March 19th, Pairs Match

What can you say about a match that does not go your way, even though it was close, except that it’s frustrating thinking about what might have been. The weather for the match was excellent, sunny and not too warm. The spectators numbered around 200, including some of our Castlemaine friends. When the 300 was finished we had lost three very close points through a combination of elevation and wind and had dug ourselves a hole we were going to have to climb out of. We were 12th out of 19 teams. 500 and 600 were much better, we dropped only one point when the wind changed abruptly while we were on aim. We had pulled up to 7th. Lunch was a rushed affair and then into the 900. We needed a good one but things did not go our way. Two very close inners for wind and one poor shot left us with a 71 for the first shooter. We had the wind figured out though and made 75 on the second shooter but were sitting 9th overall going into the 1000. Our 1000 yard score topped the field, a pair of 74s, but too little too late. We climbed up to 5th, 1 v behind the 4th place Scots and 2 points off the podium, 3 points out of 2nd place. We felt afterwards that we could have been a bit crisper in our shooting but it also came down to a few of the shots that were very close but not in for wind and group centering. On another day a couple of those might have been a tiny amount closer to the centre and bit the line. Not to be though. The winning teams shot well. England topped the field with 594.87, a point off the games record but with more v’s. Australia was second with 593.74 and Malaysia 3rd with 592.72. We finished with 590.80. A few photos of the winning pairs are included.
Cheers, Jim.