Reports CMBL "A" TEAM
CMBL Match 15th August Away
Billericay "A': 8 points v RHP 'A' : 0 points. (51:31 shots)
Teams:
Brian, Rex, Jenny & Mike Y, 23:16 shots in favour
Gary, Val, Tony & Jim, 28:15 shots in favour
Both teams scored with consistently higher shots than the opposition over the majority of ends, ending a brilliant season finale to place Billericay 'A' in fourth place overall in division 2 of the CMBL league.
There are eight teams competing in division two with the final result demonstrating only two points difference between Billericay and seventh place Great Baddow 'B' but our important shot difference placed us fourth.
Well done and great performance throughout the season to all our devoted players and of course our special reserves who helped us out of some tight availability spots.
Thank you to everyone for your support throughout the season.
The End, Tony.
CMBL Match 10th August Away (replay following postponement)
Billericay "A': 4 points v Braintree 'A' : 4 points. (41 shots each)
Teams: Brian, Graham, Jenny & Tony and Rex, Val, Winston & John F.
Firstly a big thank you to Graham and John for filling in for unavailabilities and of course our regulars. A long way to go on a Thursday evening out of our normal sequence of games.
An honourable draw, well done!
Fair to say that both teams struggled in the early stages against opposition players who are not in the regular squad. Brian's team faced a very strong lead but in the end prevailed with some larger scores but only winning 9 of 21 ends. One shot in particular from Brian converted an end score to a five. Final score 23:21 up.
Rex's team suffered with shots against in the early stages, sometimes holding a few only to be cut down. 9:18 down by end 15 but then a super recovery winning virtually all the remaining ends bar one to be finally 18:20 down in the end to draw the game overall.
Tony.
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CMBL Match 8th August AWAY
Billericay "A': 0 point v Chelmsford 'B' : 8 points
Teams: Gary, Jim, David & Tony and Rex, Val, Winston & Jean.
We imagined this would be a tough game with Chelmsford's notorious wet and heavy green, especially with the continual drizzle on the day. Both teams started well with Gary's team 9:2 up by end seven winning most of the ends and holding the jack length. Then a reversal of fortune with a firing opposition skip straight down the middle causing some 'why do we bother moments' but us gaining a four on end 12 brought us to 13:12.
Rex's team equally did well in the early stages despite dropping a five on end four to be 11:11 on end 13 undergoing the same game plan from the opposition skip.
The rain decided to intervene during ends 13/14 and continued to be quite heavy for the rest of the match offering our opponents an opportunity as we struggled with a change in conditions on a very 'soggy pitch'.
Final shots: Rex's team 14:19 down, Gary's team 13:19 down.
CMBL have an issue updating the league table currently but this should be resolved soon, however we have our last two important matches coming up to finish the season to try and retain our division 2 position.
Tony.
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CMBL Match 1st August Home
Billericay "A': 1 point v Maldon 'C' : 7 points
Teams: Gary, Rex, David & Mike Y and Brian, Jim, Mike S & Jean.
Final points 7:1 down to the league leaders but could so easily have been 8:0 to Billericay with a score that was totally unrepresentative of the game overall. The front end of both our teams were fairly consistent during the match compromised only by the 'knock outs' and 'knock ups' of the opposition (and us at times but that is the fortune of the game). Our back end retaliated often to overturn the result of the end. In a couple of days the league positions will be published for us to contemplate our potential final position but hopefully we can stay mid table in division two.
Whoops, Brian's team lost a five on the first end whilst our team gathered their thoughts and found the range on a heavier than usual green. The next two ends gained a 4 and 2 to bring the score to 6:5 up on end three in retaliation. The progress then continued with long ends effectively taking the opposition front end out of the game to be 14:6 up on end 10. A shorter jack on end eleven, more to the opposition liking, led to loosing 5 on the next two ends. We stabilised to be 16:11 up on end 14 but unfortunately our lead eroded over the next three ends to be 16:16 on the penultimate end and then loosing two, we ended 16:18 down finally.
