West Beckenham v Ladywell Friendly bowls match report

On 16th June, Ladywell played a friendly bowls match away at West Beckenham. On a beautifully warm afternoon, the match lived up to its billing as a friendly, with three triples games played in a very relaxed atmosphere, and in good company.

Friendlies give our club the chance to offer new players experience of match conditions without the pressure of winning (or losing) points. And in the first triples match, Nicola Dunn made her debut for Ladywell, alongside Mike Tietz and Skip, Phil Welch. After gaining a single shot on the first end, the Ladywell trio fell behind to a strong home team, who scored six points without reply over the following four ends. A score of two for Ladywell on the sixth end reduced the deficit, but the West Beckenham team pulled away again on the following end, scoring four shots to take a 10-3 lead. Again, Ladywell regained the jack with a single shot on the next end, but the final end before tea saw the home team score another three points to take a 13-4 lead at the break. They extended this to a ten-point gap on the first end after tea, but Ladywell were starting to play some good shots and scored a single to once again take control of the mat. The 12th end saw West Beckenham pull away again, with another four shots to move into a comfortable 18-5 advantage. But Ladywell hit back strongly, scoring eight shots over the following four ends, and allowing their opponents only one shot in return. So, with two ends to play, the score stood at 19-13 in the home team's favour. Ladywell were still hoping for a remarkable comeback, but although they did gain a single shot on each of the final two ends to reduce the deficit still further, it just wasn't enough to gain the victory. So, the final score was 19-15 to West Beckenham. But a defeat by four points was very creditable after being so far behind.

The second rink saw the Ladywell triple of Nova Dobb, Norman Lewis and Skip, Ian Bradford take an early lead, with single shots on the first two ends. Their opponents hit back to tie the scores with two points of their own on the third end, before Ladywell pulled away in dominant fashion, scoring seven on the fourth end and backing this up with a further two shots to open up an 11-2 lead after five ends. The West Beckenham team gained singles on the following two ends, before Ladywell won the last end before the break with another single, to go into tea 13-4 ahead. After tea, they extended their lead to 14-4 on the 10th end, but their opponents seemed to be energised by the break and hit back with two shots on the 11th. Ladywell picked up another shot on the 12th end, but their opponents were hitting their stride and they went on a run of five winning ends, scoring eight points without reply, so Ladywell had a slender 16-14 lead with one end to play. But Nova, Norman and Ian played an excellent final end, gaining six more shots to pull away again to earn a 22-14 victory.

On the third rink, the Ladywell team of Alvin Nelson, Merlin Ramadawar and Skip, Steve Marlow started slowly, conceding single shots on each of the first two ends. But they soon got into their stride, gaining shots on each of the next four ends to take a 6-2 lead. Their opponents reduced the deficit to 6-3 on the seventh end, before Ladywell pulled away again, with three shots over the two ends before tea, to go into the break 9-3 up. Alvin, Merlin and Steve continued to score well after the break, with three shots on the 10th end. And, despite the West Beckenham team gaining a shot on the 11th end, scores of four, two and three over the next three ends saw Ladwell pull away to a 21-4 lead after 14 ends. The two teams traded shots over the final four ends, with Ladywell eventually gaining a comfortable 24-6 victory.

So, with two convincing wins and a narrow defeat, Ladywell came out on top with a 61-39 victory