Reports Basildon 'A'
29th August - end of Bas A season - we finished 5th of the 8 teams, our best result since being in the first division and it made a nice` change to not be fighting to avoid relegation. We had significant changes to the 2022 squad with three new team members so thank you all for trying hard and being competitive and easy to manage. I hope you all enjoyed the season.
regards
Brian
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29th August, home, v Runwell, lost 1-6 league points, 42-55 shots
Last match of the season, against a better Runwell team pulling in their 'stars'. As we all started the 15th end, we were winning on two rinks and by 3 shots overall. Either we slipped badly or the opposition pulled their socks up as three ends later we only drew on one rink and lost overall by 13 shots. A disappointing end.
Tony, Norman and Val well behind on the 9th but two 4's and some 1's took us 2 shots ahead on the 13th. However the opposition scored the last four ends and at 15 all on 18th, they scored a three to win 15-18 Well done team as the opposition skip was a notable quality bowler.
Mike, Jenny and Brian were always behind, Brian appeared to have left his skills on holiday and the opposition skip was excellent - we only won 5 ends though keeping the opposition scores to low numbers to help with a possible overall result made the score respectable, losing 9-19
Jean, Mark and Gary romping away to lead 16-2 after 10 ends but despite winning 10 of the 18 ends, disastrously dropping two 5's on ends 15 & 16 enabled the opposition to draw at 18 all.
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25th August, away v South Benfleet A - 0-7 league points 31-71 shots
Playing away against the top team isn't easy and the result in accordance with expectations. Good practise against excellent opposition. one more match to complete the season. Can we make 4th position?
Steve, Norman and Mark winning 7 ends and did well apart from two successive ends with 4 conceded each time - 10-20 loss
Jean, Roy and Graham won 6 ends but dd not concede any big scores against - just 1 three and 1 four. A 9-20 loss
Mike, Tony and Val also won 7 ends but conceding a 4, a 5 and a 7 helped the opposition build a biggish score of 12-31
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17th August, home to Castle Point A, 5-2 league points, 51- 38 shots
Warm, blue sky evening, an excellent performance against the third placed team in our league and keeps us in the upper half of the first division with just two more matches to complete the season. Well done all. Can we finish in third place?
Mike, Jenny and Brian always ahead, winning 12 of the 18 ends (9 ends by just 1 shot) in a low scoring game, final score 15-10
Steve, Graham and Mark off to a bad start 0-8 after 6 ends , but slowly working their back into contention and finally only 12-14 behind,
Jean, Norman and Val also off to a bad start,. 0-6 after 3 ends but a five on the 5th and steady work thereafter produced a 24-14 win
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11th August, home to Rayleigh A, 0-7 league points 32-82 shots.
Playing a team close to the top of the division, and perhaps the best team, showed us the skill needed for top level bowling - we were thrashed on all rinks. It was sad there were examples of poor etiquette and disrespect of bowlers on both sides - there is no need for rudeness in our sport.
Norman, Mark and Val won 7 ends to loose 10-28
Steve, Roy and Gary also won 7 ends, finishing well winning the last 3 ends to lose 13-25
Mike, Jenny and Brian also won 7 ends but a 6 and a 5 away meant a final score of 9-29
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3rd August, away, South Benfleet B, 3-4 league points, 41-50 shots
Dull but a no rain evening against the joint bottom club. Thanks to Roy for subbing at the last minute with Jenny going down ill. Winning one rink, drawing a rink and loosing a rink but beaten on the overall score - so no bonus point. Still four matches to go to complete the season and 18 points above the relegation zone.
Roy, Graham and Brian ahead most of the game, helped with a 5 on end 6 and accurate bowling from Graham - a 17-11 win
Mike, Tony and Val , a good start with 7-0 after just 3 ends but only 3 scores after that, a 11-23 defeat
Jean, Mark and Gary in a very close game rarely separated by more than one shot. An intriguing last end with Billericay holding one shot to draw level and the opposition eventually deciding to concede, not bowling the last wood. So a 13 all draw
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21st July, Home, Murrayfield Cup v Rayleigh - lost 44-51 shots overall
When we played Rayleigh in the league we were well beaten so well done team making this a much closer match - possibly only lost due to one bad end.
