2021 Christmas Tournament Result
2021 Christmas Tournament Winners (from left to right) were Owen Aspinall, Chris Ballard, Mick Humphries & Stephen Harris.
More than 70 bowlers took advantage of the government’s stance to not upgrade Covid restrictions over Christmas in England, to compete in Stamford Indoor Club’s annual tournament.
However, bowlers and spectators respected Covid rules by wearing face coverings when moving around the club, removing them only when playing on the green, which saw high quality bowling by 18 teams over four, seven-end, sessions.
And after nearly nine hours of competition, it went down to the last end of the final session to determine the winners challenging for the top prizes, sponsored by the club.
Against Roger Clark’s quartet and trailing 4-5 with just two ends to play, the pre-tournament favourites -Mick Humphreys, 13-year-old Owen Aspinall, Chris Ballard and new England international Stephen Harris - needed to win the last two ends to overtake Henry Gordon’s rink who had already totalled 25 points from the other ten-team section.
Harris drew in to make it two shots on the penultimate end and then saw his opposing skip Neil Crees just fail to convert the head in his favour. It left them with an 8-5 victory, unbeaten with 27 points and sharing the £160 first prize.
In the earlier section, Gordon’s quartet of Mick Smith, Charlie Jones and Dave Heffernan also emerged after four wins against the rinks of Kevin Vinter, Pete Linnell and Ally McNaughton.
The rink of Martyn Dolby, Mark Pye, Dusty Miller and Jon Earl were third overall on 24 points thanks to a late run of form after dropping three shots on the last end of their opening match against Bob Burton, Brian Tuplin, Linda Starbuck and Vinter.
Leading Results: 27 points - C Ballard’s team, 25 H Gordon, 24 - J Earl, 22- K Vinter, C Ford, A Belding, 21 R Clarke, 19 - D Edwards, J Goode, A McNaughton, 18 - D Cave, 17 - I Reay, R March, 16 - M Wallace, 13- P Linnell.
Yetton Preview
Karen Reay and Annette Oliver make their debuts for Stamford Ladies in the Yetton Plate on Saturday (10 am) in a match against Nottingham which could take them into the quarter finals of this prestigious tournament against either Hornsea or South Shields Vipers.
Reay, who has previously played at Spalding and Boston, has been a revelation at lead with husband Ian in four bowl pairs, while Oliver’s adds experience to captain Chris Ford’s home rink.
Having been defeated by Spalding in the first round of the Yetton Trophy, Stamford have beaten both Peterborough and Melton to reach this stage of the Yetton Plate for first round losers. Nottingham meanwhile went out to Erewash by just one shot then beat Gedling and Scunthorpe in the Plate.
Aggregate scores will determine the winners, with two rinks of four at home and two away, playing simultaneously.
Stamford: Home - Karen Reay, Peggy Birch, Pat Jones, Carol Warters; June Brennan, Annette Oliver, Moira Holroyd, Chris Ford. Away - Valerie Du’Kett, Sue Gentry, Stella Henshaw Rose March; Margaret King, Janet Lonslow, Elizabeth Wallace, Shirley Suffling.
Dalliday Call-Up
Stamford's Paul Dalliday has been selected with clubmate Simon Law to represent holders Lincolnshire against Nottingham at Grantham on January 15 (10 am) in the re-arranged quarter- final of the Liberty (inter-county) Trophy. They will join Ean and Tristan Morton (Spalding) in one of six selected rinks.
Stephen Harris, will lead for team-mate Graham Smith, both representing Spalding.
The only change is the withdrawal of current world indoor champion Mark Dawes (Spalding) who will be defending his title from January 7-20 at Potters Resort.
Rest of the team: S Harris (Spalding) D Bristow, PRoberts (both Sleaford), G Smith ( Spalding); A Dent Jr (Louth), A Tomlin (Boston), M Spencer, M Orrey ( both Spalding); K Rands, DStevenson ( both Lincoln), J West, B Jackson (both Lincoln); A Dunham (Spalding), N Orrey (Lincoln), M Pulling (Grantham), D McVittie (Spalding); T Berridge (Grantham), I Clark (Boston),K Ekins, J Philpott, (Spalding).
Seniors in Action
In a bid to reach the last 16 of the English Over 60 Double Rink competition, Stamford A take on Melton at home and away simultaneously on Tuesday 11th January. Aggregate score will decide which club plays Lincoln or Nottingham for a place in the quarter-finals.
Stamford A: Home - Tony Barwell, Mal Cullingworth, Bob Warters, Alan Barnes; away - Richard Allam, Mick Linnell, Tony Scarr, Roger Martin.
Barwell, Linnell and Martyn Dolby are due represent Lincolnshire in a rink skipped by Lincoln’s Mike Smith, against Yorkshire in the Senior Liberty on January 18. Three rinks will play at Lincoln and York simultaneously with the aggregate score determining who will play against either Norfolk or Northants in the semi-final February 22.
MIXED CHALLENGE FOR TOP SPOT
Stamford IBC’s mixed team of bowlers will be aiming to take top spot in the Lincs League (South) when they visit bottom club Skegness B on Sunday.
The team captain by Christine Ford has been strengthened lately and they will be hoping to take maximum points in a bid to overtake Boston at the top.
Stamford: R Downs, V Du’Kett, J Travis-Jenner, A McNaughton; R March, J Suffling, S Suffling, D Ford; M King, A Lonslow, A March, C Ford; J Lonslow, E Wallace, M Wallace, K White.
NATIONALS UPDATE
Hopes of repeating Stamford’s run to reach the quarter finals of the EIBA Over 50 Triples were dashed for John Holroyd, Bob Warters and Keith Rippin when they were beaten by Vince Wendon, Paul Bailey and Terry Berridge at the weekend.
They held their own in the early stages but the Grantham trio gradually pulled away, leaving only scraps for the visitors who finally conceded 6-19 after only 14 of the scheduled 18 ends had been complete.
Seniors Top of Lincolnshire League
With a comprehensive 25-shot defeat of Boston A, Stamford’s senior bowlers took over from them at the top of the Lincs Over 60s League (South).
The 90-65 home victory in which Stamford claimed 10 of the 14 points at stake puts them on 65 points from six games - three clear of their rivals.
Much of the credit for the win goes to the rink of team captain David Heffernan, Dennis Henshaw and Mal Smith, skipped by Kevin Vinter, who won 35-8 against Mike Rymer, racing into a 20-2 lead before adding 12 shots without reply in four ends. Elsewhere Trevor Christie’s rink included a seven count on the 9th end in their four-shot triumph.
Bob Warters and Roger Martin had chances to guide their rinks to further points but just came up short against old foes Les Feary and Paul Flatters, the latter capturing a win with an outstanding recovery to within inches of the jack to deny Warters who had trailed it to hold a winning position on the last end.
Result: Lincs Over 60s League (South): Stamford 90 (10 pts) Boston A 65 (4). Stamford names first: R Blake, B Crouch, K Rippin, R Martin lost 14-18; D Heffernan, D Henshaw, Mal Smith, K Vinter won 35-8; T Barwell, C Jones, D Miller, T Christie won 24-20; J Bourne, D Bruce, P Burt, B Warters lost 17-19.