There are just two disciplines left at Leamington for Middlesex. The Senior Singles. Attilio from Uxbridge plays this morning and Hannah ( who put out Tina) plays this afternoon.
The Men’s and Ladies Top Club finals are today. Egham ladies are through. Most of the team are familiar to us from indoor comps and county matches, so we wish them well.

Ashford play their final R&B League match today, so we should tonight if it’s us or them playing in the final next Sunday at Mid Surrey

Our friendly v Hurlingham Club has been postponed so the next activity to look forward to is The Crown Green Bowls without a Crown on Monday starting at 10:00.
if anyone hasn’t signed up and still wants to join in, please let Ange know today, especially if you are coming to the lunchtime BBQ. Don’t forget to wear a hat!

The trouble with having a day off work at the beginning of the week, it makes it confusing to what day it really is!

It was Thursday so I’ve changed the post heading for yesterdays post.
Hannah was first up on D green. This was a challenge (as two others of us found out!). The green was very fast, looking like the baise on a snooker table, going towards the river. The bowl had barely left your hand when it was at the other end of the green. Coming back the other way was completely different. It was a good 2-3 yards heavier which was bizarre.
Hannah had a good game but went down by 3 shots to her Cambs opponent.
Next up was Ashley from Ashford, who dispatched his opponent fairly swiftly on E green.
Dawn started at the same time as Ashley on C green, but was still playing when everyone had gone off for lunch!  It was nip and tuck all game and Dawn was 12-10 up before dropping two 2’s to go 12-14 with 3 ends to go. She picked up two 1’s so that it was 14-14 going into the 21st end.
Dawn put her first bowl a foot wide of jack and her opponent came in to take the jack another 4 feet. Oh no. What to do now? A straighter forehand or a very wide backhand (it was taking about 5 feet of green before turning into the centre).
The decision was backhand. The bowl started its journey and then curved back and, unbelievably, caught the jack and took it back another 5 feet with Dawn’s bowl holding shot a couple of feet from the jack’s new resting place. Crikey, the best shot of the day!  Her opponent narrowed her delivery line and added plenty of weight but got wooded on Dawn’s first bowl. Dawn progressed into the final 16.
The second match was on D green, as described above. Dawn was good at going down the very speedy side towards the river but could not get her brain and arm to communicate the extra oomph needed to come back the other way. Her opponent did! So, it was the end of Dawn’s run.
Tom Smith started well but didn’t get past the finishing line before his opponent on D green.
Middlesex hopes in the Two Bowl now rested on Ashley. A much tighter came ensued on C green and then Ashley was in the last 16 on D green. His opponent, Harry Goodwin, is the current Under 25 World Indoor Bowls Champion and has a few outdoor credits as well.
The game was neck and neck and both were coping with the D green variances pretty well. Towards the crucial 17th/18th ends, Harry moved head and another score on 20th end brought Ashley’s great run to a conclusion.

Middlesex are putting in a request not to play Two Bowl Singles next year!!
Ollie Shearing last the Junior Boy’s quarter final yesterday morning.
It means today, Friday (I checked my calendar), it is an extremely quiet day for Middlesex on the greens but we are looking forward to watching the final few rounds of the Two Bowl Singles and the Men’s Top Club Semi-final. A time to watch some tiptop bowls and pick up some tips!

By the time some of you will have read this, our Middlesex Four of Tina. Nadine.  Cathy & Ann H will have had breakfast, done a mile walk, spent 20 minutes doing stretches and, with adrenaline pumping, will be stepping onto E Green to play their first round at the National Championships in Leamington against opponents from the Isle of Wight, starting at 09:30.

The Ashford girls Kerry, Lou, Vicki & Lisa are the other Middlesex Four and, having completed a similar warm up routine, they play Hampshire on B green

Winners of this round go into the last 32 in the country playing in the afternoon.

At 1:30, Ashley from Ashford takes on Durham and Matt, also from Ashford, plays Perry Martin from Dorset (I think Perry used to play up in one of the London clubs). Both of these matches are on A green and the boys could be appearing on the Bowls England tv stream  – check out the BE Facebook page.

Good luck to all of you  we’ll be waving and cheering all your great shots – mainly from the Twickenham area but with you on spirit.

Knock ‘em dead!