SMASHED IN THE SEMIS BY THE SMILING ASSASSIN

Sunday 18th August 2024

EAGLE & CHILD PRESIDENT'S DAY

A perfect English Summer's day, of which there have been very few this year, graced our club's President's Day and contributed to a thoroughly pleasant afternoon enjoyed by all.

This year I was to be spared a qualifying game and drawn a bye to the last sixteen for finals day.
Whilst one could favour some players' chances to others, there were no clear favourites in the hat. Literally whoever played best on the day had every chance of winning it in my opinion. Maybe that includes me.
Would-be favourites and notable absentees from this 2024 competition included 2022 champion Chris Miller, last year's winner Matt Brown (sadly no longer an Eagle) and the distinguished young talent of Aaron Hayhurst. 2019 winner Phil Bradshaw has not been playing this season and I suppose I should mention Trevor Bibby too. One of the best and most experienced players at the club until resigning his membership recently after getting in a bit of hot water with local league authorities.
Despite Trevor's popularity in some bowling circles, it's already been documented that I've never taken to the fella. He can be unnecessarily rude, very cliquey and disruptive in a team environment and I suppose basically, I for one am sort of relieved he's left the club.
With those aforementioned big guns not in the frame, a quiet confidence grew within, but fearful of Nigel Tomlinson and Michelle Anderton as players I didn't particularly want to get first round... sure enough the loaning of my vintage pool ball set from childhood to make the draws put me up against Shell...

SECOND ROUND (Last Sixteen)

v MICHELLE ANDERTON W 21-12 (off 0-2)
A tough task ahead to get through a round, Michelle is a vastly experienced bowler but also a teammate in the Chorley League and it seemed a bit strange coming up against her.
Shell was one of the players who had every chance of winning it and completing a President's Day trilogy for the Anderton family, with husband Keith and daughter Julie both previous winners.
Playing off scratch myself this year, I did think Shell's +2 handicap was on the generous side and made it even more important to get off to a good start, which fortunately I did.
Most ends were close calls but I had managed to get myself in to a decent lead and was playing well enough to sustain it. It felt like a very close game and it was really, the score somewhat deceptive and only representing an accumulation of getting the better of very fine margins. Essentially though, that's exactly what this game is about. I was pleased, but mainly relieved to get past Michelle and stay in it.

QUARTER-FINALS
v MATT HOYLES W 21-13 (off 0-1)
I've not seen much of Matt playing but knew full well this was another game that could go either way.
Matt says, "Go easy on me", during the first end, but I wasn't having any of that. If Matt was implying that he was the underdog, I felt we were very much equals and that's how I treated every roll.
This game was another one of tightly contested ends, but I got my nose in front and gradually pushed in to a good lead.
I wasn't quite landing woods with the sort of consistency as the first round, in that I couldn't put two good ones together and had to slog it out getting singles.
Matt fought back though and had a run of solid leads that I couldn't break. But when I did get back in, a fist pump after pulling off a cracker to knock Matt's second counter to get two probably wasn't the best move right in front of the Hoyles family, who filled the Alan Marginson Town End seatery. But it was what it was, I can't pretend to be someone else. Just me and my idiotic desire to win. Hopefully the Hoyles contingent realised it was nothing personal!
I'm trying to keep my emotions in check on the green, but at the same time I need to be expressive. I talk to myself, pull faces, gesticulate... I even got caught flapping my arms after two wide bowls and Ann Derbyshire shouted, "Are you trying to fly?".
A risky round peg on to the lower far corner where the green (not me) was flying paid off as the winning line closed in. I joke to nearby Banksy about not rolling the jack to the edge of the green at all-but - a Banksy multiple cardinal sin - and of course, what do I do? Adrenaline charged down my right arm and I roll less than two feet short of the ditch to the opposite corner.
Somehow I got away with it though, landing a perfect lead bowl before relieved to see Matt's pacey efforts to void the end miss the target.