Steve, Roy and Gary ahead at half way then conceding a 7 and a 4 in successive ends - non-recoverable to lose 12-22
Mike, Tony and Val always ahead winning 12 of the 18 ends - well done - winning 17-12
Graham, Jenny and Norman also just ahead at half way then a run of 6 loosing ends, coming back with a 5 on the 16th, but eventually just loosing 15-17.
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13th July, home v castle Point B, loss 3-4 league points, winning 43-39 shots!
Dull evening, small bit of rain, some team members unavailable, so perhaps a disappointing result. Thanks Rex for a last minute filling in. The rain earlier in the day certainly made the green much slower than the previous week, and our bowlers seem to have more difficulty in getting to the jack or beyond, and became tired. At least we got three points which should keep us well away from the lower part of the division.
Mike, Graham and Val all played well to dominate their opponents 23-5 Well done as this score gave us the bonus point.
Jean, Jenny and Brian comfortably in the lead 10-3 on the 10th end then longer jacks from the much improving opponents and a spate of our short woods , a dropped 5 on the 14th led to an eventual loss 11-15. Very disappointing performance against a team lower than us in the division.
Steve , Roy and Rex always a little behind the opponents, 5-7 at 9 ends and a similar performance in the second half led to a 11-19 loss.
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7th July , home v South Benfleet A , loss 0-7 league points , 38- 68 shots
Playing the top of the table team, with a weakened team led to this unsurprising result. Thanks to Doug McDowall for stepping in as emergency reserve to ensure we had nine bowlers.
Doug, Jenny and Brian only won 5 ends - an 8-23 loss
Mike, Tony and Val made their score respectable with a 6 on end 13, but only won 7 ends to lose 16-24
Jean, Steve and Graham 0-12 down after only 4 ends (including an 8 on end 2) and 5-21 down by the 14th, but won the last four ends for a respectable 14-21 loss.
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3rd July, home, Murrayfield Cup 2nd round, comfortable win 68-34 shots
Dark, windy evening but South Benfleet B overcome without too many scares. Well done team. We now have the problem of fitting in the quarter final.
Steve, Mike and Gary started with 2 fives in the first 5 ends then later scored two more - a big win - 34-11
Tony, Graham and Val on top with low scores to start with - 8-3 up at half way, then a very solid finish to win 19-6
Jean, Mark and Brian with a bad start, 0-9 down after 4 ends and the rink very difficult on the ditch side. A slow recovery aided by a 6 on the 13th made the game close, though we eventually lost 15-17
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23rd June away v Rayleigh - loss, 0-7 league points, 35-54 shots
Lovely evening, green looking great but disappointing to come away with zero points when two rinks were in close contention.
Steve, Jenny and Brian completely outclassed on the turning, ditch rink. 5-22 shots.
Jean, Norman and Gary ahead till half way then loosing the vital shot on the last end whilst 13 all. Loss 13-14
Mike, Graham and Mark always a little behind but getting very close with 7 shots on the last 3 ends - Loss 17- 18
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15th June, away v Castle Point A - won 4-3 league points, 53-61 shots - keeping us top of the 1st Division
Bright, calm, evening but rink scalped, little grass, dry and ridiculously fast. Congratulations to our team sometimes mastering the green with opponents having huge home conditions advantage. We had slightly juggled teams to ensure at least one strong triple but achieved an unexpected win overall - well done indeed..
Tony, Roy and Val always very close , just a couple of shots in it but we proved better in the last quarter and won 22-18
Jean, Mark and Gary down 6-10 after 6 ends, then scored a 5 and moved ahead 20 -14 by the 18th. A scare over the last two ends, and with the opposition needing 5 to draw, they held 4 shots and a measure - the crowd were relieved to see it was only a 4 so a one shot win.
