Saturday 28th May saw Ladywell take on Francis Drake in a friendly match of three triples at the green in Ladywell Fields. In five matches against the same opponents last season, Ladywell had come out on top all five times. But with a number of new players on both teams, the result this time was never going to be a foregone conclusion. And, although two of the matches were very tight, it was the third match that proved to be decisive, giving Francis Drake the win by 46-58.
The first match was a very close affair, with the lead changing hands six times over the course of the afternoon. The Ladywell triple of Phil Welch at skip, with Richard Moorhouse and Susan Levene got off to a strong start and after four ends, they were leading 5-1, only for the Francis Drake team to gain four on the next end to tie the scores at 5-5. Ladywell moved ahead again, only for Francis Drake to gain five shots on the 7th end, to take the lead 10-6. Ladywell fought back with a five shot swing on the very next end, to retake the lead at 11-10, only for Francis Drake to once again tie the scores at 11-11 at the break. On the resumption, Ladywell pulled away again, only for Francis Drake to peg them back and retake the lead. Again, the Ladywell trio fought back to gain an 18-16 lead on the 15th end. But on the 16th, Francis Drake gained three shots to lead 19-18, so it was all on the last two ends. After Ladywell gained two shots on the penultimate end to lead 20-19, they managed to hold on for a 21-19 win.
The second match was equally close. Ladywell's team included one of our newest players, Alvin Nelson, along with Terrie Sibley and the skip, Des Marrett. They took an early lead, 4-2 after three ends, only for the Francis Drake to gain four on the fourth to lead 6-4. Every time Ladywell closed the gap, the Francis Drake team extended it again, so by the break after 9 ends, they were leading 12-7. After the break, the visitors extended their lead to 15-8 after 11 ends, before the Ladywell team began to claw their way back, tying the score at 16-16 with one end to go. But once again, Francis Drake managed to get their noses in front, gaining one shot on the final end to win by 17-16.
In the third match, another new Ladywell player, Nova Dobb, was joined by Howard Smith and skip, Bernie Jermin. The Ladywell trio struggled to get into the match against an experienced Francis Drake skip and were 10-1 down after seven ends, closing the gap to 10-3 at the break. After the interval, they pulled back to within four points of their opponents, but with a four and a six in the closing ends, the Francis Drake team pulled away again ,eventually winning 24-9.
It was a disappointing result for Ladywell, but as it was a friendly, it had enabled us to give two new players experience of taking part in a competitive match - valuable experience that will hopefully benefit both them and the club later in the season and for years to come.
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