Dolby and Ford each claim three Northants titles

Post date: Mar 14, 2016 9:38:18 AM

AFTER a marathon 11 hours of play, Stamford IBC bowlers emerged from the Northants Bowling Federation indoor finals by claiming all but two of the 11 titles at stake.

Qualifying as members of outdoor clubs affiliated to the Federation, Martyn Dolby (Blackstones) and Christine Ford (Ketton) won three titles apiece. They combined to win the mixed pairs and mixed triples ( with Adam Warrington) while Dolby also retained the Senior singles and Ford skipped Jan Want (Empingham) and Shirley Suffling (Ketton) to the women's triples championship.

County president Joan Robinson (Broadway, Yaxley) won both women's singles events - the 4-bowl 21-18 against Ford and the senior version 21-8 over Shirley Suffling.

Stephen Harris (Blackstones) also won two titles- the under 25 singles with an 18-10 defeat of Parkway's Josh Clark and the two-bowl triples with Cliff Watson (Peterborough &District) and Peter Edwards (Ketton), toppling Warrington, Dolby and Jonathan Earl 22-14.

One of the most exciting finals was the men's 4-bowl singles shoot-out between two good friends and former county senior singles winners Doug Want and Derek King.

Both struggled to come to terms with the unfamiliar rink two at the Peterborough IBC venue with first King racing into a 12-5 lead before Want stretch the jack length to take a 16-12 advantage.

At 17-apiece, and with two bowls ditched, King faced a possible game lie against him before drawing shot within inches. He finally snatched the title 21-17 with two successive singles.

The City indoor club's only successes came in the men's two bowl pairs where Nick Wilkie (Blackstones) and Joe Randall (Parkway) came up with an end rink strategy to beat Dolby and Warrington 19-7 while Fiona Richardson and Julie Masters beat the holders Jenny Harvey and Carol Hunter by five shots in the women's pairs.

For Dolby playing from 10am to 9pm with hardly a break between the five finals he contested, he admitted it was a gruelling and shattering experience and was soon looking for a place to rest his weary body.

"I'm pretty tired and wished now I had booked a day off work tomorrow," said the part-time funeral manager who was running on adrenalin near the end of the day.

"But I am very pleased to win three out of five and looking forward to representing Northants in the national finals at Newark next month," he added.

As for Ford (69) she proved that her energy and competitive experience as a former county netball player served her well, trailing the jack with her last bowl to clinch a triples win for her Stamford team.

Results

Women: 4-bowl singles: C Ford lost to J Robinson 18-21; pairs F Richardson/ J Masters but J Harvey/C Hunter 21-16; Senior singles: S Suffling lost to J Robinson 8-21; triples: J M Holroyd/ M Bloxham/ J Robinson lost to J Want/S Suffling/ C Ford 21-24.

Men: Senior singles: P Edwards lost to M Dolby 15-21; N Wilkie/ J Randall beat A Warrington/ M Dolby 19-7; Under 25 2-bowl singles: S Harris beat J Clark 21-10; 4-bowl singles: D King beat D Want 21-17; triples: A Warrington/J Earl/ M Dolby lost to S Harris/C Watson/ P Edwards 14-22.

Mixed: pairs : M Holroyd/J Holroyd lost to C Ford/M Dolby 6-18; triples: C Ford/A Warrington/M Dolby beat F Richardson, N Wright/ S Law 19-9.

Stamford IBC prospect Jay Travis-Jenner performed with great credit in the national EIBA finals of the Under 18 championships at Spalding, drawing two matches and only losing to the eventual winner Aaron Johnson from Norfolk.

He lost his first game in straight sets against Johnson but shared the spoils with Luke Nicholls (North Cave) and Nicole Rogers (Loddon Vale).

Johnson beat Avon Valley's Mark Smith in straight sets in the final.