26th June “BE Top Club” Area S/F : Away @ Victory Park – Lost 1-4
Report from Will Carter:
You may have read before on these pages that ‘win both singles and you are well on the way to winning the match’ and so it proved to be, although the victory this time went to Victory Park, who we wish well in the Gloucestershire area final against Cheltenham.
On a fast green, very narrow defeats for Andy in the two wood (lost on last end on a very close measure) and Josh in the four wood singles (21-19). Yes, Josh did manage to kill an end at the death, predicted in real time by ‘sage of Redland Green’ Kevin French even though he was over twenty miles away at the time!
Editor’s Note: After the game Josh insisted that his fire ☄️was a “match winning shot”. There is no denying that it was a very good shot Josh but you lost, so it wasn’t unfortunately “match winning” 🙃
With the singles disciplines concluded, we were still in with a shout with the 4s (Keith, Mike I, Nigel and Nick) 12-10 up after thirteen ends, the triples (Jim, Roger and Gerry) 11-15 down at fifteen ends and pairs (Will and Larry) 7-8 down after thirteen ends. However, it wasn’t to be & we conceded the match with the triples seven down with one end to go. 😢
Another very good run for Redland in Bowls England competitions comes to an end but we still have much to play for in the rest of the season. 🤞
P.S. For those of you who remain concerned about how Andy’s move went, I am pleased to report that he confirmed yesterday that all went smoothly and to plan.
Editor’s Note: “Smoothly” might be a stretch, more like “very stressful” but we are settling in nicely and I thank all members for their good wishes. 🏡👏
26th June N.E : Home v Page Park – Lost 1pt
This was a frustrating evening when just a few ends made all the difference!
On Wendy’s rink, with Mike W, Bruce and Phil, we were struggling to start with, but then a 6 on 9 brought us right back into it and it was 13-13 after 11. However, conceding 8 on 13 effectively killed the contest and although we traded shots equally after that, we lost 16-25.
Editor’s Note – Blimey, conceded an 8? How did that happen…..
On Mike R’s rink, with Marek, Bob and Nina, again we struggled at first, and Page built up a strong early lead, 10-2 after 7. However, it was much more level in the second half, though we never particularly threatened a comeback and eventually lost 10-19.
On Ian’s rink, with Dave H, Dave E and Pete, it was especially frustrating, as each time we seemed to be gaining the upper hand, we twice subsequently conceded a 5 and so also the advantage. However, it was gratifying to salvage something at the end nicking a 3 on 17 to earn a 17-17 draw and so 1 point overall.
The way other results went, we have stayed 6th for the moment, but we face SLAT (who beat K & H 10-0) at home next week! Let’s stay positive…
25th June Ladies League : Away @ Henleaze C – Won 8 pts
We are top of the division with 45 points and they are bottom with 2 points …any betting man would suggest that we were odds on favourites to win, we had other ideas!!
Wendy with Liz, Carol and Nina did not start well, Wendy helpfully giving the opposition an extra shot on the first two ends (again ) oops, 8 -0 down at 3 ends. 4th end we got the jack went long and won another shot , 6th end we picked up a 4 and on the 7th end Nina ( leading) put the jack in the ditch with her first wood , we didn’t give them much of a look in after that, finishing 25-12.
Gill with Sue Karen and Lin couldn’t find “it” either to start with , but they kept the opposition to 1s and 2s drawing level 10-10 at the 14th end, keeping the jack long they finished 14-10. Next week Yate at home.
24th June Lloyd Trophy : Away @ Page Park (Won 49-41)
With our “superstar lead” Mr Gadd not available, we knew this was gong to be a tough game to win (Andy was moving house today – I’m not sure he mentioned it to anyone?, and our thoughts and good wishes are with him at this trying time) 😃 🤞
On Josh’s rink with Larry, Kev and Calvin were always in front, dropped an “unacceptable” 5 on end 14 but re-grouped to win 20-11.