SEMI-FINALS
v NIGEL TOMLINSON L 7-21 (off 0/-1)
Nigel and I know more than enough about each other's game. Chorley league teammates, recent practice matches this Summer and regular pairings in the Winter League doubles.
One of my favourite guys, and probably one of everybody's favourite at the club, Nige is ever the modest, consummate gentleman on and off the green.
I'm not sure if I didn't get enough time from the previous match, not to conjure excuses, but I started this match feeling a bit rushed after barely having chance to nip for a pee and began by bowling a bit all over the place.
The green was running quicker as the afternoon progressed, but I wasn't even hitting the land I aimed for. I lost a few twos but didn't get too distressed in those early stages, until I realised I wasn't getting much better and Nige was absolutely on fire and not giving anything.
With unassuming relentless brilliance, Nige put the squeeze on me. There haven't been many games I've played where I've sensed such an early inevitability of my fate and particularly on the Eagle green, but I just wasn't playing anywhere near as well as the previous two rounds and Nigel was playing as good as I've seen him play and getting better as the day went on. A combination that concocted a heavy defeat.
There were a few opportunities, but when I did get in, my leads were nowhere near good enough and I was otherwise slave to the Tomlinson rythym.
Scrapping around for every point I could as Nige neared twenty-one, an end that defined my exit from the competition was an effort to make two that instead tapped myself out. As I approached, Nigel is smiling, partly in sympathy for me, partly in anticipation of laughing about what I'm about to say and partly because he knew he was on his way to the final. Literally, a smiling assassin.
Nige played very well all afternoon and not only deserved to despatch of myself in style, but then thoroughly deserved to go on and win the final.
Steve Loynd was also a form player on the day and managed to keep Nigel close in the early stages of this end of the afternoon showpiece. But the quality of Mr Tomlinson, runner-up two years ago, shone through to finally get his name on the shield, beating Steve 21-14 

CONCENTRATION IS THE KEY

Thursday 15th August 2024

LEYLAND & DISTRICT LEAGUE DIV-3: Hoole Village Hall 'A' 167-174 Eagle Reds

v JANICE CUMBERLIDGE W 21-10

I'd been getting myself prepared to play Chris Coxhead again. We've both been playing at number ten and a third encounter against him looked likely. In the last of our two meetings, on his home turf I suffered a bit with his accurate long game to the corners, but I was ready to give him a better game tonight... until - scratch those plans - Chris has been tweaked to number nine and Janice to ten.
No change in the pre-match mindset, for still a tough game on the cards. Just a different one.
Janice has been playing perhaps a year or so less than myself, but I'd already clocked her as a good player in our fixtures against Hoole the last few years. I also knew she was having a good season and anything less than playing well just wouldn't be good enough.
During practice, the green was deceptively running despite it's grassy complexion and soaking up light rain all day. Getting the right length was a tricky task.
By the time our game was on, the rain had ceased and, as my Grandma used to say on such days, "That sun's got a nerve...".  Indeed the sheer cheek of our solar mother to break through and shine for the first time all day at around 7:30pm.
An hour or so of dryness had took that bit of skiddy zip off the surface and I started the match better than my practice rolls.
An early lead was pulled back and we were about 7-7 with a long hard game looking likely. But I then got a good break together, taking some twos and generally getting my lead bowl up to put a bit of pressure on Janice. As has been the case in many an away game this season, I grew in confidence and pushed towards the finish line despite the game still feeling very tight.
There was a bit of luck too, and in particularly when the laws of physics were strongly challenged by Janice's round pegging wood that cleanly found an impossible looking gap when damage looked a certainty. It's either going for you or it's not sometimes and elements of luck seemed to favour myself on the night. Another two on that end was a bit of a sucker punch for my opponent at that time.
The Eagle's own local bowling legend Keith Anderton has told me on frequent occasions, "It's a game of concentration, John", but for me, that is the biggest challenge if I want to continue to improve. Signs have been promising lately and once again my concentration levels were much better again this evening and I didn't get too disconcerted at playing the odd clanger or bad end.

