Woods vs Severalls

What began in very frustrating manner ended in a good result for Woods in the first (home) leg of Jenny's Cup against Severalls. Our original request for this match was to play four rinks of triples. Severalls assumed and strongly suggested five rinks of triples. At first, we thought it might be a challenge to persuade fifteen to play this match so early in the season but we did manage to put together a strong team of five rinks. So, imagine how we felt when Severalls turned up with only nine players and therefore only three rinks. I therefore had to select three of our triples to play whilst the remaining two played a friendly 18 ends against each other. Their captain said that one of their club had been told to inform us but obviously none of us had been informed.

This was the second match to take place on our green following its first cut with our new mower and, it has to be said, it looks fabulous. It plays very differently to it ever has in the past. It's still not fast but is quicker than before. For most of us it is going to take time to get used to I'd say.

The match therefore consisted of three rinks. Our three on rink 4 of Alan Dott, Allen Bevan and Brian Butcher quickly established a big lead which grew ever wider during the match with them winning by 33-7, losing only 4 of the 18 ends. On rink 3 were Bill Clarkson, Sally Mansbridge, and Stuart Woodward who started well going 3-0 up before the opponents rallied into a 10-4 lead. The match then turned sharply in our favour when we had a series of big scoring ends to lead 18-10. Severalls pegged us back with four 1s before we finished strongly to win 21-14. On rink 2 were Anne Butcher, Gary Mallett and Tony Scott who found themselves also behind, 10-3 in their case, before a sequence of winning ends including a 5 to take them into the lead which they never relinquished, winning 15-12. We therefore take a lead of 36 (69-33) to the away leg in June which is a healthy margin to protect.

We should thank the other six players: Richard Wheatland, Graham Mansbridge, Peter Greenwood, Dean Wright, Robert Norgrove, and Ron Harvey for staying and playing an 18-end friendly between themselves. Although it was obviously out of my control, I had to apologise for them not being part of the match against Severalls today.

Despite the embarrassment of the three rinks rather than five as expected, the match was played in a good spirit and the result indicates that we can hope for more good results in our home matches this season.

Thanks again to Anne Butcher who provided her beautiful blueberry muffins and lemon cake which were served along with the club's biscuits, teas and beers afterwards.