During the game the “unacceptable 5” deficit was then added to by Jim’s rink, with Will, Nigel and Mark D, subbing for Andy, dropping a 4 at the same time, which meant our shot advantage disappeared and despite a valiant effort this rink ended 10-19.
With these rinks finished we were only four up overall and attention turned to Roger’s rink with Mike, Keith and Charlie who were always ahead and playing the last 2 ends picked up two 2′ s to finish 19-11 and seal our victory 👏 ✌️
Well done everyone – on to Top club on Thursday 👍
Editor’s Note: All went well with the move and I will be back bowling on Thursday 🏠 🤓
24th June NE Cup : Home v Olveston A (Lost 32-46)
This was a tough match against strong opposition.
On Wendy’s rink, with Mike W, Bob and Lin (kindly playing at late notice), after a couple of encouraging ends, Olveston then took control and built up a commanding 12-2 lead after 8. However, we fought back in the second half, with some competitive bowling, to make the final score 10-15
On Ian’s rink, with Dave H, Nina and Pete, it was very tight all the way through, 7-7 after 9, 8-9 after 12, but a 4 on the 15th gave us a slight edge which we maintained to win finally 14-13. The fact that each side took a 1 shot advantage a couple of times without bowling the last wood demonstrated how close this rink was.
On Dave S’s rink, with Marek, Dave E and Phil, we built up a solid early lead, 7-4 after 9. But when Olveston won the next end and importantly took control of the jack, they began to stretch away, eventually winning 18-8.
Well, as the cliché goes, now we are out of the cup we can concentrate on the league and we have an important match against Page Park on Thursday!
Pete Jones
22nd June :”BE Top Club” : Home v Olveston (Won 3-2)
People sometimes say to me that bowls is a “boring” game. Well it is this type of game that blows that comment out of the water!
Olveston are a bowls club with a copious number of “quality” players and any time that we play them we know that it will be a real challenge. But then as the saying goes, you have to beat the best to be the best.
I played Ted Mangan in the two wood and I have to say that the rink was challenging (which was undoubtedly a theme across all rinks). It was tracking on both hands which did not make it much fun to play and was a real shame as I had a roll up yesterday and thought the green was playing the best it has all season … but that was yesterday!!. And as Karen said to me after the game it is ultimately the same for both players/teams.
At 16 ends I was trailing 8-11 and with 5 ends left had to really concentrate; (yes I can hear you all asking why I hadn’t been concentrating before this, but you know what I mean). I then managed to pick up two 2’s, dropped a 1 and then finished with a further two 2’s to run out 16-12 and give the team a firm foundation.
As Kev would say you can win one of the singles and lose one and still go on to win overall but you can’t really expect to lose both singles and expect to win overall.
Focus then turned to Jim who was playing Rob Smith (ex Gloucestershire singles champion). Jim found rink 4 “challenging” dropping behind 6-15, but then made a great comeback to get the score to 15-15. Unfortunately for Redland Rob then scored a 1, 3 and 2 to take the point.
On the fours Roger with Jon, Mike I and Nigel never really got into it finishing 6-26. They played all 18 ends as there was a question as to whether overall shots are important. To clarify they are not. If a particular rink draws after the determined ends then that rink alone plays an extra end to determine who gets the point.
On the pairs Will and Larry I believe fell behind at the start (Calvin mislaid the card so I don’t have actual scores) and obviously I was playing. But they made a great comeback to win the point.
This meant that the whole match now rested on the triples team of Josh, Jake and Mark P. At 16 ends they were winning 13-9 and then dropped a single to lead by 13-10 going into the last end. Some good bowling by Jake and Mark meant that it was a tight head but Olveston did not have any bowls through the head which made the position difficult for Paul Bryant, skipping for Olveston. Ultimately despite his best efforts Redland held on and picked up 1 to run out 14-10 winners and clinch the overall victory.
(With reference to Josh) I must congratulate him on being the highest winning rink in the Middleton Cup game yesterday – well done Josh 👏
On to the next challenge, the Semi Final against Victory Park away – now that green will be faster than Redland! 😃
19th June N.E : Away @Bradley Stoke – Won 8pts
This was an important and hard-fought win, which has maintained the momentum developed recently.
