Canada v Scotland 2012
20-22 August 2012, Toronto
The match between Canada and Scotland, scheduled to be triennial from 2006 onwards, was postponed in 2009 when Scotland failed to raise a team, but in 2012 the call for players had more success, and four Scottish players converged in Toronto in August to make another attempt on the Maple Shield, which Canada had retained in Edinburgh in 2006. They didn't succeed, but they did manage to make it reasonably close, with a final score of 18 games to 12 in Canada's favour.
The teams were:
Canada:
Brian Cumming (handicap -1.5, dynamic grade 2296)
Paul Emmett (1, 1816)
Peter Westaway (2, 1676)
Jane Beharriell (3, 1532)
Scotland:
Martin Murray (-1, 2055)
Campbell Morrison (-1, 2029)
Bill Spaldng (1.5, 1773)
Fergus McInnes (2.5, 1615)
As in 2004, Bill's and Fergus's mallets were travelling together - though this time in Fergus's guitar case rather than Bill's gun case. And as in 2004 the airlines managed to lose the case on the way to Canada. It didn't arrive until the last day of the match, and so both played with borrowed mallets throughout. (To be precise, it was only the shaft of Bill's mallet that was missing, but the detachable head which he'd brought separately wasn't much use on its own.)
The North Toronto Lawn Bowling and Croquet Club - celebrating its centenary this year - provided two excellent lawns and a more than adequate clubhouse, tucked away in a little valley where all was quiet save for the whack of rackets and balls and the calls of players and coaches from the adjoining tennis courts. And the weather was warm, dry and sunny, in marked contrast to much of the summer back in the UK. Most of the games were played with Dawson balls, but one set of Sunshiny alternate colours (with a very red-looking pink) was pressed into service for some singles games because the second set of Dawson alternates, which Fergus had brought from Edinburgh, was still in transit in the misplaced guitar case.
Each day's programme consisted of one round of doubles and two rounds of singles, with the doubles games exercising the three possible ways of pairing the players within each team. In the singles, the top and bottom players didn't meet, but all the other possible matchings of opponents occurred at least once. Time limits were three hours for doubles and (subject to possible correction of the reporter's uncertain memory at the time of writing, seven months later!) two and a half hours for singles.
The Canadians took an initial lead by winning both the first morning's doubles games, though in each case only by one point on time. (Brian, playing with Jane against Martin and Fergus, attempted a straight TPO on Martin's ball and got two peels; Martin eventually pegged out Brian, but Jane hit a lift shot to thwart the Scottish pair's ambitions as time ran short.) Monday's singles went according to handicap except that Peter beat Bill, and the score at the end of the day was 6-4 to Canada.
Tuesday saw the Scots' first doubles win, achieved by Martin and Bill against Brian and Peter. The singles (with different pairings of opponents from Monday's) again had one upset in Canada's favour, in which Jane beat Fergus. The overall outcome was another 6-4 score for the day, and 12-8 to Canada for the match so far.
So the Scots went into Wednesday needing seven wins from 10 games to level the match. The doubles were split again, with Martin and Campbell getting a +2 win when Martin finished with the single ball in a three-ball ending, and so the match score was now 13-9. The next round went 3-1 to Canada, with an upset win by Jane over Bill, and so the match was won and lost before the final round began. The remaining games were split 2-all, making it 18-12 to Canada overall.
Thanks are due to all the Canadian players and helpers who provided accommodation and catering - the latter including a courtside barbecue on the Tuesday evening. We hope to have a chance to reciprocate in Scotland in 2015. Thanks also to Jane for coordinating the arrangements, and for her daily email reports, which helped to jog my memory when writing this.
Fergus McInnes
Results
Day 1, Monday 20 August:
Cumming & Beharriell beat Murray & McInnes +1T (20-19)
Emmett & Westaway beat Morrison & Spalding +1T (18-17)
Brian Cumming beat Bill Spalding +26tp
Paul Emmett beat Fergus McInnes +11
Peter Westaway lost to Martin Murray -26
Jane Beharriell lost to Campbell Morrison -22
Brian Cumming beat Martin Murray +16
Paul Emmett lost to Campbell Morrison -15
Peter Westaway beat Bill Spalding +10T (17-7)
Jane Beharriell lost to Fergus McInnes -3T (22-25)
Day 2, Tuesday 21 August:
Cumming & Westaway lost to Murray & Spalding -6T (16-22)
Emmett & Beharriell beat Morrison & McInnes +8T (24-16)
Brian Cumming beat Campbell Morrison +10
Paul Emmett lost to Martin Murray +3T (21-18)
Peter Westaway beat Fergus McInnes +11T (20-9)
Jane Beharriell lost to Bill Spalding -4T (16-20)
Brian Cumming beat Martin Murray +26tp
Paul Emmett beat Bill Spalding +26
Peter Westaway lost to Campbell Morrison -4T (19-23)
Jane Beharriell beat Fergus McInnes +11
Day 3, Wednesday 22 August:
Cumming & Emmett lost to Murray & Morrison -2
Westaway & Beharriell beat Spalding & McInnes +10T (20-10)
Brian Cumming beat Campbell Morrison +24
Paul Emmett lost to Martin Murray -26
Peter Westaway beat Fergus McInnes +1T (15-14)
Jane Beharriell beat Bill Spalding +10T (20-10)
Brian Cumming beat Martin Murray +22
Paul Emmett lost to Campbell Morrison -4
Peter Westaway beat Bill Spalding +1T (17-16)
Jane Beharriell lost to Fergus McInnes -5T (17-22)