Beaten by the green

This evening it's the second round of the County Two Bowls Rinks. Triples, each with two bowls, over twenty-one ends. And yes, you've guessed it. Up against a team from Hemingford.

We're playing at their green. Normally lush and green, it's locally renown for being heavy whatever the weather. Looks anything but lush. More like scalped within an inch of its life. There are brown patches and pits all over. Apparently the commercial groundsman gives it a cut every day. That sounds crazy.

The dominating feature of the whole match is the poor condition of the rink we're on, rink 3. It's a real struggle to find the line as your bowl wobbles as many as four times against bias. The line has no tolerance. A millimetre either way and you're yards from the jack. And both jack and bowls bounce up and down whatever hand is played. You know something is badly wrong when the home team also moan about the condition of the green. Rinks 1 and 2 were also being used and apparently are not much better.

We're down throughout the match. On the last end we have a mathematical chance of winning, needing to score five. No chance. Out of my last County competition. Now the focus is on Club competition matches, much more enjoyable.