Holder Harris through to county Under 25 semis

Post date: Feb 23, 2020 9:19:46 AM

The cream of Lincolnshire's young bowling talent were in Stamford on Sunday to contest the qualifying rounds of the county's indoor Under 25 championship and served up a tasty series of matches in which four secured their place in the Lincs IBA semi-finals to be held at Spalding on March 28.

Sadly none were from the host club though Stephen Harris, the holder of the title, plays his domestic bowls on the home green while playing competitively at Spalding.

After beating Josh Feetham from Dunholme, the 22-year old came up against Stamford's Jay Travis-Jenner in the quarter-final and the two of them produced some of the day's outstanding shots before Harris won it after a sudden death tie-break.

All square in sets (4-5, 7-5), Harris drew a toucher in the first extra end, after Travis-Jenner, using a new set of bowls, trailed the jack. Then, after ditching the jack on the next when three down, Harris delicately delivered the winning shot to the edge of the ditch to earn his place in the semis.

Elsewhere, Helen Holroyd lost 6-0, 5-5 to Travis-Jenner while Ollie Jeapes (aged 10) and Owen Aspinall (11) both forced extra tie-break ends before losing to more experienced opponents, both of whom eventually qualified.

Aspinall won the first set 5-4 against John Nott (Lincoln) but lost the second 8-1 and the tie break 2-1. Jeapes also won the first 7-5 before Liam Reeson (Boston) edged home 7-5, 2-1.

The other qualifier was former Stamford student Jordan Philpott who beat clubmate Rhys Hill 6-5, 9-2.

Stamford Presidents Ian Hall and Shirley Suffling made the draw for each round of the event and the club were also grateful to umpire Malcolm Smith and a team of volunteer markers.

Results: Preliminary round: H Mycock (Spalding) beat A Berridge (Grantham) 4-7, 7-2, 2-1. First round: A Barnes (Spalding) beat N Dunnington (Boston) 4-10, 7-1, 2-0; J Nott (Lincoln) beat O Aspinall (Stamford) 4-5, 8-1, 2-1; J Feetham (Dunholme) lost to S Harris (Spalding) 2-9, 1-10; J Philpott (Spalding) beat J Cherry (Spalding) 7-8, 8-2, 2-0; Mycock lost to R Hill (Spalding) 3-7, 5-9; O Jeapes (Stamford) lost to L Reeson (Boston) 7-5,5-7, 2-1; T-J Spiller (Spalding) beat M Feetham (Dunholme) 6-3,4-9, 2-1; J Travis-Jenner (Stamford) beat H Holroyd (Stamford) 6-0, 5-5.

Quarter finals: Philpott beat Hill 6-5, 9-2; Nott beat Spiller 6-2, 9-1; Reeson beat Barnes 9-3, 3-8, 2-1; Harris beat Travis-Jenner 4-5, 7-5, 2-1.

TANTALISING DEFEAT FOR MIXED AT LINCOLN

Though 30 points adrift of the league leaders, Stamford's mixed team have a chance to unsettle the Lincs Mixed League championship leaders Louth, when they host them on Saturday (March 1).

The visitors won't be relishing performing on the slick Stamford surface as they try to hold on to their slender lead over Spalding, while Stamford aim to move away from the relegation threat and make up for their 12-shot defeat at Lincoln, from which they could only scramble four points from the 18 at stake.

Christine Ford's team were always struggling for the overall points after Derek King's rink fell 20 shots adrift in just seven ends. To their credit, however, King's quartet fought back gamely to win the remaining ends 15-3 but it kept the match tantalisingly out of reach.

Ford herself, playing with Tony Barwell and Rose and Alec March took the rink honours 26-14, while Janet and Arthur Lonslow, Glenys Edwards and Bob Warters held on to win 16-14 after leading 13-1 at nine ends.

