Match Report: NE League Division 2 – 30/05/24
Redland v Olveston Falcons (Away) – Lost 39-43 (4 Points)
The following report was written by Pete Jones:
Like the B&D last week, we suffered our first defeat of the season, but unlike Kev’s experience we enjoyed some lovely weather.
On Nigel’s rink, with Alan, Barry and Phil, we built a slow but steady lead throughout the first 16 ends, but at 10-9 going into the last anything could have happened. But, some great bowling, especially from Nigel right at the last secured 2 shots and a final score of 12-9. Thanks to Nigel for agreeing to skip in this one.
On Jake’s rink, with Mike, Martin and Vince, after 4 shots down after the first end we never really looked back, building up a very strong lead after a 5 on the 5th, and then steadily progressing to a very convincing 22-11 win.
On Pete’s rink, with Dave H, Rick and Dave S, we struggled! The highpoint was holding a 2-1 lead after the 2nd end. All four put in some good shots and a couple of ends were rescued by Pete, but that was never going to be enough against a strong Olveston four. The most disappointing part was not restricting them enough at the end, which meant conceding the overall point score.
A trip to Page Park next week is going to be another challenge.
Match Report: Bristol & District Division 1 30/05/24
B & D Home v Long Ashton (Home) – Won 60-38 (8 Points)
The following report was written by Kevin French:
It’s a funny game, bowls!
With the top of the table team playing bottom placed, you may have hoped for a more definitive win, but nobody told the Long Ashton players that was the plan.
On what was to be RKJ’s rink with Mike, Mark Dixon (making his B & D league debut) and Calvin, Roger suffering with an injury we swapped around after the trial ends and Mike moved to skip and Roger to lead. I suppose this may have unsettled the rink a little and we went 3-17 behind, but then stopped the rot in the second half and we plugged away to end 10-20.
On Josh’s rink with Mark, Keith and Kev this seems to be building into a very capable “unit” and with the front end players all having excellent games Josh didn’t have much to do (and didn’t!), in fact there was much debate after the game as to how many shots Josh had actually given the opposition! 😉
Final score 36-7
P.S. Continuing to blaze the trail of new marking techniques Mark now has a measure positioned at each end of the rink, but still doesn’t seem to have one on him when needed!
With the shot difference on Josh’s and Mike’s rinks winning the game looked in the bag, so the question was whether we could get 8 points or might have to settle with 6?
So on Jim’s rink with Will, Trev and Andy, there seems to be a pattern developing of a slow start and then a comeback, (you can’t keep good bowlers down), going 3-8 behind, winning 8 out of the last 10 ends were level at 11 each and this is where knowing how to “close out a game” comes into play with picking up 3 singles on the last 3 ends ground out a 14-11 win.
Another win and so we roll confidently on to meet Bristol at home next week.
P.S. All the best to Josh who’s playing in the under 25’s comp at Gloucester City on Saturday and the chance to go to the National Finals at Leamington in this his last year as a under 25.
Match Report: N.E. Cup 28/05/24
Redland Green v St Andrew’s B (Home) – Won 60-29
The following report was written by Pete Jones:
Last year we played St Andrew’s 3 times in a week at their place; this year twice in 5 days at ours. We are obviously destined to have these intimate moments!
Although the rain had cleared earlier in the afternoon, by 6.00 there was a steady drizzle.
On Mike Ingham’s rink, with Mike W, Phil and Nick, the game was quite tight for the first 9 ends, but then 6 shots in the next 4 assured the victory as St Andrew’s conceded due to the overall score on all 3 rinks. Final score 15-12 after 15.
On Ian’s rink, with Rick, Pete and Jake, we seemed to be in total control having only lost 2 shots after 10 ends, but then a 5 and a 3 on the next 2 brought them right back into contention. 5 shots over the next 3 seemed to have secured victory, but we nearly snatched defeat from the jaws of victory conceding 5 on the last 2. Final score 16-15.
On Wendy’s rink, with Dave H, Dave S and Nigel, we built up a very steady and commanding lead, not conceding a shot until the 8th end. Losing 2 shots in 3 ends seemed totally against the run of play, but then normal service was resumed and again they conceded the rink after 16 ends due to the overall score. Final score 29-2.
Well done all.
Next round will be at home to Kingswood and Hanham ‘A’ on Tuesday June 18th.
Match Report: Top Club: 26/05/24
Redland v Olveston’B’ (Home) Won 5-0
The following report was written by Kevin French:
A competent win against Olveston “B” squad, but Olveston are very strong and their B team contains some excellent players.
