Open Triples Competition - Sunday 6 August 2023

On Friday 4 August, having seen that the BBC and the Met Office were both forecasting 80% chance of rain, I made the difficult decision to postpone the Open Triples Competition that was due to be played on Saturday 5 August. Having looked at the fixture list and the remaining competition matches that need to be accommodated I decided that the best thing to do was to play on Sunday 6 August as the weather forecast looked much better. I am very sorry to have had to do this as I know that a number of members that were due to play on Saturday could not play on Sunday but I wanted to do my best to ensure that the competition could be completed.

As it transpired it didn't rain in Winslow until about 4:30 on Saturday but I understand that it rained hard all day in Buckingham.

I was delighted that 15 members were able to attend on Sunday which meant that we had 5 teams battling for the trophy. I decided that simplicity was the key so opted for a random draw for teams and then we would play a knockout competition.

Teams A & B would play a preliminary round match and then the Semi Finals would be between the winners of A & B against Team C and Teams D & E would contest the other one.

Dorothy kindly draw the names out of the hat for me and the teams drawn were;

A

Kay

Jef

Valerie

B

John Thorogood

Stan

Lucy

C

Roger H

Sheila C

Roger S

D

John Gomersall

Dorothy

Rosie

E

Jeanie

Victor

Sarah

 

The preliminary round match between teams A & B was a very close affair with neither team picking up more than 1 shot per end for the first 6 ends. At the end of the match both teams had won 4 ends and the only 2 shots scoring end of the match proved to be decisive with Team A going through to the Semi Final.

Team D lead their Semi Final against Team E and found themselves 3 shots ahead on the final end. Team E fought hard and picked up a 2 with the last bowl but it wasn't quite enough so Team D qualified for the final by 1 shot.

Team A took the lead early on against team C in the second Semi Final and also went into the final end 3 shots up. Team C bowled very well to be holding the 3 they needed to send the match into an extra end with the last bowl of the match to be played. Unfortunately for Team C they didn't end up scoring the 3 they needed so Team A progressed to the final. There were some sensational bowls played in this match and one end I will never forget when the leads (Roger H and Valerie) put all of their 6 bowls within a foot of the jack with each bowl knocking the previous one out of shot position next to the jack – quite incredible!.

Compared to the preceding matches the Final between teams A & D was a relativity high scoring match. Both teams won 4 ends but Team A ran out winners due to a slice of good fortune rather than having played the better bowls.

I hope that all the members that were able to participate enjoyed themselves as much as I did.

Congratulations to our first competition winners of the season...Open (Drawn) Triples Winners - Valerie, Kay and Jef.

 

Jef Cawdell

Competition Secretary