Tuesday 2nd September2025
SABDEN FLOODLIT SINGLES
At Sabden Bowling Club
Reading back at my previous visits to Sabden Bowling Club for the Floodlit Singles, I have at least rekindled my running relationship with Pendle Hill. In fact I was up there only the day before the bowling competition. The Pendle mass shadows this smart and very friendly crown green club and this is somewhere I enjoy coming every year.
Last September I branched out to make the third round only to get a lesson in class. I suppose the same thing happened again this year, but there was more confidence and belief this time. Reasons for my eventual demise were very obvious and yet not so unattainable either. I went home stewing on a few things but generally pleased with how the evening panned out. Although a finals night still remains one step beyond.
FIRST QUALIFYING ROUND
v OLIVER McCULLOUGH (Sabden) W 21-14
I had good reason to grow in fear as I took to the mat and exchanged a few words with my first opponent. He's sixteen, he's a home bowler and then his first wood was bang on.
Young Oliver is a fine bowler and will surely prosper in this game if he takes it in to adulthood. A confident stroke out of a delivery, a competitive edge and yet lovely temperament. One to watch in the future I would say.
Despite facing what seemed a daunting task for me, Olly did mention that he hadn't played that much recently. Thank goodness for that, because if this was his rusty mode I'm glad he didn't turn up well oiled.
The match had a feeling of going close. Anything less than a fairly good bowl was likely mopped up by Olly and his lead bowling was excellent at times. Occasionally though I managed to tap his out to ease the pressure and then found a patch over the middle of the green that I seemed to play well and stuck with it. Going in to the teens I began to pull away and reached 19-11. My opponent rallied back for a few ends until uncharacteristically sending a couple of short ones. My second counter was a little lucky to flick in off one of Oliver's, rather than hit it thick and knock him in. It was enough to make round two and tuck in to my second tea of pie, peas and gravy. Pies from Cissy Green's bakery in Haslingden I was informed, and bloody good too.
It turned out afterwards I had beaten one of the organiser's grandsons. But thankfully Maggie said I can still come back next year. The lad is one of the club's rising stars for sure.
SECOND QUALIFYING ROUND
v KEVAN LINGARD (Sabden) W 21-14
It was a sloppy start against another home bowler but with a few more years under his belt than my first round opponent. Left-hander Kev quickly showed his intentions sending me long to the corners and it took a few ends to adapt. Two of those three early doubles conceded were a bit cheap really and encouraged him to carry on, thinking I couldn't reach. At 1-6 I knew the rot had to stop quickly and finally I reached up and woke up early enough to get back in to the game. Nudging level, when Kevan broke he was still trying the long game but sending a bit tight which was a good guide for my own woods and I started to put the squeeze on. He was a tough nut to eventually crack though. Three ends in a row he delivered superb bowls that got around my own that was hiding the jack. But on that third end, it was payback as my second bowl rested fat at a perfect length to nick back in. The calipers were out, but I'd got it and that seemed to finally break Kevan's resistance and I had got down to the night's last four for a second successive year.
THIRD QUALIFYING ROUND
v PAUL BRETT (Burnley) L 12-21
When I did collide with his woods hugging the block, he still ended up with two. It started to feel like I wasn't going to get a sniff.
But I did manage to break him a few times and find a few limited ends of joy inside the middle section. My leads just weren't as tight as I would have liked though and they really had to be against this chap.
It was purely a lack of consistent long bowl technique and not really taking more time to measure things up before I went for the sling. It's something to work on over Winter. The potential is there. I can see what I have to do and the odd time I can do it, but I need to find a technique for playing corners and particularly in conditions when greens are stiffer. It was a fair old chuck on Sabden this evening, that's for sure and particularly as the green dampened later on despite holding a pleasant temperature.
It turns out Paul, who I recognise and knew damn well to be a very good player for New Longton, is actually from these East Lancashire parts and knows the green very well. A Sabden Doubles champion too no less. So no disgrace. I didn't play as well as my previous two matches, but even so didn't get altogether tonked out of sight either. I think Paul will be difficult to beat in the last sixteen and could well be a contender for the latter stages.
OTHER STUFF
My next door neighbour and Leyland League team captain was also present at Sabden (we hadn't conferred and so rather pointlessly travelled separately) After his tip-off, I managed to avoid Aaron's half of the draw though and he also made it to the third round, only to bow out to Kevin Hodgkinson. 4-16 down after a cold restart against an opponent more or less back on the green pretty quickly, Aaron battled back gamely but just lost out to 17.
A spectating Jon Metters asks me afterwards how long I've been playing, saying I do well and should keep going which was kind of him to say so. But Jon was quickly distracted by latching on to a nearby conversation that revealed my earlier opponent Kevin Lingard was keyboard player for Herman's Hermits.
Before my time, but I've heard of Pete Noone at least! Kev, who also tickled the electronic ivories for The Osmonds, wasn't an original Hermit but has had a long spell with the band on their tours in the 21st century.
Metters was over there in a flash and he can talk, so Kev was in for the long haul I suspect. It was to be hoped he still enjoys the attention!
Another spectator I am familiar with was Gentleman John, John Hanson. I'll be bowling at John's Longridge Floodlit Singles in a few week's time. He was also complimentary of my game, although John only has kind things to say. Having also made the third round twice at Longridge, I said to John that maybe a finals night is "one step beyond" and then suggested I might listen to a bit of Madness on the way to his club comp for inspiration.
Incredibly, that got lost on Mr Hanson. John seems very well read and exhumes intelligence with an old fashioned charm, yet I don't know where he was in the late seventies and early eighties when two tone ska music clearly passed him by.
John said he had been enlightened by this and also by my earlier advice to get a tablet instead of straining his eyes to text on a less than state of the art phone to engage in his bowling administrations. When it's me dishing out technological advice, the recipient really must be in the dark ages! He's ace is John.
A long evening was about to get longer when I opted for the M65 rather than the A59 to get home. The '65 route should be a bit quicker in the evening, but little did I know after getting on the motorway that is was closed just a couple of miles ahead at Blackburn North.
Geographical knowledge gained by years of Wednesday night training runs with Blackburn Harriers gave me a good idea where to go to pick up the next junction at Shadsworth, only to find the main road to that checkpoint also closed!
Google maps navigation time and a convoluted diverted route it was too, stuck behind a huge articulated dpd wagon down narrow streets of suburbia with exactly the same intentions. Nearly eleven o'clock when I got in. 🙄.
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