Locked out

Arrive early for my first round County Two Bowls match this evening. Lots of traffic on the way to Sawtry Bowls Club. Sit in the car until 6.00pm, then walk to the access gates with all my kit. All locked up, no-one about. Local player and marker sometimes arrive just in time, so sit back in the car.

Try the gates again at 6.15pm. Uh-ho! Still locked and no sign of anyone within. Fortunately I've got a mobile number for my opponent. He's forgotten all about the match and is an hour away at work. The match has to be played by today. 'So you're scratching then?' I ask. He agrees.

Although through to the next round, much rather have played. Particularly looking forward to the next round, a match at St Ives against a fellow B Team player who I've beaten before in a close Club competition semi-final.

Loath to waste the evening, so scoot back to St Ives and down the Club for a solo practise. Average result, 43% of bowls within a yard. At least it enables me to sort out a few things.

Had decided to go back to my crouching style for this evening's match. The solo practice confirms I'm much more comfortable with that. A change that does seem to work is to stand tall to fix an aiming point at the end of the green and then bowl to that. No need for a secondary aiming point part way up the green. Maybe I'll try that in the next few matches.

Here's the scoresheet from tonight's solo practise, and the results so far this year.