FAVOURABLE DRAW GIVES ME A CHANCE

Sunday 6th August 2023

EAGLE & CHILD PRESIDENT'S DAY

2nd Round
v DAVID LISTER W 21-11 (Off 2-5)

After a repeat of the 2021 final last week, the second round draw produced a repeat of my semi-final that year too. As I may have mentioned in the past, David is a lovely gentleman and one of my favourite chaps at the club. Now approaching his 90th year, on the face of it he his in fantastic shape for his age. However, David struggles with his sight and unfortunately his condition has worsened recently.
He still plays veterans league bowls though and I can't imagine the extra difficulties of this game if vision is impaired over distance. 
David does pretty well though under the circumstances and as I said to him, he doesn't guess too badly!

Out of the last sixteen, this was a more favourable draw for me to get a game in, acclimatise to the green conditions and most likely do enough to get through.
I got in to a decent lead early on, but David had a good spell where he put some consecutive chalks on the board with some good bowls up that I couldn't match.
Just as I was sort of pleased for him landing a few good ones, I had to put my hard hat on to try and break him because I do know bowls is a funny old game and you can't give your opponent anything because momentum is a funny thing and can swing many a match. 
Thankfully at 18-11 I did break up another tidy two he had in waiting with a nice toucher and saw the match out from there.
Competition organiser Steve Wilson has tagged nicknames to all participants and David 'Green Fingers' Lister has been labelled as such having been gardener at both the Eagle and Fox Lane greens, where he was also a member for decades. Park keeping and other horticultural projects were his line of work too. A proper outdoorsy chap, he has walked many of the main coastal paths and Ways of the British Isles, climbed the Scottish Munroes, done some stuff in the Dolomites... not many places his feet haven't trodden. His brother was a handy fell runner for Clayton-le-Moors Harriers, racing on some very early Yorkshire Three Peaks races which David marshalled on the top of Ingleborough, cycling to Chapel-le-Dale from Burnley on a ninety mile round trip. Mr Lister's tales of his endurance and travels are always of obvious interest to me.

David said he wished he could have played me when he could see properly and was playing in his pomp and I agreed. Although I would most likely have been on the receiving end of a defeat from what I can gather.

'REAL DEAL' HAS ME ON THE RUN

EAGLE & CHILD PRESIDENT'S DAY

Quarter-Finals
v JACK DICKINSON L 14-21 (Off 2-2)

John 'The Running Man' Sutton was chasing from the off against Jack 'The Real Deal' Dickinson.
After winning the toss, I sent long and straight to the edge of the tricky far corner, only to find a good lead bowl beaten and that seemed to set the tone of things to come as Jack went on to win the next five or six ends with some very good bowling.
I didn't capitalise on the odd break here and there and Jack took up a convincing lead of 13-4. He looked like a young man on form with an eye on the prize.
Finally though, when I did get hold of the block and actually send something for Jack to think about, I had a decent run myself and put a bit of pressure on my opponent. But Jack's a good player and when there was a possible turning point in the match having clawed back to 14-16 with another possible two in waiting, he came through with perfect pace to tap the jack on for two of his own instead. Momentum swung back and I couldn't match 'The Real Deal' after that as he ran out to take a well deserved last four spot.

YOUNG LADS DOMINATE THE DAY

Within the bowling scene gossip you hear and read a lot of phraseology along the lines of, "the game is dying".*
Those who chuck that glass half-empty diagnosis around of all things crown green bowling should note that President's Day at our club this year was a reminder that any imminent death will be a much slower burn at the Eagle & Child with these lads on the books.
One eighteen year old and two twenty one year olds hogged the draw for the last four. Matt Brown was victorious on the day and became the youngest player to win the club's President's Day.
In the semi finals, Aaron Hayhurst and Jack Dickinson were denied at the penultimate hurdle by the eighteen year old champion and the last standing competitor of the old guard, Harry Derbyshire, who played superbly all day. Harry put up a fight in the final but was denied at 16-21 by Matt whose success was thoroughly deserved, showing his class to go all the way off a -3 handicap.

* "The game is dying..."

I don't know the world of crown green bowls in nearly enough depth, nor have I even played the game long enough to make bold statements about it.
What I do know is that progressively there are far fewer players, clubs, greens and leagues than say twenty-five years ago and beyond. Also there seems to be a consensus among bowlers that the sport's governing body have been neither use nor ornament in encouraging progress during that time.
Overall, it's probably fair to say the game is most certainly in decline.
To brutally state that "the game is dying" though, implies that it's death is both inevitable and imminent. Now that really is a bold statement. 

There are still enough people involved in the game now to push out another generation at least, slow the decline and maybe even mount a recovery. I might be talking complete bollocks, but if you enjoy the game why condemn it? 
"The game is dying" is an annoying phrase that does nothing to motivate or instigate changes needed to save it. Those that use the term regularly might ask themselves what they can do to help the game? Predicting it's demise from an armchair position will achieve nowt whatsoever.