Well it was a very well deserved win of the World Championships.  It didn’t matter what Greg did as Mark just came back another bowl even better.

I thought the shot in the second end when Greg was holding 4, then Mark’s running bowl hit the target but cruelly dribbled through to take the shot, summed it all up really!  Mark could have bowled through his legs backwards and drawn to the jack in this match.  It’s great for you when it happens but somewhat soul destroying for the opponent.  All you can do is hold your hands up and congratulate the winner, knowing that tomorrow is another day.

When I left home yesterday morning, it was chilly.  Within 5 minutes it started snowing and after dropping off Greek Christmas cards to the Chairman and Director’s homes, I came back via Marble Hill Park and the club

And there was one lonely spectator …..

PS Burns Night is tonight and we were going to celebrate with bowls tournament this coming weekend.  We’re not now – unsurprisingly!  Hope the Scottish contingent manage to get their haggis and perform the necessary rituals as shown by David A and Jeanett S in 2020!

Thanks to another of our home reporters, Ann D, who spotted the semi-final was starting at 1.05 pm yesterday.  Ann has also noted that the Final starts at 1.50 pm today, so make sure you’ve finished your lunch in good time to settle down with a tea/coffee for what should be a great match.

The semi-final was ok, wasn’t it?  Just not the exciting match we were anticipating.  Did anyone else notice that in the second set (not sure about the first), Greg was changing the jack length on every end thereby preventing David getting into a rhythym?  You have to feel very confident to do that so that it doesn’t affect your own game.

I’m sure Mark Dawes will have had a practice yesterday but it won’t have had the same adrenaline as a semi-final, so it maybe be harder for him.  Having said that, he’s a professional with a great run in the World Championships.

(Sometimes I have to look twice and make sure it’s not our own David Hale out there. Do you think he and Mark look alike?)

We’ve seen “Judy Potter” in pink, yellow, multi-coloured and cream jackets.  What are your guesses for the final outing?

 

We have Burns Night to look forward to next weekend.  Any suggestion for topics between now and then?

After disappointing news that both Wayne Willgress and Perry Martin had tested positive for Covid in the Friday morning test, it meant their quarter-final became void and put Mark Dawes straight into Sunday’s final.  The quarter-final is the furthest either of the players have reached in this tournament, so they must be absolutely devastated.  We wish them both well.  All players, officials and those working at the event are tested daily.    Both players were in the same bubble and none of the other players have tested positive, so it’s a bit of a mystery.

Greg managed a good win against Stewart Anderson.  I missed most of the match as I had to be in assisting in the Comms room!  Our non-roving reporter Ann B, and our other stay-at-home reporter George H both said that it was a really good match played to a very high standard.  Certainly the last two tie break ends had some amazing shots!

Greg now faces David Gourlay, who put out Katherine Rednall in another superb match.  As Ann said, Katherine’s ability to play a hard running shot then a spot-on draw with the next, shows her great ability, talent and focus.  I am sure David was very pleased to secure a win.   He had a superb draw when Katherine was holding 3 towards the end of the second set.  If he hadn’t got in with that, Katherine would have had a fairly unbeatable lead!

With no morning nor lunchtime match today, Greg and David play in the second afternoon slot, so this will probably be about 3.00 pm.  If anyone hears anything different, please post a comment.

The Final is on Sunday afternoon at 2.00 pm.  What are we all going to watch next week?  Cricket?  Golf?  The Australian Open isn’t on until February!

More and more of you have reported having had your first jab.  I think you’ve all been going to different venues, so at least Cambridge Park Members won’t be accused of having a rave!  It was reported that 200 people at a vaccination centre were involved in a religious rave !

 

Wow.  Did you see Katherine Rednall v Alex Marshall – a match of two bowlers right at the top of their game.  One drew to within 6″ of the jack, then the other drew inside it, then the first one nudged the jack away for a draw counteracted by a further draw end after end after end.  Watch it on catch up if you didn’t see it.

Our non-roving reporter from West Moseley i.e. Ann B said it was a brilliant match and the few comments I saw after the match said it was the best bowls people had watched EVER!

