Meadows
SCA beat Jersey 9-6 to register their first victory in the series at the sixth time of asking, although two previous matches ended up as draws.
On a very wet weekend in Edinburgh, four out of six rounds were played on Saturday,
and two on Sunday, between two three-person teams, although for SCA Joe Lennon played
Saturday and Allan Hawke Sunday. Three doubles and twelve singles comprised the match,
with the singles avoiding the Player 1 v Player 3 mismatch potential. Dawson balls,
Omega hoops and wet weather made the lawns easy, with balls sliding through hoops,
so the three-hour time limit was tested only once and breached only once.
Round 1 doubles saw David Appleton round early and Bruce Rannie finish a TP in driving
rain, while the singles saw Joe Lennon completing a convincingly quick win too.
Round 2 was almost as quick, Bruce Rannie adapting to the rain better than Sarah Burrow,
while the doubles was fairly clinical. By this time the puddles on the vacant court
of the three at Meadows were beginning to recede. Round 3 after lunch in some
sunshine was all singles, with Bruce Rannie beating a very promising Gavin Carter after
Gavin was round first and clanged five with Bruce yet to start, Sarah seeing off
David Appleton (David's first singles defeat in his new shoes, only his second in
20 advanced and handicap), and Joe beating Elizabeth again.
That was the planned end of Day 1 but it was only 4 o'clock, fine, and Sunday's forecast
was worse than Saturday's. So Round 4 was played, Gavin beating David +25, and
Bruce and Joe managing to lose to Sarah and Elizabeth after a see-saw game, and Joe
failing to approach rover on a four-hoop two-ball finish. Where to put the striker's
ball, with rover and peg playing 2B (Elizabeth) and 4B (Sarah) and about 15 minutes
left? Bruce decided to throw down the gauntlet, at which point Elizabeth picked
it up, and ran from 2B to peg in about 12 minutes. The leave HAD to be Sarah's
ball in corner IV, as in a singles game earlier the short shot from the end of A-baulk
had hilled off ... Naturally, Bruce's short shot, taken with the plan of getting
behind the peg ball, getting them both in the box, and leaving 4B v rover with under
two minutes to go, duly hilled off, and Sarah completed the win in the turn where time
was called. And it was raining again by now! And we were late for dinner!
Sunday was all singles, with SCA needing two of the six. First Bruce Rannie was
round in turn 3, Sarah responded in turn 4, Bruce missed in turn 5 and shortly
afterwards Sarah had the TP completed. Then David beat Elizabeth to bring
SCA within one. But the Allan Hawke / Gavin Carter game delayed lunch for some
time, as Allan was well ahead reaching peg and 4B with Gavin on 1 and 2 before Gavin
hit the lift, got the break together, and went all the way round to peg the opponent
off. Allan ran 4B from the contact, but under-approached penult, and after some
fits and starts and long attempted roquets, Gavin completed the three-ball ending to
keep the match alive.
No Round 6 match was very quick, although Sarah was well
ahead against Bruce, but having trouble with the peelee, so much so that a classic
four-balls-round-rover end-of-turn followed the attempted straight triple, with
Bruce yet to start. After a hiccup or two, and Sarah getting one ball to the
peg, Bruce did get round, and, in similar fashion, found getting the peelee to behave
impossible. However, two peels of the STP were achieved, but the third was
never on, so he decided to have both peg balls off, leaving the two rover balls on
opposite sides of the court. Fairly quickly an impasse wired across rover was
agreed, and the new CA Regulations (officially applicable from 1 July) were invoked
from a remote computer, with a load of deeming, a coin-toss, and a start from baulk,
roquets not to count for five pairs of turns or until a hoop was scored. This
all ended with a clanged hoop on the sixth pair of turns (roquet allowed), and a
hit of the protruding half-ball to give Bruce the +2 win, and SCA the eighth
point. Then Gavin had another three-ball ending, this time 4B v 4B, for another
win over David, and Allan had a long tussle against Elizabeth, getting three ahead
in the turn when time was called, leaving a chance with the lift shot, which this
time Elizabeth could not take, to give the final match score SCA 9 Jersey 6.
We all look forward to the rematch at Les Quennevais in 2009.
Bruce Rannie
Results
(Scottish names first)
Bruce Rannie & David Appleton beat Sarah Burrow & Gavin Carter +26TP (Rannie)
Joe Lennon beat Elizabeth Medway +24
Bruce Rannie beat Sarah Burrow +17
David Appleton & Joe Lennon beat Gavin Carter & Elizabeth Medway +24
Bruce Rannie beat Gavin Carter +13
David Appleton lost to Sarah Burrow -9
Joe Lennon beat Elizabeth Medway +20
Bruce Rannie & Joe Lennon lost to Sarah Burrow & Elizabeth Medway -3
David Appleton lost to Gavin Carter -25
Bruce Rannie lost to Sarah Burrow -17TP
David Appleton beat Elizabeth Medway +21
Allan Hawke lost to Gavin Carter -3
Bruce Rannie beat Sarah Burrow +2
David Appleton lost to Gavin Carter -4
Allan Hawke beat Elizabeth Medway +3T (22-19)
Handicap change: Joe Lennon 11 to 10
