Reports Basildon 'A'

May 16th, Murrayfield Cup , V Wickford , Away

First round, beaten by Wickford by just 2 shots.   Topsy turvy match with Wickford missing key players away at a bowls tour abroad, but playing well, seemingly  heading to win easily but as the matchend neared a sudden resurgence by Billericay brought the result in doubt till the last end of the last triple.

Rink 3 Jon, Jeff and Graham built up a good lead 12-2 at half way then slipped to 13-15 by the 16th.  However a tight 1 and 2 for the last two ends gave a 16-15 win.

Rink 4 Tracy. Norman and Mike  well down by end 15 - 6-21in shots.   Then to finish with a 1, 5 ands 3, to only lose by 15-21  The biggish loosing scores the problem - 14 shots in 4 ends.

Rink 5 David, Jenny and Val were edged by the opponents in the first 6 ends  (1-6) but then slowly took command to 1move ahead 6-10 by the 15th , helped by a 5.   Opponents stole the jack on the last end for a 3, final score a winning 17-14

-----------------------------------------------------

May 15th v Pitsea, Home

Our first win, 2-1 rinks but loosing overall by 4 shots hence 4-3 league points, 46-50 shots.    Sudden cold evening, home green playing a little quicker at 10:00 seconds.

Rink 2, Jean, Jenny and Val up against County and national comp players well known to us. Not a great start, 3-13 down at 7 ends catching up to 11-14 after 12 but slipping towards the end for a 14-23 loss.   Critical issue was dropping 14 shots in just four of the ends.

Rink 3,Tracy, Norman and Darren - interesting first long jack end with most woods from both sides in the ditch!   Close game with opposition always just ahead till we scored a 4 on the 15th and one on the last to win by 16-14 - well done - good concentrated team work.

Rink 4, Jon, Jeff and Graham gradually built up a good lead 11-2 after 8 ends; the opposition shaved the second half  but there were no big scores (just one three each in the match) so we ran out 16-13 winners.

May 8th v Wickford, Away

Lovely evening but a 2-5 points loss, 45-54 shots.  Green slower than it looked, probably a speed of 10 seconds.

Rink 2, Jon, Jeff and Graham, a close game though always slightly ahead.  A scare not scoring in ends 13 to 17 bringing the opponents level at 16 all but scoring 3 on the last end to win 19-16

Rink 3, Norman, Darren and Val, just ahead till half way but a mid match 9 ends without scoring put the opponents 8 shots ahead and though we rallied, eventually loosing 14-19, against probably their best triple.

Rink 4 , Tracy, Jean and Mike, behind for most of the game, including ends of 4 and 5 shots away and running out a 1 2-19 loss.

=========================================

May 1st v Castle Point, Home

Dreadfully slow green, lovely weather, not the best start for the season, loosing 2-5 points and 33-57 shots.  With team changes from last season; Tony out for two months, and very recently Brian picking up a big hip problem and on crutches, our survival after many years in division one will be in doubt.

Rink 4, Jean Lawrence, Jenny Hyland, Brian Hyland (skip) , a close game, ahead 8-7 after 12 ends then a great finish by ourselves to win 17-9    A good all round team effort managing a length that suited ourselves, probably having the better of the run of the woods and  overcoming one side where bowls moved against the bias.  Good start,

Rink 5, Tracy Kinton, Jeff Cassidy, Mike Yates (skip) - ahead 6-3 at 5th end, but then almost  a complete drought eventually loosing 8-25 

Rink 6 , Jon Bloomfield, Norman Bunce and Val Dalton (skip) down 0-11 shots after just 4 ends, things didn't get much better resulting in a 8-23 loss

====================================