Crouch End

Men's Fours League home match this evening. Playing lead for the A Team against Sawtry A. Three rinks, each side of four bowlers with two bowls.

On our rink we're behind from the start. The green is fast and rink four is tricky. We're playing nowhere near our best. Giving the stand up and step forward style delivery a last chance. Truly awful. Two yards short. Two yards wide. All over the place. So embarrassing. Even worse because the opposition lead is playing well.

Past half way, on the other two rinks we're well ahead on one, close on the other. If we can minimise the loss on our rink the team might score the most total bowls and win the bonus point.

They've been killing us on a short jack. We win an end. Skip asks for a long jack. Sounds crazy to swap delivery style half-way through a match, particularly on a change of length. But I've had enough and it's back to the crouch delivery. First shot, bowl right against the jack. Second bowl an inch away. Magic!

We win a few ends and the opposition are rattled. Might we catch up? Unfortunately not. A string of high wins to them and we finish 34-13 down. On the other two rinks we win one, lose one. Result 2-5 in points.

The crouch delivery stays right to the end. And for the rest of the match my bowls are much more accurate. Even beating my opposite number. A couple of shots short, so modified the delivery to crouch with a short step forward when a bit of grunt required on a long end. Think I need to keep this style until later in the season, when the green gets heavier again.

Retire to the clubhouse for a typically stylish St Ives tea. All too often other Clubs provide cheese and ham on cheap rolls. Our version is a ploughman's lunch. Various types of rustic rough cut bread, cheddar, brie and gorgonzola cheese and huge pickles. Tasty.