I stretched the score out to 18-10 when I then successfully turned over peg to deny Janice two and steal in for a single. A good lead won the next before sending two gems on the last end, possibly too good as a target was made, but Janice whistled her striking wood wide by a few inches.
Good form to take in to the club President's Day this Sunday. With three or four of the best players unable to make the date this year, there are no clear favourites by any means and I've got as much chance as anyone else if I can play well on the day.
A long overdue win for Eagle Reds too, with five winners and the superior aggregate score to finally stop the rot.  

ME AND MR JONES

Thursday 9th August 2024

LEYLAND & DISTRICT LEAGUE DIV-3: Eagle Reds 167-181 Farington St Paul's
v MALCOLM JONES W 21-10

Farington St Paul's like to juggle the order of players and it's fair to say I wasn't expecting to get Malcolm at number ten.
Still a playing member at the Eagle in the veterans leagues, he nevertheless changed allegiances in the Leyland league this season. As a former teammate then, Malc often took an interest in my games and did his best to keep me calm when things weren't going my way. Bless him!
In his day, the tall frame of Malc was a player. Reaching the last eight of the Waterloo in the halcyon crown green days of the eighties amongst his accolades.
These days I get the feeling he's grateful just to be playing the game he loves and if he can win a few, it's a bonus.
It's fair to say Malcolm wasn't the toughest name on the St Paul's card by any stretch, but being drawn against Mr Jones didn't come without it's challenges.
Malcolm has a reputation for long drawn out matches, up to one hour forty minutes I seem to remember him once saying was his record for a singles game of 21-up. The slower player will always be able dictate the pace and I knew it was going to be difficult to get in to a rhythm against him.
It was close for a while and we got to 7-7 with neither of us keeping the block for more than an end.

Malc obviously knows the Eagle green well and turned over three or four times with good effect if my round pegging wasn't spot on. When leading out, Malc was having some joy sending straight peg marks of around twenty-two metres.
Stretching him out just three or four yards further on straight pegs seemed to be the key in running out to win. My opponent could reach up but his accuracy waned and some twos started to rack up on the scorecard.
Me and Mr Jones, well I would have preferred to play anyone else really. I wouldn't say we've got a thing going on, but I've got a soft spot for him.
Teamwise, Eagle Reds can't seem to get a win. Despite a narrow success at St Paul's earlier in the season, four winners on the night in the home return was never going to be enough.

POOR DO AT WATERLOO

Wednesday 8th August 2024

AUTUMN FLEETWOOD WATERLOO TROPHY

At Euston Green, Fleetwwod
FIRST ROUND QUALIFYING
v ANTHONY WALKER (Manchester) L 8-21 (off 3-3)

Of my previous five appearances having a go at the new Waterloo competition, first round draws have been brutal, including Lee Johnstone, Greg Smith and Dan Petcher. If you know, you know. This was yet another tough draw against Anthony who went on to despatch two more players on the day and qualify for the finals weekend along with the esteemed names of Callum Wraight, Noel Burrows and Craig Hopwood.
I came to Fleetwood hopeful, but probably more prepared than many to accept an exit at the first hurdle. That said, it was the manner of defeat which left me deflated and wondering why I bothered.
I was poor. I can play much better than this and after a promising start, just seemed to get myself in a pickle and unable to find a decent length. Confidence drained and I was easy pickings for my opponent, to whom, after ridiculously knocking a stray wood of his up to make two, I apologised for not giving him a decent warm-up match for the second round.
It wasn't all about me and my shortcomings though. Anthony played well and showed his class, particularly on short round pegs of the crown which were very difficult to fathom from his tightly positioned left-handed delivery.
At all-but, I managed to whip around his slightly short first ball to touch. Thoughts of getting double figures became a reasonable hunch until his second bowl tapped mine out to perfection. This chap knew what he was doing on here.

