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Bowls: Leeds are left to pay the price for their kindness
Ian Howard.
Two games, a minus 77-shot difference and the reality of starting this weekend’s match a mere 33 points off the promotion race. Those are the statistics that the bowlers of Leeds face up to in the latest round of the Yorkshire County Indoor League.
Leeds are struggling at the foot of the table, in the last of seven places in Division Two.
You can be sure that is not how the captain, selectors and members of the club expected to start the season – but then, it is as if the campaign has not really started for the side; at least in terms of the county league.
At first there was the cancelled game with Ryedale – with the North Yorkshire club unable to field a side.
Sometimes you applaud sides when they uphold the spirit of the game, agreeing, as Leeds did, to re-arrange at a time when a full Ryedale team could be found.
At other times, on such small margins, promotions can be decided. Do we play for fun or to win? That is the age-old sporting question.
Disappointing
Ryedale and Leeds finally got round to squaring up for their re-arranged game last weekend. Where Leeds could have possibly picked up 18 points for a forfeited game at the start of the season, they ended up going down 14-4 – a result that disappointed in more ways than one.
Having lost to Hornsea in December, which is as polite a way as possible to refer to an 18-0 defeat – especially in a fixture a previous incarnation of Leeds might have fancied their chances in – Leeds simply couldn’t afford to drop too many points in this, their “spare” fixture.
Ryedale had already lost two games on the bounce as they approached this fixture, 16-2 to North Cave and 17-1 to Redcar.
so it was hard, then, to see how the North Yorkshire side could have seen such a reversal of fortunes against Leeds, unless – and this is the worry – that the gulf in class between the likes of Ryedale and Leeds and the top three of Hornsea, Harrogate and North Cave is simply too great to overcome this season.
Leeds came close to challenging for the full six points at home as Ian Howard skippered his rink to an 18-12 victory, whilst David Harrison agonisingly lost by just one shot, 17-18.
Howard’s win proved the only victory on the day, as the two away rinks – skipped by Elliott and Hirst – were unable to break the travelling duck.
So what now for our bowlers? What, if any, are the realistic prospects for the rest of the season?
Well, they are in, if you can be when form is being questioned, the perfect position to test themselves against one of the early-season front- runners.
They face Harrogate, in second place this Saturday.
As with the rest of the top three, Harrogate have dropped points, so there is the opportunity for a spirited performance to make a mockery of the respective league positions.
A pointer towards hope is the fact that Harrogate went down to Doncaster, who themselves lost 17-1 to Hornsea.
There’s always the perceived view – the historical view – that Harrogate won’t be at the top come the end of the season. If they are to succumb to another defeat, then why should it not be in their next game against Leeds?
Hornsea could all but cement their spot in the promotion race as they face Ryedale on Saturday. The other game pits Redcar against Doncaster.
It’s hard to pick a winner in that game, given one has beaten Harrogate, whilst the other was comprehensively beaten by the same club.
Maybe this is the season where the strength, or lack thereof, in Division Two, means that no club will run away with the title. So there, as negative as it may seem, is the hope that Leeds might need.
If anyone is looking for a similar, surprising pattern in Division One then they are out of luck.
Inevitably, it is the York/Featherstone show – with York registering back-to-back 18-0 wins, whilst Featherstone have dropped just two points.
The big clash is not until the last game of the season. York and Featherstone have both had their bye weekends, so by that time – the points accumulating effort will continue apace until one club blinks – handing the title to the other.
Scarborough are third, but should be passed by Selby in this round of fixtures.
But Selby’s 18-0 defeat to York could keep them out of the end-of-season play-off if Scarborough do enough to maintain a consistent points total.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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