Gary's team had a slow start to be 3:9 down on end six but then a breakthrough score of five set them on track to be 10:9 up on end eight. The opposition then scored the same five, 10:14 down on end 9. The heads became wider as the game progressed but we scored consistently with ones to be 17:15 up on end 16. Maldon then achieved a three, putting us 17:18 down on the penultimate end. One shot for Billericay on the last end drew the game at 18:18 and a valuable one point consolation.
At least it didn't rain. Good effort!
Tony.
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CMBL Match 25th July Home
Billericay "A': 0 points v Silver End : 8 points
Teams: Gary, Jim, Mike S & Jean and Rex, Val, Winston & Mike Y.
A complete reversal of the score from early in the season against Silver End who were last in the league table against our second place. Based on our previous experience this match was winnable but we soon realised that due to their bottom of the table position some different players of County standard had been called up to improve their league position. Well it worked! Gary arrived unannounced and was quickly drafted in as a substitute to help our cause as by then we understood the characters and challenge we were facing.
Rex's team struggled with handling the peculiarities of the rink two green whilst the opposition straight woods faired better. Our leading was consistent but the opposition were able to knock onto our bowls and draw in almost on request. Every time we managed to gain shot ourselves the opposition would counter. Some second shots achieved and some giveaways played as we never really achieved momentum. Rex's team had their moments later in the game winning four consecutive ends but alas too late. Difficult runs on the green made a frustrating evening for us but we were outplayed by a clinical team. Straight woods for Christmas this year! Final score 10:29 down.
Gary's team managed to hold the score to a manageable level early on but drifted towards the end loosing the majority of ends after end twelve, despite some good recovery shots and good drawing throughout the game. The final score not representative of the match at 14:27 down.
An experience not to be remembered as not much fun being hammered but we have a cushion from our last two eight nil matches that helped our overall position in the league immensely, so we move forward to Maldon at home next week, good luck!
Tony.
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CMBL Cup Match against Silver End 20th July (3rd Round)
Billericay : 34 shots v Silver End : 43 shots (Billericay 9 shots down overall)
Teams: Gary, Val, Mike Y & Jim and Rex, Jenny, Tony & Jean.
Rex's team were under pressure from the outset with the arrival of four gregarious, self confident and noisy badged players set to intimidate with their skills. We kept our heads but only managed 4:10 down on end 10. Three ends later we equalised with a four and a three to achieve 11:11 on end 12. The opposition were now deadly quiet and conceded the next three ends to bring us 15:11 up on end 15. Very serious now with the odd tense comment as Silver End were on the back foot. Equal end scores now to be 18:14 up at end 19, then we clinched a four, 22:14 with one end to play and no silly give aways. We escaped a final onslaught of some well drawn opposition bowls but Rex managed to reduce the opposing score to two shots, finished 22:16 up waiting for the other team result. A determined effort from the team demonstrating a positive attitude to our game.
Gary's team (with lost score card) played at their best but were often down three or four shots half the time with the team reducing the score to one or two down and sometimes snatching one shot. Final rink score 12:27 down. Good play from the team but not our night.
We will just remember beating Stock this year, our highlight!
Tony.
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CMBL Match 18th July Home
Billericay "A': 8 points v Great Baddow 'B' : 0 points. Shots 50 : 32.
Teams: Rex, David, Mike S & Mike Y and Val, Jim, Winston & Jean.
A happy evening all round last night with plenty of encouragement from our skips to beat second in the league table Great Baddow 'B' with an eight point contribution to our upper table position. An extended social period post match concluded an enjoyable evening. Thanks to all for playing your best and for helping on the night with the chores.
