TOUGH AT THE TOP

Thursday 10th April 2025

LEYLAND & DISTRICT LEAGUE DIV-1

Lostock Hall Cons (191) 8-4 Eagle & Child Blue (143)
v DAVE HARGREAVES L 8-21

A proper taste of First Division fayre was dished out against reigning champions Lostock Hall Cons.
Up against Dave Hargreaves, I had a right to believe having played him at Longridge last Autumn. I was narrowly defeated in a tight match in which I was flattered he seemed to remember well.
But it was a different story on his lush little home green here and I just didn't have the skill set or experience to deal with him.
It was the Hargreaves show from the off, leaving very little in the way of reasonable opportunities. End after end I was getting murdered on a mark that one way I couldn't grasp the pace, whilst the other way I could send two fairly good ones and still get nowt. Managing to limit him to singles early on, the pressure broke and a few twos later I'm 1-14 down and desperate.
Despite feeling hot under the collar and a bit stressed at how the game had quickly got away from me, I kept some composure and rallied, effectively going 7-7 with him from that point and limiting the overall damage with a plucky eight.
A player of Dave's quality and his green knowledge obviously had a massive advantage over someone having their first rolls on there. A prime example at 8-19, when I send the jack across the clubhouse, middle of the green and right over the crown. My first bowl is perfectly jack line and I like the pace, I tend to know when I've sent a good one... perfect pace it was, but inexplicably with maybe ten yards to go my wood doesn't take the slight right and lands two yards away to the left! Dave then sends what looks slightly narrow and yet head-scratchingly for me ends up tapping up the target. So I follow his bowl line and this one really does look good until I hit the back of his... I didn't get much luck either!
Clutching at the positives as one has to when getting a battering, Dave's precision was relentless and watching other matches afterwards, some of their other players perhaps left a little more room for opportunity at times. So I got one of the toughest of the guaranteed tough draws in their very strong side and it was a bit of a rude awakening on my first visit to Lostock Cons.
Getting on the back foot against good bowlers may be a more regular occurrence in this league now, but when I sense trouble like this, I need to be more aggressive, mix it up a bit rather than seeking to play the impossible millimetre perfect wood under pressure.
My one attempt of disruption in this match was with ill-judged pace and born of frustration rather than tact.
Back to the positives and from a team point of view, most definitely with four winners against the league's top team.

Phil Bradshaw began the point-taking with a good win over Andy Graham. The home bowler taking the loss badly which wasn't a good look. (Note to a lately reformed self) Then Steve Marginson beat Paul Ferguson, before Steve Wilson played a blinder to pull away from Josh Iddon at the tail end of a long match. New team captain Aaron Hargreaves was last off the green to make it four points with victory over Pedro Yates.