Francis Drake v Ladywell bowls match report

Ladywell played a friendly bowls match away at their nearest local rivals, Francis Drake, on Saturday 23rd May. And in sweltering heat, it proved to be a very close match.

Unfortunately, one of Ladywell's players had to pull out of the match, and tghere were no replacements available. So as it was a friendly match, Francis Drake kindly offered to lend us a player, only for him to go to the wrong green. But in the scorching conditions, one of the Francis Drake players decided it was too hot for her to play, so the two Captains agreed to play two triples matches and a pairs match instead. And due to the heat, they also agreed that each match would be shortened to 14 ends instead of the usual 18 ends, with a tea break after seven ends.

In the first triples match, the Ladywell team of Christian Denereaz, Sally Bryan and Skip, Terrie Askew were soon on the back foot, as their opponents raced into a 12-0 lead after five ends. But the Ladywell team got on the scoreboard on the sixth end with a single shot, and increased their score with another shot on the seventh, meaning they went into the break 12-2 down. As bowlers always say, it all changes after tea and that proved to be the case in this match, as the Ladywell bowlers came out strongly, gaining four shots on the eighth end to reduce the deficit to six shots. The Francis Drake team scored two on the ninth end, but Ladywell claimed those two shots back on the 10th, only for the home team to extend their lead by a single shot once again on the 11th end. But it was Ladywell who finished strongest, claiming five shots over the final three ends to leave the final score at 15-13 to Francis Drake.

After a strong comeback, the Ladywell team lost narrowly

The second triples match saw the Francis Drake team take a two-shot lead after two ends, before the Ladywell triple of Merlin Ramdawar, Nova Dobb and Skip, Ian Bradford hit their stride with a score of four shots on the third end. The teams exchanged single shots on the following two ends, before the home team gained four shots over the two ends leading up to tea, giving them a 7-5 advantage at the break. Ladywell pulled a shot back on the eighth end, but the Francis Drake team immediately extended their lead with a score of two on the ninth. Again, Ladywell hit back, gaining a single shot on the tenth, but scores of three, one and three for the Francis Drake team over the following three ends saw them extend their lead. But with the combined overall scores across all three rinks deciding the match winners, Ian pulled out two excellent shots on the final end to gain an important two points, leaving the final score at 16-9 to Francis Drake.

Another narrow loss for a Ladywell triple

It was a very different story in the pairs match, where the Ladywell pair of Tracy Umney and Skip, Phil Welch conceded a single point on the first end before scoring without reply on the following eight ends. Both Ladywell players were on top form and played some excellent shots, and a score of 9-1 in their favour at the break after seven ends was extended to 13-1 after nine ends, before their opponents got a look-in with a single shot on the 10th end. And, with the two teams exchanging shots over the final four ends, Tracy and Phil ended as comfortable winners by a margin of 15-4.

The decisive score in the pairs match that gave Ladywell the overall victory

This winning 11-point margin for Ladywell in the pairs game proved decisive in the overall match score, as Francis Drake ended with 35 points, but Ladywell gained a narrow victory with a combined score of 37 points.