Team Rex, David, Mike S & Mike Y as told by Rex
Another evenly matched game with the opposition winning 11 ends to our 10. At the halfway stage we were 13:12 up although going down five on the fifth end. We then retaliated with a three and a four on the sixth and seventh ends respectively. Nip and tuck until we got ahead by four shots only to be pegged back to 19:19 on the eighteenth end. A four on the next gave us a bit of breathing space and on the last end the opposition needed a two to draw the game but could only manage a single shot.
The game was ours…23:22. Phew!
Well done team especially to Mike Yates, our lead, who was never very far away from the Jack!
Val, Jim, Winston & Jean, script back to Tony from the bench
Some good draw bowling all round and an impressive start to be 12:0 up by end seven. Jean placed shot on the first end. Winston took the jack back to us on the second end to give three and Jim added one to give us a four despite Val's effort to take us out. Again Jean held shot on end four and Val knocked one up for two.
After scoring on ends 8 & 9 Baddow held a 'clutch' of bowls only to be dislodged by Jim and Val to reduce the opposing score to two, now 12:4 on end 10. Jim demonstrated a 'classic slow motion wick' to score one on end 12 and Val drew full length to also score one on end 13. Now 16:4 up on end 13. On end 14 Val trailed the jack to score five and then drew the sixth shot only to be cut to two by the Baddow skip.
The score now 18:4 on end 14 the concentration continued to maintain the overall important score by winning the next five ends whilst Tony made the tea. We dropped five on the last end that produced some consolation for Baddow. Final score 27:10, good performance all round.
The End, Tony.
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CMBL Match 11th July Away
Billericay "A': 8 points v PML : 0 points
Teams: Brian, David, Tony & Mike Y and Rex, Val, Winston & Jim.
A well earned eight points that will prove more valuable nearing the end of the season. Very well done.
Team Rex, Val, Winston & Jim as told by Rex
A real ding dong of a game right to the last bowl. A special mention should be given to Jim, Winston and Val for their fine play all evening. Although overall we won 12 ends to the oppositions 9 we were mostly behind until we took the lead 13:12 on the 14th end only to lose the next 4 ends to go 13:17 down. A critical time of the game and our team rose magnificently to the situation by winning the next two ends, including a brilliant wood from Val which curled around their shot wood to become the shot wood. So the game perfectly poised at 17:17 with all to play for on the last end. Skips came to bowl with PML holding shot but a 2 foot gap had been left between two short bowls which enabled us to send up a running bowl. This did not quite find the gap but fortunately hit one of our short woods sending it careering towards the Jack picking it up and giving us two shots. The PML skip who had been extremely accurate all night failed and the game was ours. Final score 19:17.
Team Brian, David, Tony & Mike Y
Brian's team had a slow start figuring the peculiarities of the green but still scoring a 3 and a 2 to be 5:8 down after six ends. Then we as a team and especially Mike 'clicked' and started to put together some decent scores to be 21:8 up after 15 ends with our opponents not scoring for nine ends in a row. PML scored a three on end 16 and started a comeback, however we held on and reduced the scores where possible to be 22:15 up on end 20 then scoring 2 shots on the final end resulting in a win 24:15 to produce a clean sweep.
Tony.
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CMBL Cup Match against Stock 6th July
Billericay : 43 shots v Stock : 37 shots
Teams: Gary, Val, Mike Y & Jim and Brian, Jenny, Tony & Jean.
A local derby much anticipated and what a fantastic result! well done to everyone for those good bowls.
Gary, Val, Mike Y & Jim playing at Stock's home ground were on the back foot immediately with the opposition playing short jacks after winning the mat, leading to 7 down after two ends. However, our team recovered finding the green and casting the opposite long jacks to be 11:7 up on end 7. Stock managed to get the lead back switching to short jacks again with the mat up and scoring mainly single shots for the next eight ends. Our comeback returned for most of the remaining ends but without the shots necessary to reverse the score. At times our team held a significant number of shots thwarted by a combination of wicks, knocks and draws from the opposition but a competitive tight game all round. Final score 16:22 down.
