Shot myself in the foot

Men's league match this evening away against Eaton Socon B. This match was postponed when our side were the subject of fair weather bowlers at the end of June, some of their players refusing to play against the wishes of their captain. Surprisingly, they were not fined by the league. 'We might become subject to legal action' was the league secretary's explanation.

The league rules state the match must be rearranged within fourteen days (although the rearranged date can be any time before the last league fixture). I'd contacted my opposite number pretty quickly after the postponed match to fix a date but he wasn't ready. When he did contact me it was outside the timeframe.

Even got a call a couple of weeks ago asking if he could rearrange the date again. He was unaware the clubhouse, shared with the local football club, was booked for an event.

The league rules state if we don't play, as the innocent club we are awarded points equal to our average points for. That would be 5 points. I've emailed a request to change the league rules so the innocent club gets awarded the average points against of the defaulting club. In this case it would mean we'd be awarded six points. 

Eaton Socon are the bottom club by some margin, so we'd expect to get all seven points. So you see why I'm keen to play this fixture, come what may. Since they'd already provided food after the postponed match and the weather forecast was fine, I insisted we played. We didn't expect them to provide food a second time anyway.

Happy to get the match started. And happy with the start on our rink. By the fourth end we're well ahead, 12-0. Not down to anything I'm doing as lead. The green is heavy and far too many of my bowls are short. The correct line is a bit of a problem too. After a couple of scuffed deliveries, realise I'm not cupping the bowl securely. More accurate thereafter.

We're struggling on the other two rinks. Really struggling. I try and rally the troops as they approach their last ends. The aim by then is to get as near as possible to their opponents score so we win the bonus point for total bowls won. But it's a lost cause. Although we win comfortably on our rink 22-14, on the other two we lose 16-27 and 17-27. Lose the match 2-5 on points. Drat!

Pretty clear the opposition boosted their team with quite a few A Team players, since their A Team weren't playing this evening. Nothing in the league rules to say you can't do that. Interestingly, they do provide food after the match. No sign of the football club booking. Did their captain try and cancel because they couldn't raise a team? Left feeling I've shot myself in the foot by insisting we play, thereby forcing him to bring in A Team players.

We've now got 54 points from 11 matches. That's slightly below the average of five per match needed to ensure promotion. Should still be okay. Might even be top of the league again. Here's the scorecard.