Graham, Jenny and Brian on the awful ditch rink 6 couldn't find the green or weight at all and were 3-18 down at 9 ends. Graham began to get the green, but their skip was excellent and also had good luck. The second half of the match was halved, final result 11-27.
8th June, home v South Benfleet B - won 7-0 league points, 66-33 shots.
Fine, bright calm evening - and an excellent result for the team. Well done all.
Jean, Roy and Graham had a close game, slightly behind in the first half, 7-8 down, levelling on the 12th and 15th then a good finish with scores of 2, 3 and a 1, to win 19-13.
Mike, Jenny and Brian won the first 8 ends (12-0) and only conceded four 1's and one 2 to win comfortably 22-6
Tony Norman and Val scored a 5 on end 5 , kept slightly ahead till the 12th then sprinted to the finish , winning 25-14,
29th May, home v Wickford B, Murrayfield Cup - won 81-30
A comfortable win in the first round of the cup. A bright but cold and windy evening. Thanks Rex for subbing for those unable to play this bank holiday time match.
Steve, Jenny and Brian included an 8 on the 14th end in their 23-6 win conceded on the 16th end.
Mike, Graham and Mark were 10-9 at 11th end but won a 7 and then cruised to win 30-12
Jean, Rex and Gary 22-6 ahead by the 10th end and won by 28-12
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25th May, away v Corringham, won 6-1 league points 59-45 shots - (first four matches 19-9 league points , well done)
Dull but dry evening, the green was as slow, bumpy and variable turning as expected - a frustrating evening trying to play good bowls which sometimes went against the bias. We have achieved 13-1 points in the two matches against this newly promoted side. The after match Corringham jam doughnuts and tea were excellent.
Tony, Norman and Gary cruised along steadily , winning 26-13.
Mike, Graham and Mark were ahead until end 8, then slipped 10-14 behind at 14, recovering to draw on the last - 15 all
Steve, Jenny and Brian started well but dropped a five on end 6, then scored a 7 on end 10. It was 16 all at 15; 17 all at 18 but an amazing shot from Jenny ran away with the jack well behind the head making both the skips jobs almost impossible - winning 18-17.
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18th May, away, Runwell, won 4-3 league points, 46-43 shots
With Brian away playing for Essex against Surrey and Val & Jenny taking the opportunity to practice for their County pairs the next day at Runwell, a changed line up still managed to secure a tight win against Runwell on their dodgy green - one triples each and one drawn.. Well done.
Mike, Graham and Mark ahead most of the match letting the opposition only win 6 ends and helped by a five on end 12 - winning 21-11
Jean, Roy and Gary were always a little behind, conceding a 4 on the 8th and ran out losing 11-18
Jenny, Norman and Val had a very close match, and probably a fair result with 9 ends all and a draw with 14 all shots.
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11th May, Away v Castle Point B - lost 2-5 league points , 45- 49 shots
A dry game despite the threatening clouds. Close match but we just lost out on a strangely, one sided turning green..
Steve, Jenny and Brian level at half way but stuck without scoring for 7 ends while the opponents had some great luck with wild wicks as well as having a lead usually right on the jack. A 12-17 loss
Tony, Norman and Val were always just behind after loosing three 3's in the first 6 ends, but rallied well to only lose 14-19
Jean, Graham and Gary got off to a good start and were 12-5 ahead at half way. This was maintained providing a 19-13 win
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4th May home v Corringham - win 7-0 league points 74-44 shots
Warmish , dry bright evening for our first match - a convincing win over the newly promoted Corringham team
Mike Yates, Graham and skip Mark in a topsy turvey match - 8-1 up after 4 ends, 9-17 down at 13th, 12-19 with two ends to play then scoring 9 on the last two to win 21-19. Amazing and well played - never give in especially if you can be up and then steal the jack.
Steve, Jenny and Brian got a 6 on the third and held a steady lead to win 24-14
Jean, Roy and Gary also a great start and were 11-2 by the 7th end. Scoring continued to win 29-11