On Vince’s rink, with Mike W, Dave S and Jake, it was pretty tight after the first 11, with both sides looking capable of going on to win. But then a consecutive 4, 1 and 2 put us firmly in command, and despite losing a couple on the last 3, we ran out 18-13 winners.
On Rick’s rink, with Phil, Dave E (making a welcome league comeback) and Kev, we raced into a 10-0 lead after 3! After 10 it was 16-5 and the game seemed safe. However, conceding a 6 on 11 made the situation less comfortable. But we held our nerve, leading 19-15 going to the last, and then another superb last wood from Rick secured what turned out to be a significant 5 shot victory!
Then all eyes turned to Ian’s rink, with Nina, Bruce and Pete, who still had 2 ends to complete. This had been a fairly even contest and, despite conceding an embarrassing 7 on the 5th, it was 13-13 after 13. After 15 it was 13-15 and knowing that the other 2 rinks had built up a 10 point advantage we felt fairly confident. However, Bradley Stoke dominated the 16th (Kev later described it as ”watching a car crash in slow motion”!), before a superb last wood from Ian won the end and effectively the match for Redland. Unfortunately, we lost the last, ending 14-17 down.
With other results, this has moved us up into 6th in the table, much healthier than a few weeks ago!
13th June “BE Two Rink” : Away @ Olveston; (Lost 30-36)
You can’t win them all and sometimes when you lose all you can do is shake the opponents hand, say “Well played” and move on.
Going to Olveston means playing a talented opposition and in the two rink essentially playing two Middleton Cup (Gloucestershire) rinks, so running them close we should be very proud of ourselves 👏
At 10 ends we were ahead by 1 overall and at 15 ends the overall score was 26-28 with everything to play for.
Unfortunately however Jim, with his usual crew of Andy, Nigel and Will ran out 15-16 while Josh with Larry, Mike I and Calvin ran out 15-20.
For me the turning point of the match was end 17 on Jim’s rink. With Nigel joining this crew this season (if you are reading this Trevor we send you our very best wishes) I have, as I usually do with newer bowlers, been giving Nigel the benefit of my years of experience (poor Nigel I hear you all cry!). Part of this “education” has been the saying “What are holes made for – Bowls!”. Which means that when building a head it is sometimes better to have bowls a little apart so that if the opposition try to play into the head they may sail through. Unfortunately on the 17th end this worked against us and although Jim played two great bowls to try and reduce the count down each time he found a hole in the head and we dropped a four which took the wind out of our sails. 😔
I didn’t really see much of the game on the other rink but Larry was leading and from what I saw he had a very good game – much better than me on the night, well done Larry 👏
I would like to thank Olveston for their hospitality and sportsmanship and wish them good luck in the next round of this completion. 🏆
I have finally to highlight an interesting event on the 18th end of our game when Chris Blake (leading) drew his first bowl jack high but a couple of feet from the jack – the crowd went wild, jumping out of their seats and cheering!!. A bit over the top I thought for that particular bowl? It turned out that the spectators had been following the Gloucestershire Triples semi finals on social media and an Olveston team, skipped by Alan Lambourne, had qualified for Leamington on their last end 😃 👍
On to the next game on Sunday against Dursley at home 🤞
12th June NE : Home v GBB (Won 56-34) – 8pts
This was a much needed win, and especially important after the cup result on Tuesday.
On Rick’s rink, with Mike W, Bob and Nina, we raced to a 7-0 lead after 4, and then kept firmly in control of the match, eventually winning 20-7.
On Vince’s rink, with Marek, Bruce and Wendy, we developed a very steady lead early on, and 3 2s at the end secured a very strong finish. 22-10.
On Ian’s rink, with Dave H, Phil and Pete, we were well in contention after 9, but 2 ends later we were pretty much out of it, though some good bowling did bring us back to 14-17.
Thanks again to all who contributed to the evening.