Maldon C Division 3
Fixtures for 2026
May
Tuesday 12th Away v Braintree B -Our first game of the CMBL season saw the team trek across Essex to Braintree. We were greeted with an excellent green and the captain had high hopes for the game.
Steve Nicholls, making his debut in the league, had a really strong game at lead and in fact 'old hand' Moyra playing lead on the other rinks also was impressive. Bobby was playing 3 for the first time supporting Simon, and although she says she didn't like it, played well, making a difference to many ends.
The 'Old Firm' of John B and Trevor were a steady hand for skip Dave B. Dave Sargood playing at No. 2 made up Simon's team and both rinks had close games. Dropping 7 points over two ends made Simon's rink's job a little more testing but we had time (so he thought) but this was when the opposition's No 3 woke up and got over his 'yips' to begin to deliver much more smoothly.
Although we shared the amount of ends won we lost the rink by 6 points.
Dave, Trevor, John and Moyra had a strong start and were never behind. However, it was a rather 'squeaky bum' time over the last 4 ends when Braintree made a dash to the finish line but, thankfully, they came up one shot short.
Final score 31-26 so we only picked up 2 points but being the newly promoted team we were no pushovers.
Tuesday 19th Home v Maldon B Match Report: Maldon C v Maldon B.
Friendships were suspended, pleasantries forgotten for the duration of the match and the game both teams wanted to win the most began.
Sheila fielded a strong looking team on paper and Simon did the same despite some notable absences because of a family holiday, (surely this could have been postponed until after the March date!!)
On one rink The C team was lead by Dave B and ably supported by Helen at lead, John B at 2 and Trevor at 3. Not a great start against Eric, Brian H , Richard W and Len T . The C team eventually caught up on the 11th end but Skip Dave was whinging about Eric’s form although Eric seemed pretty pleased regarding his bowl placement. The last 6 ends saw a very tight game going into the final end with Dave needing 2 to draw and 3 to win. Despite a valiant effort from all 4 ‘C teamers’ only one point could be gained resulting in a 12-13 win for the B team.
The Drama was no less impressive on the rink next door. Sheila at skip led Peter H at 3 John R at 2 and Geoff C at lead. These impressive bowlers shot out the blocks and were 7-1 up after only 4 ends. Simon looked to his fellow bowlers , Richard B at 3 Bobby B at 2 and Chris T lead to hold tough and dig deep. They did not disappoint and over the next 4 ends we were level . A 4 pointer is always satisfying but doubly so to draw level. However, Sheila must have had stern words with her crew as they won the next 6 ends.
Lesser bowlers may have wobbled at this point, but ‘C’ teamers are made of sterner stuff. We held our nerve, blocked out the over confidence from the ‘B’ teamers and posted a 5 to drew within 2 points with 3 ends to go. By this time the spectators were on the edge of their seats and the other rink who had finished and migrated to the bar came out to witness the C team win the final 3 ends winning by 2points T’s and post an overall win by one point.
A very close result showing the depth of talent at MBC.
Handshakes and smiles all around as we went to the bar to celebrate/ commiserate.
The bragging rights sit with the C team , but only until the return match when hostilities will resume.
Tuesday 26th Away v Ingatestone A - the first of two visits this week to Ingatestone for a few of the C team and it proved a difficult evening. The tricky green proved to be quite a test for all players but the home advantage for Ingatestone proved to be crucial. Dave B, Trevor M, Peter P, and Helen P had a rather difficult night having to content with both the varying lines to the Jack and many wicks from the opposing skip. At one point Trevor was seen to throw his hat to the ground in unbelieving exasperation as the head changed from 3 up to 2 down after a double wick in!! The final score on rink 4: let's just say we came second!
Rink 3 had Simon A, David S, Bobby B and Steve N and also found it difficult to find a line in but we didn't have to cope with the wicking machine on rink 4. Dropping 6 points on the first two ends did not bode well. However, winning the next 3 ends to draw level calmed the nerves. We couldn't find any consistency and it wasn't until end 15 that the game was within a point. We did not score another point so we managed to grasp defeat from the jaws of victory!
All in all we have had better nights, going down 26-45 on aggregate and 8-0 in the score book. We will have to reverse that when we play them at home.
June
Tuesday 2nd Home v Stock & Buttsbury B - Dave B, Trevor, Chris T and Helen P had a close but steady 14 ends being all square at 10-10 on the 14th end. However, they produced 3 ends of precision bowls putting 1 points on the scoreboard and going into the final end 10 up. The rink win was sealed despite dropping 1 on the final end to finish 20-11. However, that 9 point lead was looking that it may not be enough to secure the aggregate score as Simon, Richard B, Bobby and Steve N were having a torrid time on the rink next door. After 8 ends we only had the mat twice and only managed to win it another 4 times. However, 4 shots on the the end and a mini recovery from ends 8-10 saw our deficit recued to just 4. We couldn't capitalise on this run, only putting on another 3 shots. Despite this loss (11-20) the final end on Simon's rink was significant as we could capitalise and gain the aggregate score if we held them to a minimum of 1. Their skips lat bowl just made it two while Simon's waited final bowl missed the Jack and their shot wood by the width of a fag paper!. So after 150 minutes and 288 bowls bowled the outcome was all square, 31-31 and 4 points a piece.
Should have gone straight to the bar.
Tuesday 9th Away v Southminster - Full report can be found on the Maldon Bowling Club Facebook page but the final score on rink one was one was 10 shots to Maldon and 22 to Southminster. On rink two it was a different situation with Maldon gaining 21 shots to Southminster's 10. Final score 31 shots to Maldon and 32 for Southminster who received 6 points and Maldon 2. It was a close game played in good spirits.
