Ladywell bowlers have been involved in a number of Beckenham, Bromley & District Bowling Association (BB&DBA) competitions over the past couple of weeks, with disappointing results.
Friday Night Triples League
After losing their opening match against Eltham in the BB&DBA Triples League, Ladywell were hoping for a reversal of fortunes against HSBC Bowls Club on Friday 28th July. Each fixture involves two triples from each club, playing at home and away at the same time, with two points for an individual win and a further two points for the overall win on aggregate scores.
The away match at HSBC saw a tightly fought affair, where neither team was able to take control of the match. Despite losing four shots on the first end, the Ladywell triple of Norman Lewis, Des Marrett and Phil Welch pulled back to lead 5-4 after four ends. The HSBC team then edged into the lead again, but they were never able to pull away, with the Ladywell team always staying in touch. So, going into the penultimate end, Ladywell were only trailing 12-10. And this end saw a swing in fortunes, with three shots to Ladywell, giving them a one-point lead going into the final end. But the tight nature of the match continued, with HSBC claiming a single shot on the final end to claim a draw, with one point to each club. So, the overall tie would be decided by the result in the match at Ladywell, where unfortunately for the home team of Robert Dunn, Richard Moorhouse and Mark Simmons, HSBC took an early hold of the match, which Ladywell couldn't claw back. So the final result was 27-10 to HSBC, meaning they won the overall match by 40-23, gaining five points to Ladywell's one.
On Friday 4th August, the Ladywell teams were out again to try and gain a win in the competition against Coney Hall Bowling Club. The home match saw the Ladywell team of Robert Dunn, Slawek Rutkowski and Phil Welch get off to a slow start, with the Coney Hall team gaining a six-shot lead after three ends. The match continued in a similar vein, with the away team pulling clear and eventually gaining a comfortable 25-13 win. The match at Coney Hall was a much closer affair, with the lead changing hands a number of times throughout. But the Ladywell triple of Norman Lewis, Richard Moorhouse and Skip, Des Marrett managed to gain an advantage in the last few ends to gain Ladywell's first victory in this year's competition, by 18 shots to 13. Unfortunately, this was still not enough to give Ladywell the overall win, so Coney Hall claimed four points and Ladywell two.
With the final match of the Round Robin stage against Forest Hill, this means Ladywell can't reach the semi-final stage as one of the two top teams in the group.
BB&DBA Triple Knockout Quarter-Final, 26th July
The Ladywell triple of Mark Simmons, Des Marrett and Skip, Phil Welch, played their quarter-final match in the BB&DBA knockout at Orpington Excelsior Bowling Club. In very wet conditions, the Ladywell team fought well against very strong opposition and in a tight match, the home team eventually came out on top, winning 15-9. So, Ladywell are eliminated and we wish the Orpington Excelsior team all the best in their semi-final match.
BB&DBA Pairs Knockout Quarter-Final, 2nd August
Ladywell's pair of Norman Lewis and Phil Welch played their quarter-final BB&DBA knockout match at Bellingham Bowling Club on Wednesday 2nd August. The match started well, with both pairs playing some excellent shots and after seven ends, they were tied at 5-5. But then the young home pair took control of the match, upping their game, playing some outstanding bowls to completely overcome the Ladywell team, who conceded the match after 19 of the 21 ends, with the score at 24-5 to Bellingham.
So, tLadywell are now out of all the BB&DBA competitions for this season, having reached two quarter-finals. And our thoughts turn to next season, with hopes of doing even better.
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