Katherine returned to the portable rink 40 minutes later in the Ladies’ final and romped away with the first set 14-2, but Laura Daniels settled down and got into the drawing groove taking the second set then a 2-0 win on the tie break.

Julie Forrest & Greg had a see-saw game with Julie leading the first set and Greg coming back to tie, then he had a great lead in the second set only to drop a few ends leaving Julie holding 3 and just a draw needed for her 4th bowl and she put it about 5′ past the jack.  Greg then came in with a brilliant second giving him the match.  He was a bit troubled and had several false starts.  We’re not sure if someone was moving at the far end of the rink – I know the tv cameras change positions or whether he was trying to compose himself as both he and Julie were playing so well and he knew every shot was important.

I caught the tie break for the final match.  It was very peculiar as the marker said one shot to Jason Greenslade but David Gourlay had the shot bowl right on the edge of the rink and won the match.  Jason does playing a lot of weighted shots and although it  can be exciting, I personally would rather see players out-drawing each other.  However, if that’s his type of game and he’s reached the dizzy heights he has, there is no reason to change is there?

So, on to today.  Quarter Finals of the Open Singles

10.00 am  Simon Skelton v Mark Dawes

12.45 pm  David Gourlay v Katherine Rednall – they were partners in the mixed, so should be interesting as regards tactics.

3.00 pm (check time)  Stewart Anderson v Greg Harlow

7.30 pm  Perry Martin v Wayne Willgress

 

Enjoy!  Send in your at-home reports.  It’s good to share your views too!

I hope you all managed to see  a bit more of the matches than I did yesterday.  I’d better not comment about how well they’re playing as it nearly put the KoD on Stuart Anderson yesterday!  Katherine Rednall came through with a good win, as did Simon Skelton.  Neither Devon Cooper nor Jack Bird managed to capture their form from the previous rounds, which was a shame.  Laura Daniels did well to come out of the other ladies’ semi-final in the tie break, with Rebecca Willgress being very unlucky not to win that second tie break end.  The commentators helpfully said at the beginning of the evening match that most players don’t play as well in the second set at night because of the temperature changes.  There have been some odd comments.  I quite liked “Well it’s just a draw either hand.  There’s nothing else on. (pause)  OK, well he’s playing a running shot.”   Everyone’s an expert!!

So today, please check timings as they were still a bit out yesterday.  I will try and put the link across to our Facebook page as the matches start.  It’s not terribly easy from a phone I’ve discovered!

10.00 am  Julie Forrest plays Greg Harlow in the Open Singles.

12.45 pm ish  Alex Marshall faces Katherine Rednall – interesting scheduling as at

3.00 pm  Katherine Rednall plays Laura Daniels in the Ladies Final.  (Odd as that might constitute playing on the same rink before a match.)

7.30  pm  David Gourlay plays Jason Greenslade.

The winners of the Open Singles today go into the Quarter Finals tomorrow.

Judy Potter’s cutout was pink yesterday.  Any guesses for today?  Blue?  Green?  Multicoloured?  Cream?

 

Margaret B is  happy to have any washed standard size jam/pickle jars you no longer need.  She is planning a bumper jam/marmalade/pickle production for the Centenary.

Some more great matches  yesterday.  I missed all but the tie break of Mervyn King and Mark Dawes yesterday but Ann Bamber reported from West Molesey that it was a great match all the way through!  She is thoroughly enjoying watching but like the rest of us would rather be playing.  Perry Martin had a good win over Mark Royal.   Perry is another one with a fierce drive.  If you’re playing well, the luck of the green goes with you.  Made me feel rather sorry for Mark.

The Mixed Pairs was a bit mixed but still a great game.  Stewart Anderson is really on form at the moment.

Wayne Willgress had the best win of his career against Paul Foster last night.  A fantastic draw taking him to 3 up when he was well down in the set was the turning point.

If you can access Podcasts from anywhere – your phone, Alexa, etc. do listen to “How to Wow” with Judy Murray.  She is such an inspiration.  Her autobiography was great but listening to her and how she approached ‘coaching’ was great and how we should look at bringing on new bowlers.

