Henshaw leads Men's B team to Third Division title

Post date: Mar 16, 2015 2:33:06 PM

STAMFORD IBC president Dennis Henshaw captained the club's Men's B team to the Lincolnshire Third Division title at Spalding B at the weekend, also skipping his rink of Dick Ford, Wally Kettle and Charlie Underwood to a match-winning 20-13 victory, writes Bob Warters.

With one match to play at Louth, Stamford can't now be caught by their nearest rivals following their 99-90 win in which they claimed 15 of the 18 points available.

There were also a wins for Martin Hewitt's and John Geary's rinks while Mick Owens earned a vital point with a 17-17 draw.

Results (Stamford names only)

Lincs League Division Three: Spalding B 90 (32pts), Stamford B 99 (15). D Howarth, R Graham, C Ballard, J Geary won 20-19; D Ford, W Kettle, C Underwood, D Henshaw won 20-13; A Lonslow, T freeman, N graham, M Owens drew 17-17; P Rhodes, D Veasey, P Banks, A Horton lost 15-20; T Barwell, D Bruce, K Vinter, M Hewitt won 27-21.

On Sunday (2pm) Stamford's Men's A team entertain Louth A and seek maximum points to stave off the threat of relegation from the First Division of the highly competitive Lincs League. Captain Adam Warrington has had to re-shuffle his side with new combinations but is confident the Denny Plate quarter-finalists have enough in hand to maintain their status in the county's premier league.

With a win at home to Long Sutton, Stamford's Over 60s team kept hopes alive of promotion from the Second Division of the county league, but after letting points slip in previous matches, hopes are dwindling with rivals Lincoln C - three games in hand - anticipating three home wins.

Alan Romaine led the Stamford rout skipping David Howarth, Gerry Corby and Terry Weaver to a 29-10 win, while Wally Kettle, Tony Freeman, Peter Cox and Kevin Vinter added a 10-shot win to the overall 106-88 success, earning 14 points.

Results

Lincs Over 60s League Division Two: Stamford 106 (14), Long Sutton 88 (4). A Lonslow, R Graham, P Banks, A Horton lost 17-20; D Howarth, G Corby, T Weaver, A Romaine won 29-10;W Kettle, T Freeman, P Cox, K Vinter won 23-13; ,T Barwell, D Bruce, M Owens, J Geary lost 17-29;A Chapman, D Veasey, D Heffernan, D Henshaw won 20-16.

Stephen Harris and Bob Warters reached the last eight of the Lincs IBA county 4-bowl singles at Lincoln IBC on Saturday but missed the chance to compete in the semi-finals at Horncastle on March 29.

Harris - not 18 until May - beat Lincoln's Keith Bell 21-10 and received a bye in the second round before coming up against Danny Brown, looking for revenge after a previous defeat in the national pairs. The home club's manager showed no mercy in running out a 21-3 winner on his favourite Rink 2.

Warters relished the chance to take on England international Martin Spencer (Spalding) and quickly got into his rhythm to lead 9-1 and held four shots for a bigger lead until Spencer rolled in a saver. However, Warters stretch his lead to 20-8 before Spencer hit back with counts of 1,4,4 to trail 17-20. But despite being three down on the next end, Warters held his nerve to draw the vital shot he needed for a 21-17 win.

He also claimed the scalp of Boston's Adrian Field with a 21-10 win to reach the last eight but at the end of a tiring day couldn't hold Horncastle's Paul Bark who ran out a worthy 21-13 winner.

Always loyal supporters of the county singles, Stamford had four other representatives but Keith Rippin lost to Rhys Hill (Spalding) 21-8, Alan Romaine went down 16-21 to Russell Dent (Horncastle), Dave Hudson lost to Tony Gilroy (Lincoln) 21-13 and John Holroyd went out 21-15 to Sleaford's Trevor Bannister.

Stamford's Over 60s bowlers offered hearty congratulations to their long time rivals 'Mace' Andrews, Derek Johnson, Mike Smith and George Draper from Lincoln who added the British Isles championship at Stanley IBC to their national over 60s rinks title.

Elsewhere Northants Federation, including several Stamford players, were unable to book a place in the Derbyshire Trophy final at Newark next month when Lincolnshire (whom they had beaten earlier in the season) beat Norfolk 82-80.

Margaret Bloxham's Lincs County Mixed League team from Stamford failed in their bid to retain First Division status when they were beaten by 20 shots at Scunthorpe.

Though they claimed the four points they needed to tie Lincoln, their inferior shots difference after a 100-80 defeat means they will return to the Second Division next season.

Friendly Captain Denis Stapleton Reports:

After beating Huntingdon on our home patch a couple of weeks ago, our Friendly team travelled down the A1 with their heads held high for the return match and confident of securing their first double of the season. But the wheels came off yet again at the halfway stage. We were leading on three out of the six rinks after nine ends, then we slithered down the slippery slope to a 118 - 63 defeat.

Our only consolation was our one winning rink of Denis Stapleton, Pam Barton and Nick Carr. The only other rink that came close was that skipped by Stuart Shackleton which fought back from being 15 - 2 down at the halfway point to lose by only four shots.

Rink scores ( Stamford names only ) Rosemary Roberts, Vanessa Shackleton, Stuart Shackleton lost 17 - 21; Arthur Chapman, Kevin Toner, Melvin DeCamp lost 10 - 22; James Hebden, Serena Brunning, Mark Hebden lost 11 - 17; Janet Dye, Margaret Grainger, Maurice Dye lost 9 - 32; Diane Lunn, Maggie Holden, Colin Lunn lost 11 - 31; Denis Stapleton, Pam Barton, Nick Carr won 16 - 12.