Tuesday 17th September 2024
SABDEN FLOODLIT SINGLES
At Sabden Bowling Club
FIRST ROUND QUALIFIER
v PAUL CULLEY (St Helens) W 21-20
After what seemed a longer than usual day at work - a particularly arduous affair sucking the very life out of me - I had a fifty minute drive to the back shadows of Pendle to rid myself of low esteem and convince myself I was actually a worthwhile living creature who could also play a good game of bowls.
Playing well was the absolute priority here. To give someone a game and not leave another singles competition having not played as well as I can.
Thankfully, I settled down quickly and was playing well enough to give myself a chance. A close opening against my first round draw suggested a tight game could be on the cards, which it was in the end, but not before I had a couple of good breaks on shortish round pegs and looked to have put myself on the way to victory at 18-11.
Literally though, when the sun dipped down behind the dark silhouette of the ridge upon Wiswell Moor, I sent a couple of short ones as the green seemed to stiffen up in an instant. I broke back straight away to hit nineteen, but sent yet another short lead to give my opponent another chance.
Paul came back really well, he was dangerous with the block all match and put up good leads and he continued to do so on long marks which are that bit harder to better. I kept knocking on the door, but Paul kept putting the lead up and we ended up 19-20 with one bowl left in my hand to save the match.
The St Helens man left a gap of about a yard for once and with the help of a little nick off his counter, I levelled the match with a big, big bowl.
From there, a round peg down the side of the green towards the scoreboards was just the tonic and I put two good ones up, leaving Paul to strike that thankfully didn't hit anything.
I did it the hard way but I kept my cool and thought I just about deserved the win really over the course of the game.
SECOND ROUND QUALIFIER
v SARAH EDMONDSON (Clitheroe) W 21-14
Next up Sarah Edmundson. I'd already heard of Sarah and even saw her playing recently at the Brownedge Classic where she made the quarter-finals. I was in awe and got myself nervous.
This made for an edgy start with Sarah taking the first four ends but at least I was keeping her down to singles. Once I got in and won an end though, the nerves subsided, I started gaining confidence and rattling up the scores too.
There was a diagonal mark where I got myself in to a good lead, until, unhappy at not getting a correct length at one end (although still picking the points up) I unwisely changed tact and allowed Sarah to show her round pegging quality. A move which she rightly questioned me about after the match.
Despite breaking my own winning streak and Sarah making a concerted effort to close the scores in, I managed to break back and then matched her bowls for the remainder of the match to sustain a decent lead.
There was a point where I remember glancing across at the scoreboard which read something like 16-9 and I couldn't quite believe it. But, having let a very healthy position slip in the first match I was adamant on keeping a firm grip in this one.
Sarah took the same measures as my previous opponent and decided to stretch me out to long marks. Again though, I managed to keep her to singles or steal in. My long game is improving, I think this evening as a whole proved that.
Key moments proved to be an end where I was lucky (or just brilliant?) to stay on and accompany the jack clinging on to greenside when all I had to do was pass Sarah's bowl. The penultimate end was also satisfying when Sarah didn't quite hit the mark she set from corner to corner and I stuck two very good ones up with great timing to solder my intentions of seeing out the match.
This win against Sarah was probably my biggest scalp to date. Another green, another day and it might have gone the other way but I think I was good again for the win and managed to pass the second round stage of a competition for the first time.
Coupe, Ditchfield and Wraight won't be quaking in their boots at that statistic, but it's a little landmark for me and more importantly a reinstated belief that I'm not completely out of place in this environment and should, as I have stubbornly pursued in spite of continuous doubts, carry on entering these things from time to time.
THIRD ROUND QUALIFIER
v COLIN CRAWFORD (Darwen) L 7-21
Note to self if I do manage to get to a third round qualifier again, that even having just left the green after winning your second match doesn't automatically mean one is going to carry on playing well.
In hindsight maybe I should've asked for five minutes, fetched Sarah a cup of tea and gathered my thoughts. But I was happy to get on with it and didn't want to hold up the organisers either. So I handed Sarah a quid for the tea and got back on the green as Colin's trademark quick strides and long rag dangling from his saggy trousered waistline approached.
I've played against Colin in Winter League doubles, but he's an even more savage beast in singles it would seem and particularly on this green at Sabden.
Having won the toss, I put two good ones up straight away and fancied them. But Colin drew a brilliant dead length bowl right between them and that sort of set the tone for the rest of the match.
That said, I was sloppy for the next few ends. Short, narrow, over the top, all the things you can't be and this is where the game began to get away from me quite early on. A few cheap points conceded and 0-8 down before Mr Crawford even reached top gear.
I had at least started to get amongst Colin's bowls a bit more, but by then his gears were shifting and he was sending belter after belter on an inconspicuous mark across the middle of the green that caught me out. This also forced mistakes, wrong shot choices and Colin's class saw the score roll out to a merciless 1-19. I've never been 1-19 before. It's scary.
When I finally broke the rot with what had to be a perfect bowl, Colin finally left me room for a straightforward two after that and I relaxed a bit and put a few more points together, but even then, like when sending a pearler under the inside of his holding blocker to tap the jack up to my back bowl, he landed another dead lengther to limit me to a tight single.
That said, I still dared delusions of double-figures grandeur, but I missed a good opportunity on the next end round pegging to a corner, unable to better my first by enough and leaving Colin with a couple of feet to ease in to and confirm the inevitable win.
The plan was to then throw a long corner to corner bowl and see what happened. I suspect that wouldn't have caught him out either. Colin played very well, shut me down and put me in my place after an otherwise enjoyable and encouraging evening.
My opponent was absolute full value for his place in Finals Day and on this form will be a tough nut to crack. When I asked Colin about his mastery of the green - sometimes looking narrow or wide but still getting there - he said he's played Sabden a good few times and even beaten the mighty Callum Wraight on here. No bigger feather in any bowlers cap.
If I didn't know much about Colin Crawford on cold and dark nights at Fox Lane when he's bowling for the Olive Park Greens team, I certainly do now.
This was my third year at the Sabden singles and I have to give chief organiser Maggie a mention, and her team of helpers, for an always fantastic night's bowling. Pie and peas on in the clubhouse too for hungry buggers like me, straight from work who missed their tea. Perfect.
BURNLEY FAN CLUB
My purely coincidental attire of sky blue tee and claret shorts in the Burnley district seemed to attract the attention of a couple spectating.
I got chatting to them before practice and then sent two perfect woods up straight away, "My money's on you!", they said. It was a laugh. I'd just been playing myself down to them, or should I say, being wholly realistic about my chances.
They stuck around to the finish and kept an eye on my progress. Little did I know I would actually make progress and still be there at the finish.
Barry and Susan Hunter have taken the game up in the last couple of years at the Queen's Park club in Burnley. A big thank you to them for their interest and support. It was very nice to have acquired a small fan club for the evening!
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