Bowdon Weekdayers 11 Fylde 5

Bowdon: Nigel Matthews 4P, Ken Cooper 3P, Charles Harding 2P, John Bagnall 3.5.
Fylde: Betty Bates 2.5, Barry Broughton 5, Alison Broughton 6, Robert Bentwood 8.

Playing Bowdon is always a tough draw but especially for the first match of the season! It was a lovely sunny day and as expected the lawns were running fast and true. We were playing with brand new sets of Invictus balls, donated in memory of a former club member, Colin Irwin. Betty struggled to get to grips with these super shiny balls and her inability to rush the balls meant that she got annoyed with herself, losing both morning games. She fared better post lunch and the match against Ken was better although scrappy with both players getting stuck in the hoops. At one point Betty rolled to the left of hoop and she opted for an angled jump shot which paid off.

Robert enjoyed visiting his old stomping ground but like all of us found the lawns tricky to judge. Alison was able to find the pace early on and enjoyed hitting in straight lines ! She was wired by Nigel which helped her final hit in, winning 14-2. She then lost the next 2 games before coming good again against Charles. Playing brown with her green ball for hoop 6, a roquet managed to lodge the green in the hoop so she was able to peel them through and finish off. Barry felt he lost 2 matches because he used his bisque’s irrationally, unused to playing against minus players.

Posted by Alison, 20th April 2026