Another Corner 2 opening - Jenny hits Blue with Black, and takes off to Red in Corner 2.

She puts Red between 1 and 2, and joins up.  Yellow shoots through Red and misses into corner 2.  Jenny gets the break.

A clip on 4-back, but a scrappy B-spread, from which Kevin takes the shot Red at Black.  He centre balls it, and Black's off the boundary.  He rushes Blue to the peg, rolls it to 2, gets no rush, and scoops an approach to Hoop 1.

Red lands almost in the jaws of 2-back.  Not a good result.

Blue shoots down, and Yellow picks it up.  Break for Kevin and a second clip on 4-back.

Jenny hits from the NSL, and gets the all round break.

Jenny's on 4-back and peg vs 4-back and 1.  She's laid the diagonal spread, and Kevin needs a hit.

Dare I say it, but that looks like another slightly flawed diagonal spread.  Beard plays the peg ball from where it lies, but misses Blue and Black.  Jenny now needs three hoops and a peg out.  Looks like the game's in the bag.

Oops.  Jenny turns down the long and nasty cut rush on Red (between Hoop 2 and the east boundary), and joins up.  There is no score.

Kevin's joined in Corner 1, Jenny has made 4-back, and is busy sorting out a rush to Penult.

She's through Penult, and is aggressively disregarding Yellow which sits in A-baulk.  She's rolled up to Rover, but not got it.  She shoots into corner 3, but misses it, landing a yard out of baulk.

Jenny's now on Rover and Peg, Kevin's on 1 and 4-back, with the 4-back ball and the peg ball at either end of A-baulk, and the Peg ball just out of B-baulk.

An embarrassment of riches, and Kevin's taking the shot from B-baulk.

Dear oh dear.  He plays the cut rush in the direction of Black behind Rover, and completely misses.  Red lands mid east boundary.  Jenny shoots Blue at Red down the boundary, and misses.

Kevin joins near Hoop 1 (his hoop).  Jenny misses.  Kevin gets position dead in front, and gets a big rejection.  Red rebounds back to where it started.  Jenny misses the short one, and leaves two balls remotely split on the east boundary.  Kevin makes the first hoop.

Either Jenny finishes this soon, or they'll be playing under floodlights.

Correction - Kevin DIDN'T make the first hoop.  He shuffled around the balls, and Jenny hit.  She's now got a five yard roll to Rover, and she's through.

Game Two

Red (Beard) goes in.  Jenny shoots to Corner 2, and Kevin joins up.  Jenny's taking the short shot at the two balls from the end of A-baulk.

Jenny hit the double and is going round.

Clip on 4-back, and an NSL.  This is deffo the leave of the moment.

Jenny and Kevin break for lunch.

Kevin lifts Yellow from Hoop 2, and shoots down the long boundary.

A big overhit from Jenny, who comes the wrong side of the rushee.  She tries a long, unsuccessful roll-up to Hoop 1, and joins up.  Beard is squeezed at Hoops 1 & 2.

A deafening racket in the clubhouse - one of the lady members has just opened one of those musical birthday cards.  This one seems to be a recording of fingers being scraped down a blackboard.

Jenny's clip is on the peg, and she lays an OSL.  Kevin is playing from position and shooting down into the fourth corner.  This is my blind spot, but it looks like he's hit.

It feels as though Beard has been on the lawn for ages.  It turns out that Jenny's had one intervening shot, as this is Kevin's second break.

He's had a first peel, and the second peel has stuck in Penult.  He's for 4-back, and this looks like a fair chance for a delayed double.

Confirmation from Aaron:

Kevin's first break ended with an NSL.  Jenny lifted the backward ball and had the defensive shot.  Kevin started a break, and accidentally rushed his partner into the jaws of 4-back.

That's left him with a straight double.  The first peel was angled, but went through fine.  So did the Rover ball, but he hit the peelee after the hoop, and had a peg out from the south boundary.  He dribbled Yellow close the peg, but underhit the rush on Black for a combination pegout.

So, Yellow a foot from the peg, and Black just alongside.  Kevin pegs out Red and Black to leave Jenny needing a rush to 4-back from the south boundary.  She misses.

Kevin Beard beats Jenny Clarke +5

Game Three

Corner 2 opening.  Jenny starts, and Kevin hits the double from B-baulk on the fourth turn.

Kevin sticks in Hoop 2.  Jenny misses Black at Blue, and Kevin calls the ref for the hoop shot.

Kevin resumes and is for 3-back.  All four balls in the vicinity.  An NSL perhaps?

No.  It's an OSL.  Red and Yellow are joined in Corner 4, and Jenny's lifted Black to hit the short shot at Red.

Blue is up in the top right quadrant, she has three balls together, and everything's still for Hoop 1 except for the Yellow on 4-back.

Jenny digs out the break, but fails an angled Hoop 2 off Yellow.  I don't think her ball's visible.

A flurry of activity elsewhere, but little progress here.

No clip advancement, as the balls move around various parts of the boundary.

Kevin joins behind Hoop 2, and Jenny's Hoop 1 ball hits from Corner 3.  There's a Black ball down at the first hoop, so this is a major chance.

Oh no.  Jenny leaves Red and Yellow a foot apart at Hoop 2, and sticks in Hoop 1 with Blue.  Red (Kevin's preferred ball) is sort of a bit hampered, so the referee's on again.

Ah.  Looks like it's a lot hampered.  He plays the shot cumbersomely down on his knees, and dribbles onto the Yellow centre ball.  Jenny's presented him with a laid break.

Yellow's through 4-back and Red is coming to Hoop 6 with everything before him.

It's now nice and sunny, with some fluffy and non-threatening clouds.  I'm having a cup of tea, and it's a pleasant, and unhectic, afternoon now that all but two matches have finished.

The birthday party for one of the senior members of the bowling club has finished, and the clubhouse is quiet.  The bulk of the spectators are, I guess, watching the host nation at Bowdon, and only a hardcore group of devotees are here, sitting outside on the benches.  I count 14 humans and a big black dog.

Kevin's for 3-back, and has just rushed Yellow into peeling position at Rover from about nine yards away.  The peel's stuck on the wire, so it'll have to go straight.

He's down on the ground with a very angled Irish peel.  Don's placing lots of markers as he referees the shot.

Clean shot, but Yellow's gone through to the south boundary.  That's why you leave the fourth ball deep behind the hoop, so he'll be making good use of Blue.

Kevin Beard beats Jenny Clarke -17, +5, +25TP