I made for the exit a touch embarrassed - not by the result at all - but generally the way I had played. I ended up nattering to Andy Lund before I departed. I played against Andy in the local leagues a couple of years ago and he had a cracking run to make the Quarter Finals here last year. I questioned the point of turning up for such competitions, but he was adamant I should stick at it and keep mopping up the experiences.
The Problem is that I'm just not playing well on the day in most of these singles comps and rarely scrape through a round. Only a decent game touches the sides amongst the sort of calibre of players I encounter. I've been very poor overall at the Waterloo competitions this year and I can't help but once again question myself about the justification of time and money spent entering when there seems so little sign of any progress having a go at this level.
It is about experience and so I'll take the experienced Mr Lund's advice of course and see what happens at the next singles comp. I played a good game against John Coupe back in May at the Hugh Hornby Merit. I can do it. I CAN do it! 

PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE

Monday 6th August 2024

CHORLEY & DISTRICT LEAGUE DIV-2:

Eagle & Child 'A' 144-145 Brownedge Blue
v KEVIN TRUBY W 21-15

Galavanting on holidays and short breaks lately, I've not been a stalwart regular on a Monday evening and so I really appreciated captain Steve Marginson saving my place.
The least I could do was get a win for the team and came out of a good game the right side against recent Longton Doubles winner, Kevin Truby.
There was little in it from the off, but the key to an eventual win seemed to be not going behind at any point in this nip and tuck affair. I showed a bit of uncharacteristic patience and good concentration levels which paid off.
Turning over peg successfully proved to be a particular deal breaker, either stealing in or adding a second counter and helped make the difference, as was mentioned by my opponent at the end. We were pretty much level in the scores department before I got a strong finish together to play some very good bowls at the right time.
It was a good game, I enjoyed it. I wouldn't have moaned too much if I'd lost, but it was all about those last four or five ends and I managed to put Kevin under a bit of pressure when it mattered.
Our team lost by a chalk for the second week running and despite taking five wins from eight games. That the three defeats were all to thirteen suggests ominous bad luck. With only one team relegated from this division though, some more reasonable point scoring should he enough to stay out of trouble. 
A notable win on the night was for junior player Henry Hoyles who has been chucked in at the deep end this season but seems to take it all in his stride. A superb win against Brownedge man Nathan Hargreaves. This match went right to the final end, but Henry played a perfect lead to put a serious feather in his cap.

JOLLY WELL BEATEN

Saturday 4th August 2024

LEYLAND & DISTRICT LEAGUE PRESIDENT'S DAY (Mr Ken Price)

At Hesketh Bank Bowling Club
FIRST ROUND
v BRIAN JOLLY (East Ward) L 11-21

The resurrection of this historic competition - not played since 2019 before the COVID outbreak - turned out to be a bonus bowling outing after being selected by Harry Glynn on behalf of the Eagle Reds team.
Whilst perusing notes in the competition programme, a chap next to me is getting his woods out and asks me who he's playing. He's got Terry McMullan, the winner five years ago and highly fancied to retain the trophy. 

"I won this back in 1969 you know", says said chap with a smile. Wow! Sure enough, he points his name out on the list of previous winners. Reg Alty. Fifty-five years on and now playing the chap who won it fifty years after his own success.

The match lived up to it's fascinating billing, with Reg rolling back the years and leading for much of the match until Terry ground his way back to lead 20-19. Reg saved the match with an incredible bowl to the corner when Terry looked to have done enough. The 82 year old then goes long to the opposite corner and sends a front touching lead to win it. It was a pleasure to watch.

