Fylde 2 Nottingham 5

A big day for FCC as we made our debut in the Mary Rose and how fitting it should be against the current holders, Nottingam.

Fylde: Peter Wilson (0), Liz Wilson (0.5), Andy Brandwood (1.5), Nathan Baker (3)
Nottingham: Ian Vincent (0.5), David Gunn (1), Martin Beacon Capt. (1.5), Ian Draper (2)

Credit to Philip and Ian for making lawns look and play so well and to our members who came to help and support.

In the morning doubles turn 8 Liz picked up a 4b break and made it all look easy. The game settled down and became interactive. Liz put the slow cooker on with a Lancashire Hot Pot in it and took the occasional shot until Peter was at 3b when she went to peg. NCC seized a chance and pegged her out.

Andy beat Martin, Nathan against Ian D was pegged down (all the games were untimed) and Ian V and Dave beat Peter & Liz +3. Although Sunny, the hot pots and crusty bread with Lancashire Cheese went down well. Chocolate cake for tea too.

In the afternoon singles despite being pegged out, Ian beat Peter +7 with a good lift shot to position at Penult followed by a 13 yard roquet. Dave beat Liz +2 relentlessly hitting in from significant distances. Ian D seemed perked up by lunch and came out of the traps to beat Andy +16 and Nathan had a quick +22 against Martin who seemed to react to lunch in the opposite way!. Time was found to conclude the pegged down game which Ian won +11

It would have been nice to win and play Pendle next, but we lost to a very talented side. We sent them home each with a stick of Blackpool Rock.

Posted by Peter, 28th April 2018

Fylde were drawn against Nottingham in their first year in the Mary Rose, and entertained their visitors most generously. For a start, they laid on dry, sunny (if not particularly warm!) weather, which the Midlanders hadn't seen for some days. They plied us with welcome coffees, fed us with an excellent, slow cooked, Lancashire Hotpot, two local cheeses and a chocolate cake, and sent us home with a stick of multi-coloured Blackpool rock.

The play was also not without interest. The absense of time limits led to a late lunch, but allowed both the doubles and top two singles to all reach pegged-out endings. In the morning, the score was reported as 3-back and peg v 3-back and kitchen, after Liz's ball had been taken off.

At the end of the day, Peter left Ian with the single ball, and Dave did the same to Liz. On the other lawn, Nathan found his form in the afternoon to dispatch our captain, Martin, after Andy had meted out similar treatment in the morning, but Ian Draper won both his singles to give the visitors the match.

Liz & Peter Wilson lost to Ian Vincent & Dave Gunn -3
Andy Brandwood bt Martin Beacon +11
Nathan Baker lost to Ian Draper -11

Peter Wilson lost to Ian Vincent -7
Liz Wilson lost to Dave Gunn -2
Andy Brandwood lost to Ian Draper -16
Nathan Baker bt Martin Beacon +22

Posted by Dr Ian Vincent at Fylde 28th April 2018