Match Report
Oxfordshire Mixed Section v Gloucestershire Mixed team at Kidlington on 26 May, 2025
Twenty four hours after a mixed match near Loughborough, the county’s mixed section started another match against local rivals Gloucestershire, who put out a strong team. Only one of the 24 players for the county had played yesterday, resulting in an almost entire team being different than the team bowling before. This shows that the mixed section is enjoying tremendous support within the county for this additional opportunity to represent Oxfordshire.
The Kidlington weather was kind to the players until the last ten minutes of the day before the much needed rain on our greens. As usual, Kidlington B C were great hosts and prepared a good green for the players. The buffet style refreshments after the match was a departure from tradition, but went down well for both sides. Overall, Gloucestershire won the game 77-100, but the sport of bowls was the real winner.
Oxfordshire had two winning rinks and a drawn one, thanks to Cynthia Briant, Sue Markham, Lynda Boyd and skip Nigel Galletly, who we welcome back to county games after a number of years. They won the last seven ends to overcome their opponents 14-12 which was a gritty performance. On rink 5, Gary Panons, Pat Ray, Joy Williams and Chris Beard went one better and took the pens for the day. They also had a strong finish with 5 shots on the last end to secure the contest. We were delighted to see Carol Galletly also supporting the mixed section and she was accompanied by Dave Jones, Veta Bennett and the veteran skip John Benfield. They made 2 shots on the last end to get a mutually unlucky draw 13-13
We also welcomed a full rink from OUP bowls Club to sample the experience of a county mixed game and it was noted they were the first to the bar after the match and the last to leave it. They unfortunately faced a skip that liked to fire out the Oxfordshire shot bowls on many occasions, but resulted in a 11-19 loss for the OUP rink. We hope you will play more games in the future. Mike Morris’s team had a similar result losing by 11-18 on the tricky rink 6, but were always in contention until the last two ends in the game. Mike was assisted by Penny Ford-McNicol, Local member Bob Wright and Elaine Robinson. All played very well, but were against a strong Gloucestershire rink.
Finally, rink 4, consisted of Mavis Hale, Barbara Singh, Brian Ray and skip Wendy Cross and the team struggled in the middle of the game, which allowed the Glos rink to accumulate 15 shots over 5 ends and gain confidence for their eventual win 12-25. It was great to see Wendy Cross again on a county side.
Overall spirits were high after the game and plenty of new friends were made. Gloucestershire are keen to play again next year on the bank holiday Monday and have promised that a club close to our county boundary will host the occasion.