The fairytale ended in the last eight for Reg, but once again the match went to the wire and Brian Jolly squeezed past him on the last end.
Prior to that, I was Brian's first round opponent. The vastly experienced East Ward bowler has won fifteen from sixteen in Division Two so far this season and wasn't the least difficult draw on the card by any means.
I didn't start well with ample room to win the first end yet still conceded two. After then going six down, I showed a bit of grit and sent a few decent bowls to come back to 7-9. But it was perhaps an underlying lack of belief, concentration, or both that I played two terrible ones on the next end which really was key to how the remainder of the match would pan out.
Again, Brian did leave opportunities at times but I just didn't snaffle them. Whilst I provided glimpses of good bowling, glimpses were never going to be enough against this, or in fact any potential opponent that day.
A first round knockout was hardly unexpected, but it was tough coming off that green at the end having not played as well as I would have liked.
I think I was playing the occasion rather than just the match and got a bit tensed up in front of a loyal little following from our club and a few other folk around the green who I've become familiar with in the game.
However, I got there and can put it down to experience.
Sadly, the competition's resurrection could be just a temporary one. Bizarrely, out of thirty-six teams and twenty-five clubs that play in the Leyland & District League, organiser David Hughes was pulling his hair just to get the sixteen players required for a finals day knockout. Not quite sure why this is, but it's a sad reflection.
The competition invites one representative from each team, normally one of the players with the most wins from a team and I don't understand why more bowlers didn't come forward to pick their wits against some of the league's best.
Aaron Hayhurst was the Eagle 'A' team (Eagle Blues) representative and showed his quality and competition experience to make the semi-finals, leading out for the match but going down 19-21 to eventual winner Shaun Fisher. My opponent Mr Jolly also went out in the last four to Penwortham's finalist, Callum Foster. 

JUST THE TONIC TO START THE MONTH

Thursday 1st Augist 2024

LEYLAND & DISTRICT LEAGUE DIV-3: New Longton 'B'  175- 139 Eagle Reds

v DAVID DAWSON W 21-9

After another cheeky long weekender camping, missing another Monday night match left last Thursday's defeat to fester long and hard.
It must have done some good though. This felt like a return to the form I've been struggling to rediscover.
For the second week in succession I was drawn a rematch from this season's corresponding fixtures. David is a very composed player who can bowl well so I knew this was going to be a challenging game and especially on his home patch.
Following concentration issues last week, in the build up to waiting to go on at number ten I was determined to keep my head in the right place to maintain a readiness and eagerness for a tough game ahead.
Not allowing too many distractions, a bit of time around the green on my own, making sure I had some periods sat down after a full day on my feet, enough water consumed to go for a pee at least three times... basically anything I thought I didn't get right last Thursday when I started sloppy and allowed Mr Darch to dictate.
Greens are finally running a bit now after a period of much less rain than we've been used to over the last twelve months. Without a win yet at New Longton's Windsor Avenue expanse, I set out to keep things simple. Straight peg, nowt too complicated and send a good lead.
Typical then that it was a switch to the more risky strategy of round pegging that swung the match in my favour.
There was little in it early on and I was satisfied with that. I was playing fairly soundly and not letting David dominate possession of the jack.
If my opponent was trying to find a mark that I couldn't get to grips with, I actually managed to do that myself with a short lead bowl and an overly pinged second that conceded a cheap two. I should've known better to lead out where I did, it was an area of the green I was hopeless with during practice but I was trying to get out of the way of the other game still on. There was a lot of noise coming from the Banksy v Farrington affair. Sending those two clangers proved to be a turning point though.
Livid at the sheer pantsness of those two wayward woods, I did something else I didn't do last week and take a nice deep breath. I've noticed when I get worked up I might not actually breathe at all, so I thought I might make a point of doing so!
David led well to the corner, I was on a better road andl yet just shy but knocked it up with my next one which I think was a winner anyway had it not made contact, so I wouldn't concede it was fortuitous.
From here I decided to round peg to the social club corner, given that David had tried to send me there twice himself but not succeeded. Then retrace our steps along the side of the green towards the other corner. Back and forth, I seemed to get more and more accurate and put the heat on David who started to strike. One hit splattered the lot, but luckily I still held two. I got to nineteen and then sent another toucher in to the club corner. Surprisingly, David had a go at it with his first wood but missed. I turned over straight peg to try and block, but such was my feel for a length I sent another very close one and made a slightly bigger target.
Once again though, David's power wasn't quite matched by precision and I ran out to win. This latter half of the match is as well as I've played all season. I feel like a free spirit away from home this season and have produced most of my best performances on the road.
This game is as much a state of mind as it is of technique and skill. One bad game doesn't make you a crap player overnight, any less than a very good game turns you in to King Brian Duncan II.
Aside from playing better this year, I've learned that when I can settle in to the right balance of focus and relaxation and really enjoy what I'm doing, I can give most folk a game. 

