Dolby is King of Clean Sweep

Post date: Mar 21, 2018 9:27:07 AM

Stamford IBC men and women swept the board winning all eleven Northants Federation finals played at Peterborough on Sunday.

Martyn Dolby was king for the day with a brace of successes in the singles and ended a long day's concentration with mixed triples and mixed pairs titles as well. 70 on St Patrick's Day, he won a title in each of the four sessions, a marathon effort without compare.

The Stamford club had dominated qualification and had all the competitors in six of the events, with the handful of home players providing stiff opposition at times.

If Dolby was king, Elizabeth Wallace was the queen with a double of her own, ousting club mate Joan Robinson 22-20 in the ladies' senior singles in the morning. The more experienced Robinson twice held good leads, but Wallace came back to make it 20-all and then score the vital winning shot. Her fighting spirit was also the hallmark of her four-bowl singles win (21-16) over another club mate Helen Holroyd who held an 11-4 advantage at one time. Wallace came back with key shots when they most mattered, one end going to a lengthy measure in her favour towards the finish.

Holroyd's compensation came when she skipped Katie Bailey and Louise Harris to a 21-20 triumph in the ladies' triples against the more experienced Jan Want, Shirley Suffling and Chris Ford, also from Stamford. It was nail biting all the way, until the youngsters scored a late four to take a two-shot lead into the last end when they dropped a single to a measure.

Helen's mum, Moira, and father John, made it triple success for the family. Moira and Glenys Edwards took the ladies' pairs 19-15 against the home rink of Margaret Linnell and June Harvey, and John led Mick Humphreys and Chris Ballard to an 18-15 victory in the men's triples against Paul Dalliday, James Harford and Simon Law. Ballard was playing instead of Stamford club president Kevin Vinter who was indisposed, while victory made amends for last year when Holroyd won the event but could not play in the national finals that followed because he was on holiday.

Humphreys and Roger Martin had earlier taken the pairs title 20-14 against Stephen Harris and Peter Edwards but Harris had his compensation when he beat Josh Clark 21-3 in the Under-25 singles.

Dolby's long day had started comfortably when he and partner Chris Ford took the mixed pairs (22-6), against Clark and Julie Masters from Peterborough. Next he and Peterborough veteran Joe Martin locked horns in the veteran singles, which provided a feast of impressive drawing and tight heads. Dolby made a good start to go 10-1 up before "losing his way". Martin took full advantage and reached 18-15 down to the delight of an enthralled crowd, before Dolby produced a three for his 21-15 success.

In the mixed triples, Dolby, Adam Warrington and Chris Ford ran into stubborn resistance from Jenny Harvey, Mick Linnell and Carol Hunter (Peterborough). They went into the last end with a three-shot lead, but the home trio cut it to one before Dolby steadied the ship again, to earn a 19-17 success.

His last outing saw him beat club mate Adam Warrington 21-7 in the four-bowl singles. Said Dolby: "I am obviously delighted to come through all four of my matches unscathed, which, I'm sure, is a record for Stamford."

All the winners will now prepare for the national finals at Newark next month.