Clives July Report

At this stage of the season there are so many bowls matches to be played, ranging from in house competitions to county matches, that it is almost impossible to report on every match.
However, on the 11th July, the men’s section of the club played Sidmouth in the regional final of the Men’s Top Club Team competition. This proved to be a very hard fought game, with good wins in the 4 wood singles and the Triples match. However, the team of four players with four ends to play, were 13-7 down. Any match, and the overall result, can change in a moment, and from somewhere the team consisting of Terry House, Tony Luff, Dave Brown and Ray Luscombe, produced a match winning end of 5 shots, giving the overall win to Ottery by 3 rinks to 2. The team now play an out of area match against a team from The Plymouth area in the quarter finals of this particular competition. We wish them every success.
Not to be outdone, the ladies section, playing in an inter-section County match succeeded. On this occasion Sharon Kenny was part of the highest scoring rink, and Gail Hawke on another rink, picked up a “hotshot”, which is another way of saying that all her teams bowls scored. Not a frequent occurrence! Just before this match, Eileen Burston was awarded her County Badge. Congratulations to Eileen. I have lost count of the number of badged players now playing for the club.
Not all the matches played, result in wins, as was shown when Bovey Tracey visited Strawberry Lane at the weekend, and although Ottery won on two rinks, one team had a really bad day, and thereby Ottery lost by 58 shots to 65. Also, in the men’s senior fours, our team playing a quarter final match, lost on the last end to Paignton, who have gone on to become finalists.
Playing bowls is not all about winning, but the companionship, laughter and sportsmanship shown on the green far surpasses the result. There is almost half a season of matches still to be played, and new players are always welcome to club nights on Fridays at 6.00pm. The quality of coaching that potential players receive is beginning to be seen in the good results that I can report.