Ladies’ Veteran’s County Championship
Shrewsbury is still recovering from its invasion by a party of sixteen ladies from the island, there for the Veteran’s County Championship on Tuesday 14 June. Having arrived on the Monday, the team of eight, plus reserve then played on the Tuesday. After the pleasant weather to which we were beginning to get accustomed to on the Isle of Man, Tuesday turned out to be a bit of a shocker.
Sixteen counties played in groups of four on a round -robin basis, the Isle of Man meeting North Midlands first and going down 89-104, before getting the better of Merseyside 104-98. Half way through the second match the rain and thunder came although the lightning passed either side of the bowls complex, allowing the event to continue. The final match against Lancashire, a team containing several of our Festival regulars, who will be here next week, was played in miserable conditions with the green starting to become water-logged, but dogged determination from the Manx girls meant that although they did not win the score of 101-106 shows the closeness of the contest. Congratulations go to all the team for their efforts, especially Anne Oatea and Margaret Tasker who won all three of their matches. Over all the team scored 294 for and had 308 against, and as an extra boost to their confidence the team they beat, Merseyside, went through to the final where they lost to Cheshire (another team with familiar faces we shall be seeing next week).