The “special one” had 3 jobs this morning, to cook bacon rolls, man the bar and win the 2 wood. I am pleased to say all three were successful
Andy 2 wood won 17-3. (1 Point)
In the singles discipline Josh was always in front from end 2 and at 10 ends (17-3) looked like he could have finished the game quickly, but clearly he wanted to get his moneys worth and took another 7 ends to win (that’s an extremely reasonable 20.6 pence per end,Josh!)
Josh singles won 21-8 (1 Point)
As we know if you can win the two singles, you are well set up to win the total game, so onto at least one of the last 3 rinks to win.
In the triples Jim with Trev and Mark, after going behind early on, plugged away and winning 11 ends out of the remaining 13 ended in front.
Triples won 21-11 (1 Point)
In the 4’s With Keith, Kev, Jake and RKJ, apart from the first end were always in front, and with everybody contributing at one time or another finished ahead.
Fours won 21-15. (1 Point)
In the pairs with Calvin and Will were always in the lead and whilst losing more ends than winning but only dropping one’ s and picking up a couple of counts (my old chestnut about only dropping one’s) ended up and with the match won so didn’t have to play the last 3 ends.
Pairs won 15-8. (1 Point)
With all games won a total of 5 points.
Well done all, next round away to Kingswood and Hanham (a local one for me, for a change, if selected?!)
A very big thank you to Phil, for marking both single games and then running the bar.
Thanks, also to Keith Williams, M Tarr and Wendy for their valued support.
Match Report: Bristol & District League Division 1 – 23/05/24
Redland v Olveston (Away) – Lost 43-52 (4 points)
The following report was written by Kevin French:
Every Friday morning I wake up, look at the league tables, see both Redland teams at the top, think I must still be dreaming and drift off back to sleep a happy man.
But no, it is not a dream, we do have both teams in pole position but with two good teams, good players and the right attitude, why shouldn’t we ?
Last night the B&D team travelled to Olveston, I don’t know if it’s me but when we play there it always seems cold or wet or both! But I suppose even we can’t blame Olveston for the climatic situation and there is always a warm welcome. 🙂
Our first loss of the season was disappointing but was tempered by 2 winning rinks picking up a useful 4 points.
On Josh’s rink with Mark, Keith and Kev picking up a 5 on the first end were always in front but with two or three ends holding 4’s we were frustrated by the opposition skip bowling some excellent woods to get shot
On end 15 josh bowled a real “skips wood” when we were 5 down to give us one and the rink closed out 15-13 up.
On Jim’s rink with Will, Trev (no news on his chimney situation yet but I will keep you all posted!) and Andy, also picked up a 5 on the first but as on the other rink couldn’t quite push home the advantage and were 12-14 down on end 13. We then got a 4 due to another great “skip’s wood” from Jim to trail the jack and once in front closed out the game to win 17-16.
On RKJ’s rink with Mike, Calvin and Jon, had a good start, but were always struggling to keep hold of any advantage due to some strong play from the opposition and ended 11-23 down.
Hopefully we can get back to winning ways next week, home to Long Ashton.
Ps Good luck to Josh who’s playing for Gloucestershire against Somerset on Saturday in the White Rose Trophy at Cheltenham (the 2 rink inter County comp for under 25s).
Pps like me some of you may be wondering if Josh is actually under 25 as he seems to have been bowling for about 20 years, but I can confirm we’ve checked the paperwork and this his his last qualifying year, the team having reached the finals last year we hope he bows out in style.
Match Report: NE League Division 2 – 23/05/24
Redland Green v Bristol St Andrew’s C (Home) – Won 58-32 (9 Points)
The following report was written by Pete Jones:
We felt confident as we approached this match, top versus bottom of the league, but you never know!
On Ian’s rink, with Mark, Rick and Pete, we built a steady lead, 13-5 after 11, but a few dropped shots then made things closer than we would have liked, before the last 3 ends saw a sound 17-8 win.
On Wendy’s rink, with Mike W, Phil and Vince, we raced into a 12-0 lead after the first 4 ends and never really looked back after that, securing a very commanding 25-8 win.
Jake’s rink, with Dave H, Dave S, and Nigel, was the most “interesting” with an 11-6 lead after 10, being turned round to 11-15 after 15, back to 16-15 after 16 and finally an honourable, if frustrating, 16-16 draw!
Still top of the table after 5, but with a trip to Olveston Falcons next Thursday….
