With 39 entries including myself, I obviously needed an even number for doubles and so the choices were to not take part at all or find myself a suitably inexperienced stand-in to partner. For a fleeting moment there was a chance my wife Sara might give it a go. "If you come along to zumba then...", she replied with a deal on the table, and I was actually ready to show the world just how out of sync my coordination really is. But genuinely, she doesn't fancy bowls and so fair enough.
Having discovered Sara's former work colleague and friend Richard Andrew and his wife Helen had started bowling beginners sessions at the Eagle recently, I considered them as a double loaded back-up plan. Maybe one of them would be free and willing to have a go? Both willing in fact, but keen motorcyclist Richard was marshalling a cycle race in West Lancashire and couldn't make the start time and so Helen was only happy to oblige.
So Helen, off just three Wednesday morning sessions, gamely thrust herself in to club competition. She didn't do so bad either, the green was running well so it was tricky. Most of the time Helen found the right road and just struggled a bit to get the right length. The potential is there if she gets in to it.
I didn't play well at all. We were playing an eight end format, so very little opportunity to get in to my stride and as promising this season has been so far, I've not started games well at all. Perhaps there's the excuse of not being able to concentrate fully with all the hullabaloo of running the competition side of the day, but it wasn't acceptable to myself that I was only happy with maybe three or four of the thirty-two deliveries that I sent during our two games. Helen and I lost both our matches convincingly but - a slight Drakeism here - we really didn't get much luck either!
I felt I let Helen down a bit, but she seemed to take it all in her stride and enjoyed it which, whilst Spring Doubles is a competition, it's also a bit of fun and a great club day. Especially if we get good weather and fortunately we did.
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