It is always an exciting time at Cricket Field Lane when the Budleigh bowlers kick off their outdoor internal competitions and last weekend saw three days of intensive bowling as the players successfully dodged the weather to complete the programme of matches.
In the Mens’ four wood championship, the match of the weekend was between Andy Skudder and Norman Upchurch. With Andy having the best of the play in the first half of the match and taking a 14-6 lead, it was Norman who responded strongly, taking twelve straight shots to turn the game on its head and lead 18-14.
Finding himself only three shots from defeat, Andy incredibly took six shots to Norman’s two to tie the match 20-20, and in a nail-biting last end, held his nerve to win 21-20. What a match and congratulations to both players.
In other matches in the Mens’ championship, Peter Cooper played well and progressed with a 21-15 win over Paul Griffin, whilst Ralph Cartwright fought off a comeback from Graham Rant to win 21-14. Bryan Membery had difficulty shaking off a determined Bob Gooch but kept ahead throughout to win 21-16.
In the Ladies four Wood championship, run on a round-robin basis this year, Marilyn Foreman hit top form, showing great accuracy to dominate her match against Penny Weeks 21-5. In the only other championship match, Mo Bond played well and fought off a comeback from Gwen Hurst to win 23-15.
The Mens’ two wood competition saw wins for Peter Foreman 19-12 against Mike Clark
and David Roberts 14-11 against David Tomlinson and in the same discipline Penny Weeks got off the mark with a convincing win over Annie Clarke 17-9 but it was Annie who had a fine win against Mo Bond 14-12.
Gwen Hurst was in good form against Margaret Avery, taking the match 22-13 and it was Gwen again who overcame Hilary Medley 15-10.
The Ladies 106 round-robin competition saw good wins for Melissa Camp and Margaret Avery and in the Mens’ Novice Cup, Peter Evans, back playing outdoor bowls this season, held on and finished strong to just beat Gordon Marshall 21-18.
Robin Grenyer, making his competition debut in the Novice Cup had two great matches, just losing out to Andy Skudder and Mike Clark.
In the only Mixed Pairs match, Melissa Camp and Peter Cooper combined well to win through 22-6 against Diana Chance and Peter Foreman.
In Club matches, the men visited Sidmouth and lost out 63-74, our only winning rink being that of Tony Barnes, Graham Rant and skip Andy Cardy.
In a home match against Honiton, Budleigh registered a well-earned 56-44 win with Gwen Hurst, Gordon Marshall and Mo Bond being the pick of the rinks, winning 22-12.
Derek Stanley, Annie Clarke and Brian Goddard held on to win 18-16 and Ann Vincent, Andy Skudder and Bryan Membery drew 16-16. This was followed by a home win against Starcross with winning rinks for Ann Vincent, Tony Mackness and Andy Cardy 17-10, and Paul Griffin, Andy Skudder and Mo Bond 19-12.