Last Sunday saw the first competition of the new season at Inverleith - the Francis Faber Memorial Pairs. This year I paired with Emma Montgomery. The weather was glorious and although the usual Inverleith breeze kept the temperature down, the sun shone all day. Disappointingly only 9 teams turned out - may have been due to the school holidays I suppose but surely our club of 65 could raise more teams???
I was in charge of organising play. The nine teams were drawn into 3 leagues of 3 in each, the top team from each league would qualify, plus the best second place team, would qualify for the afternoon's main competition, with the non-qualifiers playing in the plate.
We were drawn in an 'all Inverleith' league. We first played John Porter and Allan Murray. Having won the toss we elected to play on my favourite surface, the one on which Ben and I had so much success at the end of last year. It looks pretty tame, but it is hard on the pointers with soft, firm and sloping areas. And so it proved to be, John and Allan struggled to point consistently to be honest. We won 13-10 in the end - our pointing was also not that great, but managed to make it count at critical points. We then played Mari and Christine, who had been fannied by John and Allan in their previous game. Again we won 13-10. We took a pretty commanding lead, 12-4 if I recall, but we struggled to finish the game, and in the end had to rely on a bad end from Mari and Christine.
So we qualified for the main competition having won both games. Into the afternoon, and our first game was against last year's winners, Johnny and Robbie. This was to be our finest hour. We challenged them throughout the game and managed to put quite a lot of pressure on their game. They would have to be on their top form to keep up with us for a change! We won 13-9 and I have to say it was one of the best games of Petanque I have played in a while.
Then, a total melt-down, the highs of the previous game disappeared very quickly indeed. We were put onto a relatively easy piste by Jean & Henry. In the first end we left 6 balls at least one metre short, and lost 4. Second end was no better and therefore we were very much up against it. Our chances of winning the competition were dissipating rapidly. We managed to pull back 6 points but in the end Jean's pointing was just too good.
On to our final game - John and Allan again (as they had qualified as best second place in the morning). We won the toss and didn't hesitate to go back to our favourite piste. And what a game we played, winning 13-1. A carreau with the last ball of the game scored us 4 points and put us within a good chance of winning the comp. All we needed Jean & Henry to do was score 4 points against Johnny and Robbie. Sadly, however, they could only manage 2 and so we finished second.
So, nearly a great day, but at least the signs are that this could be a good season for me. I was very pleased with my shot selections and the shooting was pretty good throughout the day. Another 2nd place trophy for the mantlepiece!
So, on to Perth next Sunday. I'm playing with Derek this time, who will be my regular partner for pairs this year. And here's hoping the improvement continues!
Thanks for reading!
