Edinburgh Tournament 2018 - Day 2
Day 2 started cool and cloudy with a stiff breeze, improved in the afternoon with some sunshine and then a heavy shower about 5.30. So at least three seasons in one day. On the menu were matches from Events 1, 3 and 4.
Jane Morrison continued her winning streak against Graham Brightwell in Event 1 but then fell to John-Paul Moberly in a close match where she pegged out one of J-P’s balls but then missed rover with her own second ball, letting J-P back in with a lift to finish +3. In another close evening match Jane beat Alan Wilson 25-23. Of course, Jane was on the Buckfast or rather the Buckfast was on her - she’d swapped the Ireland shirt for one with the discreet logo ‘Buckfast Abbey’.
John-Paul had had another very close match in the morning against Roger Adamson. J-P appeared to be well ahead and heading for victory when the match stalled in a defensive stonewalling by Roger until J-P was able to break free and finish off with 19 points as time was called. Roger had 13 points as he took up the final turn and carefully made his way through seven hoops, just reaching 20 points at 4-back before he missed a roquet which he thought had left the match drawn but in fact he had won +1. John-Paul finished the day in fine style with a +20 win over Howard Bowron. One facet of J-P’s game which particularly impressed was what snooker commentators would call his ‘cue action’, in this case his mallet action - a free-flowing swing from the shoulders which sent the ball hard and usually accurately to its target.
In Event 3 George Plant, Hamish Duguid, Kevin Wright, Roger Binks and Joe Lennon all recorded victories, George, Kevin and Hamish getting their handicaps down to 9, 12 and 11 respectively in the process. In Event 4 Kathy Brown, James Thomson, Rob Harvey and Halcyon Byers all had wins. Sorry not to report in more detail on these games but one pair of eyes can only be in one place at a time.
It’s noticeable that quite a few matches, even among the lower handicapped players, are going to time. Perhaps this is partly due to the variable lawn conditions, not just from one lawn to another but on individual lawns, with barer patches and grassier patches. This makes judging pace difficult. However, it’s not due to lack of maintenance but to the unusual weather conditions this year - cold, wet spring followed (late) by hot, dry summer.
Another thing I’ve noticed is that post-match analysis can sometimes seem to go on as long as the match itself. Comment after one particular discussion, admittedly of a close and tense match: “When I had sex I just wanted to sleep afterwards, not analyse my bleedin’ performance.”
A manager’s work is never done, especially when the unexpected happens. Last year it was plumbers arriving to fix the water problem in the pavilion (there was none). Today it was two builders’ or perhaps gardeners’ lorries which turned up at lunchtime but we never did find out why. And then there was the sudden panic as the manager was reminded that today was a bowls day and lawn 3 had to be vacated - and then the bowlers didn’t arrive.
Allan Hawke