For those of you doing your bits of exercising at home, she says she uses “The Happy Mile” or “Happy 4 Miles” etc music mixes and splits her hour into 10 minute sessions as doing a full hour “is boring”!  So maybe something we can all look at doing ?  10 minutes isn’t that long (unless you’ve just taken up skipping again!).

Today’s matches which I believe are all viewable on the BBC red button if you’re not watching on Facebook or YouTube:

10.00 am  Stewart Anderson (Scot) v Daniel Salmon (Wales) – any relative of Dick & Di?

12.45 pm ?  check timing again – Ladies Singles Semi-Final with Devon Cooper v Katherine Rednall

3.00 pm   Jack Bird plays Simon Skelton (both Eng) – live on BBC2

4.30 pm  The Inaugaration of President Joe Biden – should be very different from previous inaugurations with the restriction of numbers

7.30 pm  Ladies Singles Semi-Final with Rebecca Willgress (Eng) taking on Laura Daniels (Wales)

 

Did anyone spot the cardboard cutout of Judy Potter in her usual seat yesterday?  She’s known for her jackets.  It was pale yellow yesterday.  Wonder what colour today’s will be.  Good to see that even in cardboard she is taking the government guidelines of face coverings seriously!

Tuesdays are always a rush as it’s recycling day so an added task before getting to the office at 8.00 am.  It comes around every week, so I don’t know why it comes as a surprise!

There was a brilliant turnaround with Devon Cooper v Julie Forrest yesterday.  When they were on opposite sides in the Mixed Pairs on Sunday, Julie outplayed Devon by quite a long way.  Yesterday seemed to start in the same vein, then Devon got a couple close in the second set and whoosh, she was off.  Very good game.

I’m not sure what happened to Rob Paxton but whatever it was, it must have been bad for him to concede.  Hopefully he’ll be ok for the Mixed Pairs final this afternoon.  Jack Bird, however, did play some amazing bowls.

The Open Pairs Final saw brilliant play from Mark Dawes and Greg Harlow.  Both had outstanding games but Jamie played better in the second set onwards and poor Ellen didn’t have her best day.  I gather she was injured and she wasn’t her normal self.  Hopefully the singles she was due to play v Katherine Rednall will be rescheduled.

Either way, we send both Robert and Ellen our best wishes.

 

Today’s Games:

Three lots of Open Singles

10.00  am Perry Martin v Mark Royal (both Eng) – Perry won the first set.

1.00  pm (check time!)  Mervyn King v Mark Dawes  (both Eng)

7.30  pm Wayne Willgress (Eng) v Paul Foster (Scot)

AND IN THE MIDDLE AT 3.00 PM , THE MIXED PAIRS FINAL

Carla Banks (Scot) & Robert Paxton (Eng) v Julie Forrest & Stewart Anderson (both Scot)

 

Good to hear that more of you have had your first vaccinations.  Poor Ray P had to drive from Ashford to Wembley (not exactly close but an essential journey!)  for his jab but he reported all went well.

Kevin K has reported his first decent night’s sleep since he returned from hospital and other stats looking good, so a step in the right direction.  Keep it up Kevin but don’t overdo it.

 

For those of you who remember Dad, he would have been 103 today  He would have enjoyed this week (as would Mum) with both cricket and bowls on television!

A lot of you have been called for your jabs and some are still waiting.  You might like to see/hear this

Chilly Monday morning!

 

Two good mixed pairs semi finals yesterday although the English pair of Devon Cooper & Les Gillett were outplayed by Julie Forrest & Stuart Anderson who were definitely on their game.  The Final v Carla Banks & Rob Paxton is on Wednesday at 3.45 pm.

Today’s games:

10.00 am  Julie Forrest faces Devon Cooper again.  Let’s hope Devon finds her game.  She still looks a bit nervous – or am I just imagining it?

2.00 pm   Robert Paxton v James Bird (both Eng)

3.00 pm  Open Pairs Final with Greg Harlow & Ellen Flakner MBE taking on Mark Dawes & Jamie Chesney

No matches tonight but there will be catch up on BBC iPlayer and red button.