploded. I made a dick of myself, but in hindsight I got completely lost in the moment and that's how it was. I tried to be as gracious as I could to my opponent who I was strangely pleased for in a way. I could have been less of a grump to Graham during the match, he seemed a very pleasant and friendly chap, but there was a storm brewing within and the disgust with myself snowballed. I just didn't enjoy the game at all. 

My good home record has been breached twice this week (both against Graham's) but it's been coming. I've had a few tight wins here that have gone quite close to the wire recently. I seem to have lost confidence at the Eagle just now, or perhaps it's this feeling of putting too much pressure on myself again. My best form of late has been away from home and has been where I've felt much more comfortable and confident in what I'm doing. How times have changed.
After going home and wondering if I can actually be arsed with nights like this when I end up losing the plot, I remember that next week it's two away games (if hopefully still selected) and so some hope to cling on to before making any drastic decisions under this current cloud of doom. 

POOR LEADS PROVE COSTLY

Monday 26th June 2023
Chorley & District League Div-2: Eagle & Child 'A' - Black Horse 'A'
v GRAHAM ALTY L 15-21

Graham was quickly on to the current climate of our Eagle green and gave me a tough game of bowls. No freebies or gifts from the Black Horse player, every point had to be earned with a decent delivery.
If it wasn't for poor lead bowls I could have run him closer. Frustration began to set in as despite not having a run in charge of the block of note, Graham began to pull away and my leads continued to let me down.
At 13-17, a real opportunity to get within touching distance holding two peaches wrapped around the jack. But Graham tapped them out and won the end, thanking me for leaving a big target.
I didn't play poorly overall, but in patches and got disappointed with myself. Two woefully short woods that assisted Graham to go all-but was the final straw and I took out my tantrum on the nearest metal object, which happened to be a support post of the visitors stand. Not the wisest choice to release tension.
I seem to be putting a lot of pressure on myself to stay in this team, pressure on myself to win home games like life depends on it... I've got to try and relax about it. Ultimately it's the only way to achieve both.
Despite my defeat, which included four losses from our first four players on, our back four did superbly against this strong team from Croston to get the wins back and enough chalks to win the match.