Match Report: NE League Division 2 – 16/05/24
Redland v Bristol Arrow (Away) – Won 51-39 (8 Points)
The following report was written by Pete Jones:
Despite the forecast, we enjoyed a dry evening down the road.
On Wendy’s rink, with Mike W, Barry and Phil, Arrow took an early lead, 9-2 after 6 ends. We pulled back, but despite a 4 on the 15th which brought the scores much closer, they won 17-13. There was more than one end where we had a reasonable shot lead, only for a single wood to negate all that effort. Bowls, heh! 😉
On Ian’s rink, with Dave Hinksman, making a solid start to his Redland league career, Rick and Pete, we were 7-1 after 4 ends, when unfortunately their skip, Charlie, had to retire with knee problems-apparently he rode home to put his knee back together himself! That probably had an effect on the rest of the contest, but nevertheless all 4 of us contributed to secure a 28-4.5 victory (Arrow captain was happy about the 25% penalty, but it would not have changed the situation greatly if they had retained their 6).
However, the most interesting rink was Nicky’s, with Mark, Martin and Vince. We were 11-3 down after 6 ends, 13-12 up after 11, 18-17 down after 16, but finally secured a 20-18 win, and so the 8-2 victory! I didn’t see the last few woods, but I think that Nicky did a great job.
Thanks to everyone last night; still top of the division albeit only on shot difference .
St Andrew’s at home next Thursday…
Match Report: Bristol & District League Division 1 – 16/05/24
Redland v Severn Vale (Home ) – Won 61-31 (10 Points)
The following report was written by Kevin French:
Four wins on the trot sees us still riding high at the top of the league.
Similar to last week it looked like the match had been won fairly early on, with 2 rinks building a useful cushion, it was just whether we could get the full 10 points?
On Josh’s rink with Mark, Keith and Kev, started really well to go 10-1 up, the opposition came back, but with us picking up those 1’s and 2’s over a number of ends saw this finish 24-15.
This rink would have finished earlier had Mark not invented a new measuring system which seemed to involve measuring every wood on the green! We will let him off as he had a great game. 🙂
On RKJ’s rink with Mike, Calvin and Jon were 14-4 up at 9 ends, then winning 6 out of the last 8 ends (only 1’s each end-but they all add up) and ended 20-6 in front.
I’m informed that everybody played well on this rink, when somebody didn’t do it someone else stepped in, exactly what you need to win games.
On Jim’s rink with Will, Andy and Nigel at 2 (standing in for Trev, who’s having trouble with his water works. Not personal ones I add but his house water tank but with that fixed now has a leak from his chimney, our best wishes for a speedy recovery; the house that is -not Trev). Sorry I’m rambling – back to the game which didn’t start well going 6 nil down, but this rink always has the capacity to come back and winning 12 out of the last 14 ends(those 1 ‘s and 2 ‘s again) finished 17-10 up for the full 10 points.
Olveston away next week- promises to be interesting.
P.S. The night ended with Calvin driving home having announced that one of the Severn Vale players had left their jacket, and he would take it over in the morning.
Kev then discovered it was his jacket that Calvin had removed.
In the pockets were a packet of fags, car keys with number on and about 8 or 9 loose bank/loyalty cards with the name Kevin French on them.
Calvin it didn’t need Columbo to work out who it belonged to!
But thanks for driving back, I love Redland dearly, but didn’t fancy spending the night there.
Match Report: NE League Division 2 – 09/05/24
Redland v Page Park Sports (Home) – Won 64-40 (10 Points)
The following report was written by Pete Jones:
Heading into this fixture was going to be interesting, both teams at the top of the table.
Keith’s rink, with Rick, Martin Snailham (making a fine debut in the NE) and Vince built a steady lead which they were never going to relinquish, especially after securing a couple of 4 shot ends at 9 and 10.
Editor’s Note: See B&D Report for this week for Kevin French’s “words of wisdom” on this subject! 🙂
Final score 24-14.
Likewise, Mike Ingham’s rink, with Mike White, Barry and Nigel, built a slow, but confident lead and really ran away in the 12th and 13th ends with 2 consecutive 3 shot ends. Final score 19-9.
Jake, Mark Dixon, Dave Sunter and Pete, struggled for a while, 15-5 down after 12 ends. Others looking at this rink were resigned to a mere 8-2 win, but then we came back to win with 3, 6, 5, on the next 3 ends. Final score 21-17.
This was a very encouraging victory. With debutants each week making their mark, we should be confident about the next few weeks, despite some players being unavailable.