MARY ROSE SECOND ROUND
WREST PARK v BOWDON, SUNDAY 14th JULY 2002
Bowdon team:
Philip Tidswell (1)
Brian Medley
(2
.5)
Andrew Keeble
(3)
Ken Cooper
(Captain, 1
.5)
This year’s campaign came off
the rails with a bump when we visited Wrest Park for a second round tie.
We had only just beaten our opponents in a close match played
in the final of last year’s competition, so we knew that we had a hard battle
on our hands. The weather was
gloriously hot and the usually slow Wrest Park lawns played relatively fast
in places, most often on the hill side of a hoop.
With no time limits set, lunch seemed an age to come.
Brian’s game was the first to finish with both players appearing
not to want to win, but Brian eventually got a break together round to 4-back
before missing a 2 foot roquet and with it the first loss.
Andrew was up against a very “fast improver”, who began last
season on a handicap of 14, starting the game on 3.
Their game was nip and tuck for a long time with Andrew looking
odds-on to secure victory. Having
separated oppo, he lined up his rush to peg, only for oppo to hit in across
the lawn to steal the match.
The doubles was a dour struggle but Ken & Phil eventually got their
act together to win +5.
Now, back to that lunch: the
lads couldn’t believe their eyes when 2 bottles of Italian red wine were produced!
At first, we thought that it was a ploy to get us to lose the
match, then we thought that anything was worth a try to make us play better.
Fortunately, our opponents kept us company.
Having 2 players on a handicap of
11
, their captain decided to play himself
against Phil, who was somewhat uninspiring in the morning, only to see his
plan fall flat.
However, the afternoon games quickly developed into 2 losses and our fate
was sealed. Brian dribbled at
the lift shot on a hilly lawn and that was that; that win meant his oppo went
down to 21
. Andrew saw his oppo peel
1-back before running it and going to peg.
Thinking it might be a contact, he asked if the
other ball ran 1-back first, to which oppo correctly replied “yes”.
However, he did hit the lift but to no avail.
Looking odds on a 26-0 whitewash, he finally scored 4 hoops
when oppo blobbed rover, before the end was nigh… and, incidently, it’s a
contact. Phil and Ken set time
limits on their games but only Phil could secure a win inside the distance.
A bit of a roasting in more ways than one!
Wrest Park were the better side on the day and deserved their
win and a match against Nottingham in the next round.
With the rest of the season to reflect on our departure from
the competition, we can only hope that we will return next year with renewed
vigour.
Match result:
Wrest Park 5-2 Bowdon.