Smooth operator

Above are the league positions prior to this evening's home Men's Fours match against Buckden B. Our away win last week against the league leaders has provided a clear margin from the relegation zone. A good win tonight might boost us ahead of Chatteris.

Playing third. One of our opponents' players is stuck in traffic. I'm rolling two consecutive bowls with no opposing third. He never arrives, so I play like that throughout the match. With eight bowls against six, we win our rink easily 29-11. Good wins on the other two rinks mean a convincing win, 7-0 to us in points. Just the result we wanted.

We retire to the clubhouse for a tea of roast pork, roast vegetables and buttered new potatoes. St Ives serves up the best Thursday evening tea by some margin. Don't know how the ladies do it for £1.15 a head. Apparently they had some money left over!

How did I play this evening? Pretty average for the first half of the match. Getting the line, but my struggle with length continued. Then focused on keeping my head down, minimising the backswing and effectively pushing the bowl. Tried to make my delivery as smooth as possible. Worked like magic. Suddenly I was getting a high rate of bowls up to the jack and counting. Have I at last solved my problem with length, just in time to make Finals Day? A Men's Four Bowls quarter-final fixture on Sunday evening will tell.