That last bowl

Why is it all the best, most enjoyable bowls matches, seem to hinge on delivery of the last bowl? I'm not talking about the huge frustration of an opponent who keeps depriving you of three or four by squeezing his last bowl in. The most memorable are closely fought matches when it all comes down to that last wood delivery.

I'm at St Andrews Bowls Club in Biggleswade this afternoon on the hottest September in 100 years. It's baking at well over 30⁰c. Looks like someone has given the green a good baking too. Big patches of bare soil, multiple holes and the topsoil in one corner is lifting. Playing ex-workmate and friend, Kevin. He's just won the club's two bowl competition. So a combination of club champion and an away green mean a real challenge.

Turns out the green isn't playing at all badly. No problem with the line, though the length is a challenge when bowling up the slight incline. Kevin has a 9-6 lead by the tenth end. A four followed by two shortly after and I'm 14-9 ahead.

I retain the lead right through to the eighteenth end, sitting 16-12 up. A string of wins to Kevin sees him grab the lead 18-16. Three to me at I'm winning 19-16. The next end and we're 19-19.

And then we come to that last bowl. I'm sitting down one, possibly two. My favoured option is to knock Kevin's shot bowl away from where it's sitting close in to the jack. If I miss, might still carry the jack away. My bowl appears bang on target. It hits the jack. Drat! Doesn't hit squarely enough and shoves the jack over to leave my opponent with a definite two. A win to Kevin 21-19.

Hugely enjoyable game. Apart from the few frenzied minutes when I get stung by a wasp that's crawled up inside my trousers. A sharp pain is followed by puzzlement, followed by the feeling of something crawling ever further towards my crutch, followed by a quick dash into the men's changing room to whip off my trousers. Never did find the little b*gg*r.

So the record between me and Kevin now looks like this...

Date	Location	Result	More info
Sep 2014	Biggleswade	Kevin 21-14 John	Click here.
Sep 2015	St Ives	John  21-16 Kevin	Click here.
Sep 2016	Biggleswade	Kevin 21-19 John	Scorecard below.