Friday 24th January
Alex dominated the game last night against Gary R Smith and
that win saw him through to the Quarter final clash with Paul Foster. After the
game the officials relaxed with a game of Bingo in the Atlas Theatre,
unfortunately no winners this time. We then watched the excellent show.
Today was Quarter finals day and I was marking the first
game between Andy Thomson and Robert Paxton. Bryan Daly was the Umpire and Mike
was on the shot clock. It was a great game with a huge variety of shots played
and there were plenty of measures as well. Robert played exceptionally well and
earned a place in the semi-final.
The umpire and marker work very closely during a game and
remain in constant communication with each other. The umpire keeps the
scorecard, determines the jack length and measures any disputed shots. As part
of the scoring duty the umpire maintains a record of the number of time outs
played. This information needs to be relayed to the marker so that when a time
out is called, the number remaining can be relayed to the spectators. Also
important is to confirm with the marker the number of shots required by a
player to win a set, stay in a set or indeed to win a game. When it comes to
measuring, it is usually the marker that wedges the bowls where possible so
that the umpire simply has to walk on do the measure and walk off. However, we
do talk to each other to avoid any confusion over what is required in the
measure. Sometimes we even have a quiet bit of banter as well.
I managed to escape for a couple of hours for a walk and
skipped lunch. It was the only nice day we have had and although it was cold it
was nice to get out for some fresh air.
The afternoon games were an all Scottish affair. The first being
reigning champion taking on Darren Burnett. Darren raised his game to take out
the defending champion and progresses to the semi-final. This match was followed
by the clash of the titans – Paul Foster versus Alex Marshall. It was a high
quality game as expected and went all the way to a tie-break. Paul secured the
win – just!
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| The relaxing atmosphere of the Bowlers Bar |
This evening we have a “Bucks Fizz” reception where players
and officials meet and chat with some of the guests over a glass of the fizzy
stuff (or orange juice for us officials). It is a great opportunity for the
guests to ask those burning questions to share their bowling experiences with
us.
The final game tonight sees local star Mervyn King taking on
Jonathan Ross in the last quarter final of the day.
Tomorrow is semi-finals day. Always tense games as the final
four battle it out for a place in the World Final. Darren Burnett versus Robert Paxton is the first game on followed by the winner of tonight's game up against Paul Foster.
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