First BBDBA Friday Night Bowls Triples League match of the season for Ladywell

Ladywell played West Beckenham in the Beckenham, Bromley & District Bowling Association's Friday Night Triples League on 18th July. It was Ladywell's first contest of the season in this summer bowls competition that involves a home match and an away match played at the same time, with two points for a win and two extra points for the club that wins on overall aggregate score. The first stage is played as a Round Robin in a mini league of five clubs, with the top two going through to the semi-finals against the top two teams from the other mini league.

Ladywell's home triple of Merlin Ramdawar, Robert Dunn and Skip, Steve Marlow, got off to a shaky start, conceding three shots on the first end. But they soon rallied, scoring five on the second end to take an early lead. And they consolidated that lead with a further two shots on the following end. But unfortunately, their West Beckenham opponents then enjoyed a run of four scoring ends without reply, so by the halfway point after nine ends, the away team had moved into a 13-9 lead. Ladywell reduced the gap to two points with a score of two on the 10th end, but their opponents hit back with two consecutive gains of three shots to extend their advantage once again. Merlin, Robert and Steve managed to pull two shots back on the 13th end, but the West Beckenham triple moved away once again, scoring five shots over the following two ends to earn an 11-shot lead with three ends to play. And despite gaining a single shot on the 16th end, the Ladywell team eventually went down to a 26-14 defeat.

It was a similar story for Ladywell's away team of Ian Bradford, Norman Lewis and Skip, Phil Welch. They got off to a slow start, losing the first four ends to go 7-0 down, before spectacularly cutting the lead to two shots with a score of five on the 5th end. The teams traded shots over the following four ends, so with eight ends to play the home team had a narrow 10-8 lead. But the following three ends saw the game slip away from the Ladywell triple, as their opponents went on a run of two-shot gains to move into a comfortable 16-8 lead. And although Ian, Norman and Phil gained three shots on the 14th end, the home team moved away once again, winning the final four ends to secure a 23-11 win.

This meant West Beckenham gained all six points with a win on each green and an overall 49-25 victory.