LBIOM

After a hard fought week in Guernsey, Clive bowed out of the World Indoor Championships in the knockout playoff match against Spanish Toro Pete Bonsor.

The first set was pretty tight, as you’d expect from a match of such magnitude. It finished 5-5, which on paper seems tense, but how it could have been so different. Firstly Pete only claimed two of the seven ends, and Clive with his last bowl of the set played a weighted shot which picked the jack, but it took a deflection on the way through and went out the side door, only for it to be respotted on the T. Has it gone clean though Clive would have claimed a 4 rather than the single he ended with.

The second set was a certainly back and forth. The jack changed hands each end but the tail of this set was too many loose bowls up front for Clive. After setting the jack he’d go a few feet through then be a few feet short with the next, giving the Spaniard too much room to build the heads. We’ve mentioned it before, you can’t give away big counts in short games. After giving Pete a chance to claim a 3 in the first set, he gave two more away in the second. Clive essentially gave himself too much to do and was forced to play shots he may not normally do as the game came to closing stages. Pete was also not going to let the game slip away. The set ended 9-4.