Loss for Ladywell in final bowls match of the season

Ladywell played their last bowls match of the season on Wednesday 9th September - a friendly against their local rivals, Francis Drake. And in a close match at the green in Ladywell Fields, it was the visitors who eventually came out on top.

On the first rink, the Ladywell triple of Jason Stone - playing his first ever match for the club - Terrie Askew and Club Captain, Phil Welch started strongly, scoring shots on the first three ends of the 18-end match to go 3-0 up. But the Francis Drake team hit back, tying the scores at 3-3 after five ends and then taking a significant lead with a score of four shots on the sixth end. They gained a further two shots on the following end to go 8-3 ahead, but Ladywell hit back over the following two ends, scoring five shots without reply. So the two teams went into the tea break all square at 8-8. After the interval, Ladywell moved into a slender lead, gaining a shot on both the 10th and 11th ends, but Francis Drake responded with two shots on the 12th to tie the scores once again. It was turning into a very close affair, with one team taking the lead only for the other to peg them back. But with the score at 12-11 in Francis Drake's favour after 15 ends, the 16th end proved decisive, with Ladywell gaining five shots to take a 16-12 lead. They extended their lead to 17-12 on the penultimate end and despite Francis Drake pulling back one shot on the final end, Ladywell won 17-13.

The second match saw the Ladywell team of Nova Dobb, Merlin Ramdawar and Skip, Steve Marlow take an early lead and they were 4-1 up after four ends. Their opponents pulled the score back to 4-3 on the fifth end, but Ladywell gained four shots on the following end to extend their lead to 8-3. Once again, the Francis Drake team hit back, gaining three shots on the seventh end, but Ladywell cancelled that score out by gaining two shots on the eighth end and a further shot on the ninth, to go into the tea break with an 11-6 advantage. But after the interval, it was a different state of affairs as the Francis Drake team came out with all guns blazing, scoring 11 shots without reply over the six ends following the break to take a 17-11 lead. Ladywell managed to gain a shot on the 16th end, but Francis Drake replied with a shot of their own on the 17th. And despite Ladywell gaining another shot on the final end, the result was a win for Francis Drake by 18-13.

In the final match the Ladywell team was led by George Witter, who was playing Skip for the first time, supported by Alvin Nelson and Trevor Martenstyn. Shots were shared over the first two ends, but Ladywell took the lead with two shots on the third end. They backed this up with another shot on the fourth end to take a 4-1 lead, but Francis Drake cut the deficit to one point by gaining a shot on the fifth. Ladywell extended their lead to 5-2 on the sixth end, but the Francis Drake triple rallied on the three ends leading up to the break with scores of two, five and two, to go into the interval 11-5 up. The Ladywell team hit back after the break, gaining two shots on the 10th end. And despite Francis Drake gaining a shot on the 11th, Ladywell scored three shots on the 12th end to cut the deficit to two shots with the score at 12-10 in the visitors' favour. But the Francis Drake team extended their lead once again with two shots on the 13th end. And they backed this up with four more shots over the following two ends to pull clear by 18-10. Ladywell rallied and gained a single shot on the 16th end, but Francis Drake gained another shot on the penultimate end. And although the Ladywell team gained a shot on the last end, the result was a 19-12 win for Francis Drake.

This meant the overall result was a 42-50 loss for Ladywell in their final match of the season.