WITH ANN PERHAPS WE CAN

EAGLE & CHILD TIM ROBINSON AUTUMN DOUBLES

Monday 8th September 2025

GROUP 2

Paired with ANN DERBYSHIRE

v HENRY HOYLES & RONNIE ROBERTS W 31-29 (off 3-0)

Now behind organising such club competitions I decided I'm just going to enjoy the games and not really care too much about the score... yeah, right.

Once this match hit the business end, that pre-match blasé was all forgotten and suddenly it's eyes on the prize mode. I am ridiculous and just can't help myself.

Henry and Ronnie are certainly a fancied pairing on paper but Ann and I were holding our own. With three on the card to help us along, we led 13-8, seemed to be going along nicely and also getting a few knocks our way. But our opponents struck back and upped their game, started getting those telling little knocks themselves and we were right up against it at 24-29.

Ronnie leads out but short and I'm livid to send mine even shorter. His second barely passes his first and so a second chance to get one in there. Good pace this time but not quite wide enough and it's hands on head time as I run in to the back of Ronnie's second. The game looks gone as Henry puts two reachers up, our opponents holding three when they only need two for the game.

Step up Mrs Ann Derbyshire. She didn't reach up with her first, but her second one did, clunked one of mine up hard and saved the match with the last bowl of that end.

Definitely one of those moments that makes you think you might be charmed to go a little further in the competition.

I risked a tricky jack deep in to the bottom right corner and made it pay off with a good lead bowl that survived despite Henry's two intended spoilers whistling by closely. This set up a chance across the pavillion end were I have an assured feel of what I am doing. As it turned out, so did my partner. Four ends later we had turned the deficit around and got off to a winning start.

This was the first of three round-robin group games and only the winners of the three groups are guaranteed a place in the main competition semi-finals.

Wednesday 10th September

GROUP 2

Paired with ANN DERBYSHIRE

v GEOFF BIBBY & SYLVIA DEACON W 31-22 (off 3-3)

Once again Ann and I muddled through much of the match and woke up when the chips were on the table.

We also let another good start fade away. 19-10 up, a little later there was very little in it and if anything, Geoff and Sylvia were starting to play like the likely winners. Left handed Sylvia putting up some good leads and Geoff coming up with some world beaters from the back.

The turning point at 22-22 took one hell of a turn indeed. Just as our opponents looked set to take the lead for the first time, Ann brilliantly knocked Geoff out with the final bowl of the end - leaving us positioned in the bottom right of the green and the scene was set for a chance to play across the pavillion again.

I hadn't played particularly well until his point, struggling to find a length on a freshly cut green that was deceptively zippy in places despite having taken a good afternoon's worth of downpours.

It was a different matter again though across the pavillion section of green known as the "cabbage patch". Once again, four ends later we were out of a hole and over the winning line. Good woods put up, difficult to beat and Ann backing them up to include a three and a four in there. 

It's club bowls and so I couldn't help sympathise for Geoff and Sylvia because the way they played didn't deserve such a cut-throat finish, but this game can be brutal at times and especially in doubles.