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Wrest Park

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Beds & Herts League 2014

v Enfield (home)     4 September     Lost 2-4

Bryan Harral (½) and Peter Aspinall (16) beat Ken Pickett (3) and Tony Elliott (9) +1T

David Woolley (8) and Richard Keighley (20) beat John Sreet (11) and David Minihane (20) +15T

Bryan Harral lost to Ken Pickett -1

David Woolley lost to Tony Elliott -23

Peter Aspinall lost to John Street -15

Richard Keighley lost to David Minihane -2T

A match of two halves: after winning both the doubles matches hopes were high but Enfield came back strongly with wins by John and Tony. Bryan went for a pegout  when Ken was on 5 and penult, but the forward ball missed and he pegged out the other. Ken had an easy roquet on Bryan’s ball to get started and eventually pegged out after Bryan failed to hit in. Richard was unable to get the better of David to salvage the draw. This defeat left us fourth in the final table, just behind Enfield, with St Albans and Melgrave tied for first place.

v Watford (home)     22 July     Won 4-2

Bryan Harral (1) and Peter Aspinall (18) beat John Smallbone (3) and Quiller Barrett (9) +8T

David Woolley (9) and Cliff Hayes (18) lost to Geoff Johnson (4) and Nick Archer (12) -7T

Bryan Harral beat John Smallbone +12

David Woolley beat Geoff Johnson +7T

Cliff Hayes beat Quiller Barrett +8T

Peter Aspinall lost to Nick Archer -8T

v Northampton (away)     8 July     Won 4-2

Bryan Harral (1) and Richard Keighley (20) beat Peter Stansfield (3) and Jane Evans (16) +8T

David Woolley (9) and Cliff Hayes (18) beat Norman Hicks (3.5) and Richard Cain (10) +1T

Bryan Harral lost to Peter Stansfield -2T

David Woolley beat Norman Hicks +22

Cliff Hayes lost to Richard Cain -6T

Richard Keighley beat Jane Evans +12T

Report by Bryan Harral

Our second win this season, and on the sloping lawns at Northampton. This was Richard’s first time in the team and despite some early calamities in the doubles with Bryan he was soon making three hoops in a break. David and Cliff had a very close and interactive game, both sides blaming the slopes. Fortunately, time was called when David and Cliff were one point ahead and so Wrest Park were two games ahead at lunch.

After lunch, David made short work of Norman Hicks, so we were then three up. Bryan was in danger of being savagely beaten by Peter Stansfield who was for rover and rover while he was on 1 and 2 with twenty-five minutes to go. A couple of mistakes by Peter and Bryan managed to turn a humiliation into a narrow defeat. Score 3-1. Cliff went down to Richard Cain after a titanic struggle, so the score was now 3-2. Richard, our new discovery, armed only with a fist full of bisques and his trusty mallet, calmly took on Jane Evans and won! Wrest Park is now half way up the League table!

v St Albans (away)     26 June     Won 3-1

Bryan Harral (1) and Cliff Hayes (18) beat Terry Mahoney (1) and Heather Bennet (11) +5T

David Woolley (9) beat Chris Frost (5) +6T

Bryan Harral and David Woolley lost to Terry Mahoney and Chris Frost -5T

Cliff Hayes beat Heather Bennet +5T

Report by Bryan Harral

Hold the front page – Wrest Park have won a match! But it’s a shock to discover this is our first win since 2011 – we’ve had many draws but no wins. Everyone found the single lawn at St Albans difficult to master, tight hoops, and hills and hollows where you least expected them, so all games were extremely interactive and all went to time. In the morning Bryan and Cliff (doubles) and David (singles) won, not by devastating skill but by making slightly fewer mistakes than their opponents, so 2-0 at lunch.

In the afternoon’s doubles Bryan completely lost it and had to be helped around by David, while Chris Frost (St Albans) found it and St Albans won. Cliff, on the other hand, continued his morning’s form to beat Heather in the singles by +5T. St Albans are top of the table so this was a particularly gratifying result.

v Melgrave (home)     1 June     Lost 1-5

Bryan Harral (1) and Peter Aspinall (18) lost to Robert Skeen (7) and Peter Whiting (8) -13

John Bevington (1) and Geoff Strutt (9) lost to Duncan Hector (-½) and Keith Holgate (14) -5T

Bryan Harral beat Robert Skeen +11

John Bevington lost to Duncan Hector -13

Geoff Strutt lost to Peter Whiting -4T

Peter Aspinall lost to Keith Holgate -13

As all our matches were played away last season this was the first B&H match on the new lawns, and Bryan had to consult his table to work out the bisques for the doubles under the new rule. Both of these games were lost; John and Geoff succumbing to a late flurry by Duncan after the contours round 2-back caused problems for those who reached it. Bryan made up some ground with a win in the singles, but John was unable to progress after being peeled through the last two hoops and eventually pegged out, and Melgrave won the other singles to run out easy winners. But the sun shone, and, best of all, Duncan was complimentary about the state of the lawns.

v Letchworth (away)     5 April     Lost 2-4

Bryan Harral (1) and David Morris (18) lost to Jeremy Scott (3.5) and John Hall (6) -3

Tim Brewer (3) and David Woolley (8) beat Keith Rhodes (3.5) and David Mathews (10) +1T

Bryan Harral beat Jeremy Scott +9

Tim Brewer lost to Keith Rhodes -8

David Woolley lost to John Hall -4

David Morris lost to David Mathews -18

Report by Bryan Harral

It’s the first match of the season. Imagine the scene, we are playing on the immaculate Letchworth lawns and Bryan and David M are pitted against Jeremy Scott and John Hall. Jeremy goes to penult. Bryan hits in, goes around, does the two peels on the way and pegs out Jeremy’s ball. Fast-forward to the end. David M and John Hall are both for rover. David has the innings, he is in front of rover with all the balls nearby ready for the peg-out. It’s going to be a well-earned victory, except for one tiny detail – David blobs rover and John Hall finishes off! Oh well, it’s only a game. In the other doubles game (Tim and David W) the scores are level when time is called. David W scores the golden hoop and the match is poised 1-1 at lunch.

In the afternoon it’s more Dunkirk evacuation than Normandy landing, Wrest Park all but go to pieces. Bryan is the only one to win a game, and what might have been a 3-3 draw is something else.