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.