Southwark Sports v Ladywell Bowls League match report

After focusing on the cup over the past few weeks, Ladywell got back to bowls league action on Saturday 14th June, when they played their third John Collyer League match of the season away at Southwark Sports.

Having lost their first two league matches of the season, Ladywell faced a tough test against the reigning league champions. And as Ladywell were unable to field nine players for the three triples matches, their task wasn't made any easier when the match had to be reduced to two triples instead.

On the first rink, the Ladywell triple of Rob Witter, Howard Smith and Skip, Phil Welch were up against a strong Southwark Sports team, and they got off to a slow start, losing two shots on the first end. But Ladywell were soon into their stride and gained three shots on the second end to take an early lead. The Southwark Sports team hit back with four shots over the following three ends, but Ladywell responded well, taking a two and a one to tie the scores at 6-6 after seven ends. Both teams then traded three shots each over next two ends, so the scores were once again tied at the halfway point, 9-9 after nine ends. It was proving to be a close affair, as one team took the lead, only for the other to peg them back again. And after 13 ends, the home team had taken a narrow 12-11 lead. But the match swung decisively to Southwark Sports over the following three ends, as they scored one, two and then four shots to lead 19-11 with two ends to play. And despite Ladywell hitting back with a score of four shots on the 17th end, the gap was too big to overcome and a single shot to the home team on the last end meant that after an incredibly tight, hard-fought match, the final score was 20-15 in Southwark Sports' favour.

The second rink saw two more equally matched teams battle out a close contest. The Ladywell team of Merlin Ramdawar, Terrie Sibley and Skip, Steve Marlow, got off to a slow start, gaining one shot on the first end, but losing the following three ends to go 7-1 down after four. But they responded with four consecutive winning ends of their own to tie the scores at 7-7 after eight ends. The home team gained a single shot on the ninth end to take a narrow lead at the halfway mark, but the Ladywell triple played a brilliant tenth end to take five shots and move into a 12-8 lead. Both teams traded single shots over the following two ends, before the Southwark Sports triple narrowed the gap to two points at 13-11 with four ends to play. Ladywell extended their lead again with a single shot on the 14th end, but with single shots to Southwark Sports on the following two ends, that lead was cut to a single point with two ends to play. Ladywell grasped the initiative with a single shot on the penultimate end to leave the score standing at 15-13 in their favour. But on the final end, with Ladywell holding shot, the Southwark Sports Skip sent a wayward last wood of the match wide, which got a lucky double wick to take the jack and give the home team the three shots they needed for a 16-15 victory.

So, although both Ladywell teams played excellently on a hot afternoon, their efforts went unrewarded, as Southwark Sports won on both rinks and, with an overall score of 36-30, they gained the full ten points.