Wednesday 17th April 2024
At Euston Green, Fleetwwod Bowling Club
SPRING WATERLOO TROPHY
First Round Qualifierv DARREN BITHELL (Freckleton) L *17-21 (off 3-3) *Although the official scoreboard only read 12, I know for a fact I scored at least 15 and Darren saw the card and said 17... so I'll take 17!
Practice time alone restored some faith for a recently fragile bowling state of mind. Turning up at such occasions as a total rank outsider (if a bookmaker was on site, they probably wouldn't even grace me any odds whatsoever) it's always a relief to settle down and send a few ends that wouldn't look out of place on finals day.
Unfortunately I was fifteenth match on the card and so the good momentum gained from an hour's practice time had a further two hours to wear off before I went on.
The rarity of blue sky and full sunshine graced this day's qualifiers, but not without a strong cold wind and I ended up meeting my opponent a short while before going on as he invited me to join him in a small sheltered sun trap after he saw I was getting a bit chilly.
No introductions needed then as we finally got under way and I got off to a steady start and edged in to a small lead. Ultimately, once again my lead bowl just wasn't up to the standard required. Nobody kept hold of the jack for long until Darren's long marks over the middle of the crown had me on the rack for a while and proved costly. His left-handedness proved particularly more difficult to follow on that mark.
There was a chance in this match, I sort of realised later and I just didn't believe hard enough that I could come back. A super bowl to tap out Darren's toucher put me back in contention and broke his run of dominance, but again I didn't put the lead up. Weight was fine, I seemed to be just off my line a bit and even though Darren wasn't having a fully consistent game himself, he was easily good enough to mop up my mistakes.
With Darren all-but, he sent two woods that were too good, pegging across the middle of the green under the bar lounge windows. He left a big target and I sent a pacey one which should either hit the jack off the green or knock both his woods off. Instead I somehow found a bowls width gap that didn't seem conceivable even after it had happened.
The damage was already done though and whilst not a write-off of a game from my point of view, poor lead bowls let me down and it wasn't the improvement here that I was quietly aspiring towards.
BOWLING BOOK A WARD
By the mere fact I was sat in the stand close to his kit bag, a chap who has just come off the green after winning through to round two starts chatting to me about some classic Waterloo finals of the 1980's.
It turns out to be Alan Ward, a one time Waterloo semi-finalist and author, no less, of a book called Bowling Legends
A history of great crown green bowlers and much about this greatest and oldest competition at Blackpool that has been recently kept alive ten miles up the Lancashire coast in Fleetwood.
I should get the book, he's plugged it as available on Amazon. I then wonder what he would make of my own self indulgent and insignificant bowling ramblings?
It's probably best he, like everyone else outside Singapore, doesn't know about it!
CLUB SNUB DOESN'T MAKE SENSE
Also randomly sharing his thoughts to me briefly was the chief orchestrator of the new Fleetwood Waterloo, Mark Mills. Mark is part of a small team of dedicated volunteers who not only put up the Waterloo and Fleetwood Bowling Festival competitions, but their efforts have contributed to upgraded spectating facilities and a fabulously kept green which has improved every time I've visited over the last three years.
Even the back green, which looked to be in a somewhat neglected state last July, has been transformed and now looks an equally inviting surface.
If I heard correctly, Mark happened to point out though that all this kudos for Fleetwood Bowling Club is not just lacking general support from club members, but moreover deemed nuisance value by some. I don't get it. Maybe there's two sides to the story, but Mark, and his comp organising successor Heidi Sutton, are struggling for helpers. The lack of local bowlers popping down for an hour or two to assist does seem strange. They seem an ungrateful lot and it all appears to be a funny old fraught relationship with Fleetwood BC. Waterloo is still a very big competition and what it lacks in host club support, makes up for in terms of quality in depth of bowlers entering. Short term perhaps that's what's important.
It's still early days at Fleetwood and hopefully more acceptance, followed by some embracing of what's played there will come about in the years ahead.
The original Waterloo venue in Blackpool remains intact to a degree and just requires a bowler to win the lottery and return it to it's former glory. There doesn't seem to be any other way back there.
For now, every credit to those making a success of keeping the historic trophy going under ever increasingly difficult circumstances.
MY FIRST SINGLES TROPHY!
A few more less wet days later and my home green was running a little quicker and I seemed to get to grips with it much better at last.
I played Aaron in our latest Hargreaves Cup bout, in which tongue-in-cheek pride of the avenue is at stake versus my neighbour.
I've mentioned on many occasions I enjoy playing against him, it's quickfire bowling and you've got to be on it or he'll thrash you. With Aaron I find myself in the right space of mind, playing very competitively but without fear or inhibition. Big note to self here; This is precisely the mode I need to transmit in to proper matches.
Remarkably this was a third close win in succession and Aaron is a bloody good young player, so if I'm scratching around for encouragement that I actually am a better player than when I started out, my games against this chap ought to be a standard bearer.
Upon this latest match, Aaron roots in to his bag and awards me a small plaqued trophy and it's made clear he wants to win it back in the not too distant future.
The Hargreaves Cup just got real!
What a nice lad, a lovely gesture and I'll enjoy it's place on our mantlepiece... for now.
CLUB SNUB DOESN'T MAKE SENSE
Also randomly sharing his thoughts to me briefly was the chief orchestrator of the new Fleetwood Waterloo, Mark Mills. Mark is part of a small team of dedicated volunteers who not only put up the Waterloo and Fleetwood Bowling Festival competitions, but their efforts have contributed to upgraded spectating facilities and a fabulously kept green which has improved every time I've visited over the last three years.
Even the back green, which looked to be in a somewhat neglected state last July, has been transformed and now looks an equally inviting surface.
If I heard correctly, Mark happened to point out though that all this kudos for Fleetwood Bowling Club is not just lacking general support from club members, but moreover deemed nuisance value by some. I don't get it. Maybe there's two sides to the story, but Mark, and his comp organising successor Heidi Sutton, are struggling for helpers. The lack of local bowlers popping down for an hour or two to assist does seem strange. They seem an ungrateful lot and it all appears to be a funny old fraught relationship with Fleetwood BC. Waterloo is still a very big competition and what it lacks in host club support, makes up for in terms of quality in depth of bowlers entering. Short term perhaps that's what's important.
It's still early days at Fleetwood and hopefully more acceptance, followed by some embracing of what's played there will come about in the years ahead.
The original Waterloo venue in Blackpool remains intact to a degree and just requires a bowler to win the lottery and return it to it's former glory. There doesn't seem to be any other way back there.
For now, every credit to those making a success of keeping the historic trophy going under ever increasingly difficult circumstances.
MY FIRST SINGLES TROPHY!
A few more less wet days later and my home green was running a little quicker and I seemed to get to grips with it much better at last.
I played Aaron in our latest Hargreaves Cup bout, in which tongue-in-cheek pride of the avenue is at stake versus my neighbour.
I've mentioned on many occasions I enjoy playing against him, it's quickfire bowling and you've got to be on it or he'll thrash you. With Aaron I find myself in the right space of mind, playing very competitively but without fear or inhibition. Big note to self here; This is precisely the mode I need to transmit in to proper matches.
Remarkably this was a third close win in succession and Aaron is a bloody good young player, so if I'm scratching around for encouragement that I actually am a better player than when I started out, my games against this chap ought to be a standard bearer.
Upon this latest match, Aaron roots in to his bag and awards me a small plaqued trophy and it's made clear he wants to win it back in the not too distant future.
The Hargreaves Cup just got real!
What a nice lad, a lovely gesture and I'll enjoy it's place on our mantlepiece... for now.
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