Brian, Jenny, Tony & Jean were on fire at the start with the front end enjoying some very tight heads to be 12:2 up by end six. The team continued to be 14:5 up by end eight and then suffered a four against on end nine, score now 14:9 and a little too close. There was then arguably a respectful mid game lull from the front and both Brian and Jenny scored some short term saves. Our lead now 17:12 on end 14, shaken but not stirred we got back into gear to score a four on the next end and made consistent progress to the final win 27:15. The opposition shocked and the overall score 43:37.
An excellent night and I am sure will be our most memorable win this year.
Tony.
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CMBL Match 27th June Home
Billericay "A': 4 points v RHP 'A' : 4 points
Teams: Val, Jim, David & Tony, and Rex, Jenny, Mike S & Mike Y.
The opposition held a middle table position similar to ourselves.
Rex's team launched a good start with a second end ditching of the Jack producing 4 shots. The RHP front end somehow found the Green well for most of the game as the alternative brown and green patches were not conducive to accurate draw bowling. The opposition came on stronger later in the game to overtake us but a desperately needed penultimate end which produced 3 valuable shots led on to a thrilling end that just went in our favour sufficiently to win the game and help obtain an overall draw. Jenny played some attacking weighted woods very well at important moments throughout the game. Final score 21:18
Val's team had one of those difficult evenings where the game did not go to plan and the opposition lead gained momentum from end five after our teams early start. Dropping a five on end 7 did not help but we kept our composure and battled on to be 10:15 down on end 15 with a chance to recover. Scoring a four on end 18 made the score 15:17 down with all to play for as our other team made progress to challenge a win for the overall score. RHP retaliated scoring again a four on end 20, game over! no, as then we matched with a four of our own on the last end. Final score 19:22 down but enough to bring about a well earned draw under pressure.
Tony.
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CMBL Match 20th June Home
Billericay "A': 0 points v Chelmsford 'B' : 8 points
Teams: Jim, Tony, David & Jean, and Brian, Jenny, Winston & Mike Y.
Rain during the day caused the green to be slower than in recent weeks giving our opponents a slight advantage as they are more familiar with a slower green. The position of Chelmsford in the league gave rise to some optimism before the match but on the night we were challenged on both rinks.
Jim's team after winning the first end were on the back foot only scoring the odd repeated single save shot by Jim to put the team 4:11 down on end 12. Scoring five on the next two ends helped our score to be in reaching distance 9:11 down on end 14. Progress continued to be 13:14 down on end 18 with a chance. Unfortunately we lost six on the remaining final three ends, final score 13:20 down, only 8 of 21 ends won.
Brian's team also scored on the first end with three and then went backwards, struggled with length and suffered a six against to be 5:10 down on end 5. The pressure continued to be against Brian's team baring a couple of sparkle moments to be 11:23 down on end 16. Then our team retaliated with a four end come back, but alas too late, final score 17:24 down, winning in the end almost half of the ends.
We await the revised league table to be published in the next day or two to see our current mid table expectation.
Thank you for your continued support and better luck next week. The good news is we are through to the second round of the cup match courtesy of Ingatestone and will have Stock in the next round to look forward to.
Tony.
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CMBL Match 13th June Away
Billericay "A': 0 points v Maldon 'C' : 8 points
Teams: Rex, Val, Tony & Jim, and Brian, David, Winston & Jean.
A warm night for a change on our trip to Maldon. Disappointing evening result although Maldon are near the top of our division and should not detract to much from maintaining our position in the league overall provided we build on our previous successes.
Rex's team had a regulated start 5:7 down on end seven but then scored a five to be 10:7 up on end 8. We maintained our equilibrium with the opposition all the way through to end 16 holding a 15:12 lead. The last few ends where we conceded a two and two fours put us the back foot losing 17:22. We won ten of the available ends with some good shots but unfortunately had the misfortune of giving away some shots near the end. We had the potential to win, perhaps on home turf.