Tuesday 16th Home v Great Baddow B - Rink 1 saw Simon, Richard B, Bobby and Helen try to come to terms with the vagaries of this rarely used rink. Dropping six shots on the first end didn't bode well. However, Maldon won the next 4 ends but dropping 4 shots on the 6th end took Gt Baddow away from us again. This was the pattern of the game. Maldon winning more ends and catching up but dropping threes and fours to let the opposition pull away each time we were close. Although Maldon won 11 of the 18 ends we lost 13-20.
On rink 2 Dave B, Dave S, Steve N and Moyra were 7-0 up after 3 ends and looking good. They kept this lead until the 17th end when Gt Baddow took a one shot lead into the final end. The 18th end was won by Maldon by one shot resulting in a 15-15 draw. All a bit disappointed with their performance but as we always say "that's bowls".
Thursday 18th KO Shield Preliminary Away v Maldon A - Walkover as Maldon A could not get a team.
Tuesday 23rd Away v Witham A - On a very warm evening Maldon C travelled to Witham to take on their A team. Simon's rink saw a new face playing at No 3 in the guise of Dave B. The usual suspects were at lead (Helen) and 2 (Bobby). Getting off to a good start we were 13-3 shots up by the 8th end and seemed to be cruising. Eight ends then passed before we finally took another shot on the 17th end. Going into the last end the scores stood at 14-16 to Witham. Unfortunately we dropped two shots in the last end going down 14-18.
On the second rink John B was back in the team along with skip Trevor and solid lead Moyra along with Steve Nicholls who stepped up to play 3. They started strongly but unfortunately Witham concluded with the stronger score at the end. Aggregate score being 22-43 to Witham and an 8-0 loss to Maldon.
Tuesday 30th Home v Braintree B - This match represents the start of the second half of the CMBL season. Dave B, Trevor, Helen and Moura were teamed together. Dave had already played in a singles match and marked another before embarking on another 20 ends of bowling (including the roll ups) so he might be excused for being an tad weary. A slow start saw them playing a catch up game until they finally got their noses in front on the 16th end taking a 2 shot lead 14-12. Another 4 shots on the 17th saw them home a reasonably comfortable 18-13 win and securing at least 2 points for the team. Dave wearily trudged to the bar for a well earned pint.
Meanwhile, on rink 5, Simon, Richard B, Steve N and Bobby came out at full sprint and were 9-0 up by the 4th end. However, we have done this before and stalled. We were determined not to let this happen again. All 4 players on rink 5 played well and kept the Braintree 4 at arms length. We were 24-4 going into the 13th end. We did not score until the final end picking up a 3. Final score on rink 5: 27-12. So a comfortable aggregate score of 46-25 taking all much needed 8 points.
July
Thursday 2nd KO Shield 1st Round - the match should have been against Billericay but unfortunately they had forgotten so Maldon had another walkover. Next game Thursday 16th July against Stock and Buttsbury.
Tuesday 7th Away v Maldon B - Once again it was a close fought fight but on this occasion Maldon B won and picked up the full 8 points. A full entertaining report can be found on the Maldon Facebook page.
Tuesday 14th Home v Ingatestone A - Bobby, Helen, Richard and Simon had a good start and shot into an 11-3 lead by end 8. This was followed by a lean spell on the scoreboard allowing the Ingatestone 4 to catch up to within one shot by the 13th end. Over the final 5 ends we scored 6 but Ingatestone scored 7 resulting in a 17-17 draw. Could've, should've, didn't.!
Meanwhile Moyra, Steve and the two Daves had a slower start, however, scoring two 3s' and a 4 over four ends saw the Maldon team bounce into the lead. A close second half of the game came down to the final end where Maldon were two up on the scoreboard but 2 down on the green. A close head tempted skip Dave to try and knock one of theirs out or one of ours in. He delivered with confidence while his team (and next door's rink) watched his bowl head towards its intended target. Breath was held, conversation was silenced as Dave's bowl just clipped an opponent wood to tip it over...towards the Jack! This resulted in a one shot overall win to Ingatestone and despite all our hard work the score went 7-1 in Ingatestone's favour. Harsh.
Thursday 16th - KO Shield- Having progressed through the prelim and first rounds without too much bother (two walkovers) we came up against some big hitters in the form of Stock A team. The away team of Simon, Dave S, Helen and Peter P had an awful start not scoring in the first 5 ends and being 12-0 down. Did we let this get us down, well a bit. The mid section of the game saw us rally and although we couldn't catch up, the score became more respectable. The Stock No 3 and skip kept taking away the good heads Peter and Helen had built, either cutting down their deficit or taking the shot. They were very accurate and annoyingly consistent. At Stock we finished with a 15 shot deficit. Meanwhile back at Maldon , Dave, Trevor, Bobby and Chris were putting up more of a fight being 16-13 up on the 14th end. Still a big ask to make up the away team's deficit but not impossible.
The author does not know what happened, I assume that the Maldon 4 were struck down with a debilitating affliction and this awful dilemma resulted in bowling arm being deemed inactive!
Stock took 8 shots over the final 3 ends ending any hope of a Maldon comeback. But as Dave B always says 'more free time'.
Tuesday 21st Away v Stock & Buttsbury B
Tuesday 28th Home v Southminster
Thursday 30th KO Shield Semi-final
August
Tuesday 4th Away v Great Baddow B
Tuesday 11th Home v Witham A
Saturday 22nd KO Finals
