But it was the ‘A’ team who quickly took the initiative and raced to a 34-10 lead over the four rinks in the first five ends of this 21-end encounter, thanks chiefly to the rinks skipped by Roger Martin and Adam Warrington. Both scored heavily in the early stages, to soon put the overall score beyond doubt.
Stamford's B Team
Indeed it was 13 ends before Warrington’s quartet of Richard Allam, Mick Linnell and Neil Wright conceded a shot, by which time they were 30 shots ahead and went on to win 40-9. Martin’s four led 14-1 after six ends and eventually won 30-11.
Elsewhere, Jon Earl’s rink won 33-14, including a run of 22 shots in seven ends against Darren Middleton.
Bill Orme bowling for the B Team
Richard Allam bowling for the A Team
The ‘B’ team’s only salvation came from the rink of Ally McNaughton, who was outstanding at skip in the latter stages, converting a succession of ‘heads’ against him. They deserved their hard-earned points in a 23-15 win against Trevor Collins.
The win put Stamford ‘A’ at the top of the table temporarily with 26 points with their nearest rivals Sleaford and Spalding yet to record their latest results.
Lincs League (South): Stamford B 57 (2pts) Stamford A 118 (12). Stamford B names first - P Linnell, J Suffling, D Ford, DMiddleton 14, M Humphreys, O Aspinall, J Earl 33; H Gordon, D Bruce, M Owens, A McNaughton 23 W Morris, M Ramsden, B Warters, T Collins 15; R Blake, B Orme, M Hewitt, M Dye 11 W Aspinall, K Rippin, C Ballard, R Martin 30; K Rawlins, C Jones, D Edwards, N Crees 9 R Allam, M Linnell, N Wright, A Warrington 40.
Stamford held their own at both venues for long periods but were unable to stem the flurry of drawing and conversion shots by their opponents and eventually lost by 60 shots. Spalding will meet Barwell in the next round.
Egham Trophy: Spalding 105 Stamford 45. Stamford names only. Home - K Reay, P Jones, I Reay, D King lost 11-25; J Suffling, S Henshaw, S Suffling. M Owens lost 13-33. Away - M King, M Linnell, C Ford, R Martin lost 8-19; R Allam, R March, M Holroyd, K Rippin lost 13-28.
At Boston, Stamford were unlucky not to snatch maximum points after the rinks skipped by Kevin Vinter and Trevor Collins, secured the overall points with impressive 32-6 and 22-10 victories. However, Roger Martin’s four stumbled and dropped nine shots in a heartbeat to lose an early lead, while Mick Linnell’s quartet dropped a three-count on the last end to let two vital points slip.
Lincs Over 60s League (South). Boston B 64 (4) Stamford 94 (10).Stamford names only - B Crouch, P Smith, N Crees, M Linnell lost 17-18; J Bourne, D Heffernan, T Christie, K Vinter won 32-6; D King, R Blake, D Henshaw, T Collins won 22-10; T Barwell, S Miner, P Burt, R Martin lost 23-24.
Captain Tony Barwell has re-shuffled his team and included Martyn Dolby at No.3 in an away rink with Wayne Aspinall, Dusty Miller and Jon Earl.
Team: R Allam, N Wright, C Ballard, R Martin; P Dalliday, M Linnell, T Collins, S Law. Away - W Aspinall, D Miller, M Dolby, J Earl; W Morris, O Aspinall, B Warters, A Warrington. Res T Barwell.
Meanwhile Stamford women, following the euphoria of a Yetton Trophy defeat of Sleaford, will face a Spalding side sprinkled with international talent in the second round (10 am).
Team: Home - J Lonslow, P Birch, A Sampy, R March; tbc, R Roberts, S Henshaw, S Suffling. away. - J Brennan, V Du’Kett, M King, C Ford; M Christie, A White, tbc, M Holroyd.
On Sunday, Stamford’s mixed team entertain Grantham in the Lincs League (South) at 2pm:
Team: Margaret King, John Suffling, Rose March, Derek King; Rosemary Roberts, Howard Neath, Shirley Suffling, Bob Warters; Mike Ramsden, Janet Lonslow, Chris Ford, Alec March; Linda Cave, Geordie King, Moira Holroyd, Derek Cave.
A team: Trevor Collins, Michael Jeapes, Adam Warrington; Stuart & Graham Agger, Tristan Morton; Brian Martin, Jon Earl, Martyn Dolby; Paul Dalliday, MIke Robertson, Simon Law.
B team: Terry Corney, John Holroyd, Kevin Vinter; Tom Newman, Michael Humphreys, Ray Keating; Jeff Clipston, Cliff Watson, Phil Afford; Richard Allam, Martin & Paul Bailey.