Big Win for Men's 'B' Team
With a resounding 103-46 defeat of Boston B, the bowlers of Stamford B climbed into third place in the Lincs Men’s League (South) with 60 points, though clubs around them have games in hand.
They led 46-20 after ten ends and never relaxed their grip on the match, eventually winning on every rink to claim all 14 points available.
The rink honours eventually went to the quartet of Tony Barwell, Roger Graham, Dennis Henshaw and Dave Heffernan, who picked up steady counts including fours on successive ends to win 34-10.
Darren Middleton won by 14, Ally McNaughton by 12 and Maurice Dye by six, including a seven count on the 13th end and despite dropping five on the last.
Results Lincs League (South): Stamford B 102 (14 pts) Boston B 46 (0).
Stamford names first: H Gordon, H Neath, M Owens, A McNaughton won 23-11; K Rawlins, R Blake, N Crees, M Dye won 23-17; T Barwell, R Graham, D Heffernan won 34-10; P Linnell, M Wallace, D King, D Middleton won 22-8.
The B side’s next match is away to Grantham on Saturday (2pm) while the ‘A’ team host Boston ‘A’ at Stamford (1.10pm start).
Stamford A: B Crouch, A Lonslow, I Reay, B Warters; R Allam, D Ford, D Bruce, M Linnell; W Aspinall, J Little, G Oliver, C Ballard; M Ramsden, J Suffling, J Travis, N Wright.
Stamford Over 60s visit Boston on Thursday (March 10) in the Lincs Seniors League (South).
Tony Barwell reaches Northants Federation Seniors Final
Tony Barwell will play former clubmate Cliff Watson in the final of the Northants Federation Veterans singles final to be played at Stamford IBC on March 20, after beating former champion Martyn Dolby in the semi-final.
He took command early on, racing into a 12-2 lead before being pegged back to 13-9 and then 18-16 when Dolby, opting for longer jack lengths on the outside rink, almost tied the match with a firing shot - only to discover two of his bowls finished more than two metres from counting when the dust had settled.
Barwell trailed the jack for two on the penultimate end and drew shot to clinch an outstanding win by 21-16.
In the men’s singles John Holroyd overcame 13 year old Ollie Jeapes 21-16 after the pair were tied at 14 apiece and will play Mick Humphreys at ‘high noon’ on Friday for a place in the final against Stephen Harris or Ray Keating.
In the pairs, Holroyd and Richard Allam reached the final, defeating Martin Bailey and Kevin Vinter 28-9.
Tony Barwell
John Holroyd
Martyn Dolby will contest the Lincs IBA Senior singles semi-final against Horncastle’s Paul Bark on April 3 at Stamford after qualifying from the play-offs at Grantham on Saturday.
In the first of his 21-end matches he quickly built up a lead against Dave Warren (Louth) and ran out a comfortable 26-9 winner while Stamford clubmate Richard Allam saw off the challenge of county president Martin McGowan (Lincoln) 17-5.
Allam came up against Bark in the the quarter-final but lost 23-13 while Dolby accounted for old rival Paul Flatters (Boston) but not without a fight.
He recalled: “I got off to a good start but dropping a four late on gave Paul some impetus. But I pulled away again and finally won 19-11 with an end to spare.”
DEFEAT FOR SENIORS IN EIBA AREA FINAL
Stamford bowlers’ hopes of reaching the EIBA national finals at Nottingham later this month were dashed when they lost in the Area final of the Over 60s Fours - a competition in which two of them were losing finalists in 2013.
Martyn Dolby and Bob Warters were hoping they could take a step further nine years on but this time, with Tony Barwell and Tony Scarr at lead and No.3 respectively, they were edged out by Irvine Powdrill’s, Charnwood rink 18-15.
Charnwood rode their good fortune in the early stages to lead 11-5 at the halfway stage of the 18-end match and extended it to 17-8 with successive three counts with four ends to play.
A five count on the 16th end either side of singles put Stamford back in the game and just two behind but when the Loughborough team’s No.3 Bob Burton drew shot on the final end it put the result beyond doubt.