Results (Stamford names only):

Lincs Mixed League Division One: Lincoln 101 (14) Stamford 89 (4). J Lonslow, A Lonslow, G Edwards, B Warters won 16-14; I Reading, P Gray, S Moir, P Bailey lost 13-25; J Suffling, C Warters, S Suffling, D King lost 15-23; V Du'Kett, R Graham, D Mackie, M Wallace lost 19-25; T Barwell, R March, A March, C Ford won 26-14.

LAST GASP BOWL PUTS NORTHANTS 'A' IN FINAL

For the second successive season, Northants Federation has qualified for the final of the English inter-county championship, which they won last year for the third time by defeating Nottinghamshire.

But it took a nail-biting last bowl by Parkway's Brian Martin to clinch the overall points for the Northants 'A' side against Norfolk at the Gallows club in Fakenham.

With the match and the overall result delicately poised and three of the four rinks already completed, Northants held a slender 98-96 lead but with Martin, who had earlier switched with his namesake Roger Martin from No.2 to skip - as Federation rules allow - facing a four-shot game-changing deficit in the head.

But with the coolest of nerves he drew in for second bowl to earn Northants the spoils by just one shot.

His rink, which also include Richard Allam, had earlier held the advantage before former world singles champion Mervyn King switched from skip to lead and began to smother the jack.

Elsewhere, Wayne Aspinall, Martyn Dolby and captain James Harford, struggled early on against Danny Crawthorne's rink, trailing 8-19, until they re-shuffled positions to great effect and ran out 28-20 winners.

Mick Humphreys, Paul Dalliday and Simon Law also hit form in the 25-end, two-bowl triples format with a four-shot defeat of Sam King's trio.

The 10-4 points tally in Northants' favour leaves them in an unassailable lead at the top of the southern section with 60 points from five unbeaten fixtures, well out of reach of Norfolk (40 pts) and Lincs (38) who still have a game to play. Northants B finished bottom of the table with five points.

Northants A will face Durham in the final at neutral Newark IBC in April.

Results (Northants names only)

Derbyshire Trophy: Norfolk 97 (4 pts) Northants A (98). W Aspinall, M Dolby, J Harford won 28-20; M Humphreys, P Dalliday, S Law won 27-23; R Allam, B Martin, R Martin lost 23-25; N Wilkie, T Collins, T Morton lost 20-29.

FEDERATION FINALISTS

Margaret King has reached her first Northants Bowling Federation final, where she will play Stamford clubmate Christine Ford,in the final of the four bowl singles at Peterborough on March 15.

She beat City bowler M Smith 21-18. Ford had earlier beaten Joan Robinson.

Sadly Margaret's husband Derek was less fortunate in the men's four-bowl singles and was allowed just three shots by Martyn Dolby who will now play Paul Bailey, a 21-15 winner over Olly Jeapes.

The other semi is between Richard Allam and Adam Warrington, respective winners over G Dickenson (21-8) and Michael Jeapes (21-14).

In the senior singles, both Dolby and Kevin Vinter received walk overs into the semis.

SETBACK FOR STAMFORD WOMEN

Grantham proved formidable opponents for Stamford in the latest county league match, winning by 41 shots to claim 14 of the 16 points at stake.

Only veteran Peggy Birch and team-mates June Brennan, Maggie Holden and Val Du'Kett came to terms with the Grantham surface to win 17-14.

Results (Stamford names only):

Lincs Trudy Bates League A: Grantham 111 (14 pts) Stamford 70 (2). J Dye, V Shackleton, M Broadbelt, G Edwards lost 10-29; J Brennan, M Holden, V Du''Kett, P Birch won 17-14; J Lonslow, C Gray, C Warters, S Moir lost 9-29; A Sampy, T Handley, D Mackie, R March lost 20-22; M King, M Andrews, S Suffling, C Ford lost 14-17.

AREA FINALISTS

June Brennan, Shirley Suffling and Glenys Edwards have reached the Area final of the English Ladies Over 50 Indoor triples with a 19-17 defeat of Peterborough trio Sheila Craig, Pat Bussey and Liz Hext. They will play Jan Elliott's Charnwood triple in March.