Brian's team struggled losing 'mainly' one shot on every end to be 1:16 down on end 11, then the recovery began scoring a five on end 15 and 8:17 down at that stage. The tables turned again for a final score of 10:23 down. Just did not go our way.
Tony
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CMBL Match 6th June Away
Billericay "A': 8 points v Silver End : 0 points
Teams: Val, Jim, Mike S & Jean and Tony, David, Winston & Mike Y.
Another bitterly cold night for the time of year but very social and a brilliant result to keep us near the top of the table. We had to rearrange the teams this week but the judgement call was that we could be potentially successful against Silver End without calling in reserves. Disappointments aside we should be proud of the result with players out of position, well done.
Val, Jim, Mike S & Jean were relaxed and enjoyed their match. Down four shots in the first two ends, gradually recovered including a 3 and a 5 shot gain to be 12:10 up by end 12. The match remained tight but Val's team pulled away winning six of the remaining ends. Final score 21:16.
Tony, David, Winston & Mike Y struggled early on, 5 shots down after two ends. Again with a consistent front end we equalised at end 8 and managed to keep in touch with our opponents despite skip Tony giving away some points. 13:16 down at end 17 our thoughts were perhaps to minimise the difference but the 'magic fairy' intervened with us winning 6 shots on three of the remaining four ends. We conceded one shot on the last end but won 19:17 finally. A surprise! well done David, Winston and Mike.
Tony.
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CMBL Match 30th May Away
Billericay "A': 0 points v Great Baddow : 8 points
Teams: Brian, Jenny, David & Jean and Rex, Jim, Winston & Mike Y.
A cold and unlucky night I hear with the score perhaps not a true representation of two close matches with 3 shots difference overall. It happens and thank you to Jim for managing the evening and the report below:
Brian, Jenny, David & Jean had a tight match and were 4 up on the last end when the opposition skip came in with his last bowl to cut it down to 1, losing by a single shot. Winning 9 of the 18 ends.
Rex, Jim, Winston and Mike. All players contributed to the score. A match decided on 2 ends, one where we holding 4 shots and their skip put a great final bowl in for shot and on the 11th end when we were holding 2 when their skip fired, trailing the jack back 3 metres into the ditch and making 3 shots.
Tony
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CMBL Match 23rd May Home
Billericay "A': 6 points v PML : 2 points
Teams: Brian, Jenny, Winston & Mike Y and Rex, Tony, Mike S & Jim.
Maintained a positive overall score to add to our total so far that will prove useful later in the season.
Brian's team went down 4 on the first end but retaliated to be 9:4 up by end 3. Whilst the opposition continued to win the majority of the remaining ends their total points only amounted to 11 shots after end 3. Brian's team however made their winning ends count by scoring two fours and a five that proved decisive in maintaining a substantial lead throughout the course of the match. Win 26:15.
Rex's team had a difficult start initially but gradually gained some momentum to achieve 13:16 against on end 14 with a chance! The next 3 ends went against with one shot each end but Rex delivered well on the last end to gain another two shots. A defeat of 15:19 but our aim under pressure to maintain the overall score and gaining the bonus points of four achieved to give the team overall 6 points.
Tony.
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CMBL Match 16th May Home
Billericay "A': 8 points v Braintree 'A': 0 points
Teams: Brian, Tony, David & Jean and Rex, Val, Winston & Jim.
First time out and a commendable effort by all to achieve a clean sweep of 8 points, well done!
Brian's team started really well gaining a ten point lead in the first three ends and progressed steadily to be 18:7 up by end 14 with the opposition scoring on only 5 ends at that point. Braintree came back strong to score on the remaining four ends with Billericay in a defensive mode but we managed to hang on to win 18:14. 50% of ends won in total.
Rex's team experienced a measured approach of good play with I am told interspersed with 'moments of brilliance' [or 'fortunate wicks'?]. Joking aside, good performance to win 22:10 winning on 12 of 18 ends.
Tony.