Bowling For Gold: Harry Roscow Trophy

At Scone Bowls Club just after 5pm for the biannual Harry Roscow Trophy matches against my brothers. Full of hope after the performance on Friday evening. Only we can't start yet. A pairs competition started at 11am and is still in the quarter-final stages.

It's 6.30pm before we get on the green. That's no problem. Lovely evening. It'll be light until well after 10pm. Plenty of time to play our three matches, first to twenty-one.

It's me against Andrew again for the match one. Pretty even for the first eight ends. Then I drop four. Drat! Get two on the next, but another two ends lost and I'm falling behind. Not playing my usual game. Andrew's line is much better.

Realise I'm feeling rushed. Start to slow down and consider each shot. Normally my secret weapon, I've been relying far too much on playing long ends. Since Andrew is getting more success, I should be moving the mat right up the green as I did last September to win.

Unfortunately all too late. I'm under real pressure, Andrew is confident victory is just a couple of good ends away. And so it proves. Andrew wins 22-10.

As loser, it's me to play Robert next. But that doesn't appear to be the case. Robert drops the bombshell that we'll have to pack up soon. It's only 7.45pm, but the club bar shuts at 8pm and before the alarm is set mats, jack and scoreboard have to be in. So Robert plays Andrew as the last match.

Shortly after the start the barmaid is shouting across the green asking when we're going to finish. Got some tidying up to do so we've not got long. If the first game was played at a pace, this final match is certainly hurried.

So hurried that as marker I make two bad mistakes which I regret may have affected Robert during a very close game. On end eleven I measure two of Andrew's bowls into the count. 'So that's three' shouts Robert as I hurry up the green. 'Yes, three' I confirm. But I'm wrong, as Andrew reminds me. He'd aleady knocked out his two closest bowls before I started measuring. I have to correct the result to four, much to Robert's dismay. I then forget to update the scoreboard after end fourteen, so after fifteen when Andrew changes the scoreboard to 15-10, I tell him it's actually 17-10.

Andrew wins the last four ends, the match 20-10, and the Harry Roscow Trophy. He was certainly the better bowler on the night. But not the way bowls should be played. We had not much more than ninety minutes to play three matches to twenty-one. If the first had been close, we may not even have finished that. We'll have to change the rules so whatever time we have allows a relaxed bowls session.

Here are the photos and scorecards.