Counting chickens in the dark

Playing bottom club Sawtry C at home this evening in the Men's Fours League. We beat them at their ground 7-0 in points earlier in the season. Although we've got a slightly weakened team through absences, I'm expecting all seven points again.

Our A team is playing at home too. Bit of a surprise to find they're aiming for the full twenty-one ends. That commits us to the same. With forty-eight men to feed, our lady members are not going to be happy doing two sittings.

While the A team start early at 6.15pm, there's still no sign of our opponents. They arrive with ten minutes to spare and it's after 6.30pm when we start.

By the half way point things are not quite going to plan. We're behind on rinks four and six. I'd put myself in as lead on what I thought was our weakest group, rink five, but we're well ahead. Not down to my bowls. On some ends I'm getting a bowl in close to the jack, but as usual there are far too many wayward shots.

Rink four loses 12-23. Our rink wins 24-13. That's one rink all and equal total bowls. So three points are riding on the result from rink six, two points for a win and the bonus point for highest total bowls in the match.

Their skip is a bit slow on his feet and they've still got four ends to play. We have to switch the yellow jack for a white one so they can see where it is. Only able to switch the floodlights on in their last couple of ends. Have to wait until the oven is no longer in use since if both oven and floodlights are on at the same time we'll blow a fuse.

Level 21-21 after the penultimate end, the whole match rests on the last end. And we win it by two bowls... phew! The match is ours, 5-2 in points. We retire to the clubhouse for jacket potatoes, chilli and cheese.

Teach me to count my chickens... and to think more carefully about how many ends to play. Here are the scorecards.