Nightmare on King George V Field

Post date: Sep 18, 2016 4:48:05 PM

Friendly, what Friendly ? It was reminiscent of slaughter on tenth avenue on rink five at the Huntingdon Indoor Bowls Club. Our Weekend Friendly team were playing their first match of the indoor season and fourteen nil down after seven ends.

Our trio of Jane Innes, her first indoor match, Maggie Holden, and Denis ( I didn't want to play skip anyway) Stapleton, were all harmoniously struggling to find both line and length. Their opponents, two of which reminded one of Huntingdon's answer to Elsie and Doris Warters and their skip, who nobody seemed to know, was drafted in at the last minute. They kept peppering the jack in spite of telling us, after every end, that they don't normally play as well as this. This helped our intrepid trio to continue to put their woods mainly into either the dyke at the side or if not the one at the back. They did manage to get nine points at the end against the other lot's twenty six.

On the bright side, although we lost by 116 - 88 overall, doesn't sound so bad if you say it quickly, we had two winning rinks. Janet Lonslow, Margaret Grainger and Arthur Lonslow kept in front from the eighth end to win by one at the finish. Our other winners and our best rink were the experienced Tony and Judy Barwell and ever improving newcomer Jeff Bourne. They were coasting along with a sixteen to six lead at the halfway stage and then dropped a seven on the next end, whoops, sixteen thirteen. Then a couple of ends later grabbed a five, twenty three to thirteen. They went on to win the last four ends to finish thirteen shots ahead.

On the other rinks Garry Knights with wife Tina, and newcomer John Innes, suffered a rare defeat by 22- 6. Janet Dye, Ron Blake and Maurice Dye were nine all after fourteen ends but lost the last four to lose 9-17. Our final rink of Vanessa Shackleton, nice to see her back playing again, Serena Brunning and Roger Graham who kindly stepped in at the last minute, went down by only two after a gallant fight back after being 3-12 down at the halfway stage and leading by two after fifteen ends.

We are looking forward to make amends in our next match at home to Newark on the 1st October. Watch this space!

Report by Denis Stapleton, captain.