[<<] [>>] by John Wilkinson
24th September 2002 (AC - Secretary's Shield)

Bowdon Firs won a tense final against East Dorset at Cheltenham by virtue of sheer determination in what seemed to be a near impossible situation at one stage.

In the morning John Wilkinson and Sylvia Steer got off to a good start with Sylvia getting to penult after good use of bisques in two breaks. Then Terry Wood hit-in and proceeded to play a faultless break, going to peg whilst double peeling Sylvia and pegging her out. This left John with his clip on hoop 5 and a solitary bisque after an hour and a quarter's play. After a long period of cat and mouse he ran penult but failed to roquet a ball near at rover to lose by 2 with just a few minutes left for play.

Meanwhile Frank Moir was in his dominating mood and won by +24 but Lorna Frost was unable to break down the wily and in-form Roy Edwards to lose by just 6 after a very good final break to 4 back.

Lunchtime score Bowdon Firs 1 East Dorset 2.

Halfway through the afternoon everything seemed to be falling apart for Bowdon. Frank was 11 hoops down, Sylvia had both her clips on hoop 6 but only a half-bisque left and Terry Wood already had one clip on rover. John was level with Roy but had no bisques left and Lorna was the only one in a promising position.

Gradually, the atmosphere became electric . Frank was pulling back, Lorna was moving ahead steadily and John was still level with Roy. Most vital of all was Sylvia gradually moving her clips round and keeping Terry at bay. Lorna pegged out, Frank pulled in front, Sylvia got both clips to rover and John was still level with Roy.
When time was called Frank won by +8, John slipped back to lose by 2 and without doubt the performance of the day was Sylvia hanging on to win by +6.

Roy Edwards claimed that he would have thrown his game if there were a risk of Bowdon Firs losing but nobody was listening. At least he had the satisfaction of knowing that he was the only East Dorset player to win a singles game against his erstwhile colleagues.

Results

John Wilkinson (6) and Sylvia Steer (9) lost to Terry Wood (2 1/2) and Bob Sharman (7) +2
Lorna Frost (9) lost to Roy (Traitor) Edwards (2) +6
Frank Moir (11) beat John Crowe (5) +24
John Wilkinson (6) lost to Roy (Traitor) Edwards (2) +2 on time
Sylvia Steer (9) beat Terry Wood (2 1/2) +6 on time
Lorna Frost (9) beat John Crowe (5) +19
Frank Moir (11) beat Bob Sharman (7) +8 on time