Attributed to Harold Wilson, (the politics bit, not the bowls, that’s me!), and probably first said at a lobby briefing for journalists at the time of the sterling crisis in 1964. Interestingly, as Nigel Rees in Brewer’s Quotations (1994) records, Wilson himself, when asked just after his retirement as Prime Minister in 1977, could not pinpoint the precise occasion on which he first used the words. The Liberal politician Joseph Chamberlain is recorded in 1886 as having said: ‘In politics, there is no use in looking beyond the next fortnight.’
And so it came to be that a week with no bowls reaps its results!
Barton Raiders vs The Clangers
Like 3 rusty nails, we squeaked and we threatened to hold it together, to no avail!
Triples
The first part of the evening, 7 ends of triples went in our favour and we held on, 1 point at a time to gain a victory. Phew!
Singles
Part 2, 7 ends of singles saw a resounding victory for The Clangers. Not much to say except they bowled better than we did and scored on most ends. Onto the pairs.
Pairs
Another tight start, albeit the odd point was going against us for the first 4 ends, we managed a couple of points on the next 2 and going into the last end we needed to score more than we had achieved in the previous 6 ends. We tried and we tried and we tried. We failed!. 2 on the last was not enough and we experienced defeat in our first Superleague game of the season.
Fortunately the game was played against some ‘good fellas’ on the opposition and we had a right laugh with banter being swapped – regularly. Always enjoyable when the game is played in good spirit, despite the result.
Learnings
Lack of match practice leaves you wanting. You need a bit of rhythm if you’re going to waltz through a game’ We lacked rhythm!