BACK TO THE DARCH SIDE

Thursday 25th July 2024

LEYLAND & DISTRICT LEAGUE DIV-3: Eagle Reds 168-201 Victoria

v MARK DARCH L 16-21

No sooner had I give myself a big warm hug for getting some home form together, I start a game bloody awfully and find myself ten down for the second time this season.
Mark was on his game, of that there is no doubt. But I just wasn't getting things right at all in these early exchanges and no surprises then that the dark side returned.
I seemed to have departed myself from producing the natural basics of bowling and the frustration boiled up. There was inevitability a reaction and I side footed a bowl towards the nearby visitors end ditch, only for it to kick up and clank around in the chairs and back of the stand to make it sound a lot worse than it was. I've seen bowls fly in there at over thirty miles per hour and bury themselves in the gutter. How that tame act of petulance made it up on to the concrete flags I do not know.
As a result, it was sincere and humble apologies to our visitors from just North of the Ribble and also my waiting opponent who must've wondered what all the kerfuffle was about.
As is the norm though, a bit of tension release brings about a spell of much better bowls.
I started to put some good ones up and find some accurate length. That said, even a cracking two wasn't enough against Mark on one particularly high class end though. But it's ends like that I can deal with losing.
I knew I was clawing back some respectability to the score, but little did I know at the time that 0-10 had been turned around to 13-13 and on merit. Mark's game hadn't really wavered.
If only I could have pressed the reset button at this point. Instead, I reverted to earlier form with a couple of loose ends and then, rather than scrap my way back again, I drove myself to distraction and make a total dog's bollock of the next three ends. Firstly, flinging two off the green on a mark I normally enjoy after just getting the jack back. Then I can't send line or length on Mark's straight forward mark across the visitors end. Mark hits nineteen here and my scorer Alan Robinson tells me I'm fifteen. I'm still in it, but I honestly think I'd done my own head in. From there, Mark then sends me round peg to our Town End bench, which again is a staple of my home mark diet. First one narrow, second one I turn over and shoot through with still too much juice in my arm. Game over.
My concentration levels weren't up to the job this evening, even after I managed to have a decent spell.
Mark played very well and was solid all game, avenging my victory over him at his place earlier in the season. He said later it's as well as he's played this year, which on one hand is a compliment, but I've gone ten down here, resolved the issue, but then got myself in a mess again. As much as applauding my opponent, I can't help but be very bloody cross with myself. It's a strange old game, as I do keep on mentioning.
Eagle Reds are on a bad run now after early season promise and my reverse was part of a resounding 3-7 loss on the night. 

AUGUST TO DEFINE A SEASON OF PROMISE

There's no doubt my bowling has improved this season. Testimony to this alone would be the amount of away wins taken. Three or four notable performances have tapped in to yet another level that I must now drive towards on a consistent basis.
I should be grateful for some improvement, but just lately it's felt like my game has gone off a bit. Win or lose, I'm not not coming off the green with an all round satisfaction of how I have played.
Everyone has a poor match now and again, but there's just something not quite clicking that happily did click away earlier in the season. Maybe I've missed too many Monday games on holiday and generally not played or practiced enough the last month or so?
Whatever, it's vital to find that better form again or a season of promise could easily dwindle in to the very ordinary during a busy August. This next month is a real test, along with league fixtures there's Leyland League President's Day, Autumn Waterloo, Eagle & Child President's Day and Farington Singles. I want to do myself some justice in these competitions, but to do so I need to get my head in the right space and get some confidence going again.