Wilkinson Sword 2012
5 August 2012, Kelvingrove
The Wilkinson Sword inter-club doubles competition was planned for Sunday the 15th of July at Alexandra Park, but was actually played three weeks later on one of the newly and beautifully rebuilt bowling greens at Kelvingrove - the first SCA event to be played there after the upgrading work (and, as it turned out, the only one played there in 2012).
As in the previous four years, there were three pairs competing, from the Glasgow, Edinburgh and Meadows Clubs; and as in the previous three years it was the Meadows team of Jamieson Walker and Jola Jurasinska who ended up holding the Sword.
In the morning Edinburgh played Meadows. Jamieson had the first break, using three of the Meadows' nine bisques to get to 4-back. Fergus McInnes then got in for Edinburgh and went to penult, but his partner Allan Hawke made only one hoop (his turn cut short by missing a rush), and Jola played a good all-round break using only three of the remaining bisques to put the pressure on the Edinburgh side. Allan clearly had to play the next shot, and it glanced off penult to miss Jamieson's ball (from which Allan's had been almost wired) on the east boundary; Jamieson finished with one bisque to make it +15 after a little over two hours.
After a short wait for Robert Lay to arrive and complete the Glasgow team, the Glasgow v Meadows game got going. Robert and his partner Richard Sparrow had two bisques, but didn't do much with them, and Jola and Jamieson took the game and the sword with a score of +22.
The victors departed about 3:45pm, and Glasgow and Edinburgh played off for second place. Fergus again got to penult, Allan again didn't make much progress, and the score was +10 to Glasgow.
The new Kelvingrove turf was a pleasure to play on - smooth and even-paced, though not quite perfectly flat, and a good bit faster than the old greens. The pavilion had also been thoroughly refurbished and was looking good. If we can get regular use of these facilities after the Commonwealth Games in 2014 then it should give a big boost to the prospects of both the Glasgow Club and the SCA.
Fergus McInnes
Robert and Richard consider their shot, with their opponents Jamieson and Jola by the sidelines and Allan watching from the pavilion.
The winners with the Sword.