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.