Defeat for Warters/Dolby pairing in Area final

Post date: Jan 23, 2014 9:32:11 PM

Hopes of a second Stamford appearance in the inter area finals of the English indoor bowls championships were dashed when Bob Warters and Martyn Dolby were beaten in the area finals of the Over 60s Pairs at Scunthorpe.

They had fought through three rounds and were aiming to emulate fellow Stamford bowlers Alan Romaine, Peter Cox and Keith Rippin who reached the inter area finals of the Over 50 Triples. But they got off to a nightmare start against Scotsman Alex Mullin and his skip Phil Parker , the 2011 English Over 60s singles winner.

Though they picked up the pace of the Scunthorpe carpet, none of the early breaks went their way and the duo conceded shots on the first eight ends to trail 0-15 before snatching a single and stretching the jack to climb back to 9-15 by the 13th end. Two more counts hauled them back within two at 14-16 but a four count sent them reeling on the 17th.

Dolby hit his target in a bid to close the gap with a heavy bowl but as the bowls scattered and came to rest, the Scunthorpe pair emerged with a match winning lie, eventually running out 27-14 winners.

Said Warters: "We deserve credit for the way we fought back after the start we had but we left ourselves just too much to do on an unfamiliar surface which obviously suited the local players. But we will give it another go next year when hopefully we will be able to take advantage of a more favourable draw for players from the south of the county."

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On Sunday, four Stamford-based players - Bob Warters, Martyn Dolby, John Holroyd and Paul Bailey - will be part of the Northants Federation team aiming to overcome North Cambs in the second series of matches in the Derbyshire Trophy. Playing three two-bowl rinks at Stamford, the matches start at 10a.m.