Ah, so close in the Ladies Top Club yesterday morning.
Dawn lost the singles 18-21. 1-0 to Wanstead. Cathy, Marie, Audrey & Janice were well up in the Fours, so we could count on that one. 1-1. By the final couple of ends in the Pairs and the Triples, the overall shot score was neck and neck. Mental arithmetic was being employed by Norman, Dawn, Ray Fortune (Middlesex but Janice plays for Wanstead!) and others. We were 5 shots down, no just 2, or was it 3 or is it all level now? Oh dear!
Jean was 5 down in the triples and played a tremendous shot taking the jack out. With just our luck, it took the jack out of play, so dead end. If the jack had stayed on the rink, it would have been a different scenario to worry over! Ann & Ange dropped a 3 on the 17th end, but secured a 3 to win 16-13. 2-1 to Cambridge Park. Jean, Margaret & Lucy dropped a 3. 2-2 in disclipines. Players and supporters were roving up and down across the back of the rinks brains in full working mode for most and calculators in hand for the others checking and double checking the scoreboards..
As Mutley would have said “Drat, drat and double drat”. 68-70. Wanstead won by 2 shots. Just 2 shots after 635 (give or take one or two) bowls played. You couldn’t get much closer than that! We wish Wanstead well v Sawbridgeworth in Herts in the next round. The winner of that tie heads off to Leamington.
There will have been some licking of wounds yesterday afternoon. “If only I’d taken more green/drew more accurately/taken the weight off the runner/ etc. etc.” BUT we won the Middlesex Top Club and we reached further than we have done for a few years. (Think Baldock Town in 2016 or 2017 was the last time we made it passed the Middlesex Final.) So, well done to every team player – Jean, Ann, Ange, Audrey, Cathy, Corale, Janice, Lucy, Margaret, Marie, Nadine, Sarah and Dawn. Well done and thanks to Norman for marking all the singles’ matches too and for Corale and Tricia supporting us yesterday. Thanks to Ladygate and Hendon for hosting our “neutral” greens and for their members setting up the greens and providing us with drinks. All very much appreciated.
Guess what? We can all come back and have another go in 2022!
No Monday League today – tomorrow will be this week’s Monday!
