It's Nearly Summer

We know Summer is nearly here when not only are plans made for team entries to the Summer Season but the finals of the Winter season start to take place.

Next we have the Lincolnshire County Semi Finals which will be taking place at Stamford on Sunday 3 April.

The last places were decided on Sunday when Shirley Suffling and Richard Allam made a fruitless journey to Louth where Shirley lost 5-7, 4-8 to Sleaford youngster Paul Oke whilst Richard put up a brave fight against another Sleaford bowler Trevor Bannister in a tie-break.

Stamford's only competitors in the semis finals will be Martyn Dolby in the Senior singles who will be playing Paul Bark from Horncastle and local bowler Stephen Harris (Spalding) who takes on clubmate Jordan Philpott in the Under 25 Singles.

Support is appreciated for them and others taking part at Stamford. Catering will be avaialble and the bar will be open from midday.

The timing of the games is not yet known but the players in the various disciplines is as follows:

Singles
Paul Bark v Paul Roberts
George Draper v Jim Pullen

Senior Singles
Martyn Dolby v Paul Bark
Martin Simpson v John Maury

Under 25 Singles
Liam Reeson v James Staples
Jordan Philpott v Stephen Harris

Sets Singles
Dominic McVittie v Ian Clark or John Mountain
Trevor Banister v Kevin Rands

Mixed Pairs
Ruby Hill & Jordan Philpott (Spalding) v Rene Walker & Colin Barks (Dunholme)
Mary Johnson & Keith Jackman (Horncastle) v Tina & Simon Reeson (Louth A)

Pairs
Mike Smith & Kevin Rands (Lincoln A) v Keith Jackman & Paul Bark (Horncastle)
Sam Ashton & George Draper (Lincoln B) v Brian Martin & Jordan Philpott (Spalding A)

Triples
Andy Dunham, Lewis Parnell & Kevin Ekins (Spalding C) v Ryan Jackson, Kevin Rands & Billy Jackson (Lincoln B)
John Nott, Danny Brown & George Draper (Lincoln A) v Graham Smith, Martin Spencer & Matt Orrey (Spalding A)

Rinks
Nathan Dunnington, Scott Whyers, Alex Tomlin & Jonathan West (Boston A) v Ryan Jackson, Dean Stevenson, Kevin Rands & Billy Jackson (Lincoln B)

Paul Davies, Paul Ward, Keith Bell & Will Bell (Lincoln A) v Darren Trapmore, Lee Boucher, Keith Jackman & Paul Bark (Horncastle)

SENIORS UPSET AT BOSTON

With a convincing 84-55 home defeat of Stamford, Boston A took a four-point lead over their closest rivals at the top of the Lincs Seniors (South) League, claiming all but two of the 14 points available.

Both teams have three matches to play - Boston play at home to Spalding and Boston B and away to Grantham, while Stamford face Grantham and Sleaford away and Boston B at home. It could go down to the wire in April, to see who plays the northern section winners for the county title.

In this key match Boston A raced into an early lead as Stamford bowlers took time to settle and struggled to adapt to the faster conditions.

Only the rink of Tony Barwell, Neil Crees, Mick Linnell and Kevin Vinter got to grips with the surface and with a run of scoring, edged into an 18-7 lead and finally won 25-12.

Elsewhere Tony Scarr’s rink kept close order but eight shots conceded in the last three ends proved their downfall. Mick Owens’ quartet made a late surge of nine shots but it was too little too late.

Result Lincs Over 60 League (South) : Boston A 84 (12) Stamford 55 (2).
Stamford names only: H Gordon, D Henshaw, D Bruce, T Scarr lost 8-21; M Ramsden, B Crouch, D Miller, M Owens lost 18-21; D Heffernan, J Bourne, P Burt, B Warters lost 14-29; T Barwell, N Crees, M Linnell, K Vinter won 25-12.