Men's A secure status with defeat of plucky Louth

Post date: Mar 23, 2015 12:34:01 PM

WITH AN overwhelming 159-63 defeat of a depleted Louth A, Stamford IBC Men's A team secured their status in the First Division of the Lincolnshire County Indoor Bowls League at the weekend, writes Bob Warters.

It has been a topsy turvy season following defeats by Boston A at home and league leaders Spalding A twice, coupled with success in the Denny Plate. But Stamford rallied by showing no mercy against their already relegated North Lincolnshire rivals.

However, great credit must go to Louth who completed the fixture despite arriving with only 16 players because of late withdrawals, meaning they had to play three against four on four of the five rinks.

Said Stamford's deputy captain Bob Warters:"We did what we had to do and claimed maximum points but Louth deserve our utmost respect for turning out, despite being severely depleted. They are great sportsmen and put up a good show under difficult circumstances."

David Howarth and Martin Bailey came into the Stamford line-up as late replacements and put up good performances.

Following the Men's B team success in winning the Third Division (they face one more fixture away to Louth B on Sunday), the Men's A team travel to Boston A tomorrow (Saturday) hoping to gain revenge for an earlier home defeat and set up a chance to claim second spot in the league for the second successive season.

Result:Lincs League Division One: Stamford 159 (18 pts) Louth A 63 (0). (Stamford names only). D Howarth, M Ramsden, J Holroyd, K Rippin won 21-9; D Hudson, D Want, M Bailey, P Edwards won 32-17; A Romaine, M Cullingworth, J Travis-Jenner, C Watson won 28-6; S Harris, W Morris, A Warrington, J Earl won 35-20; R Allam, S Travis, B Warters, M Humphreys won 43-11.

Stamford bowlers will be represented in an unprecedented four semi-finals of the Lincolnshire County Championships on Sunday at Horncastle, with Stamford Welland Academy student Jay Travis-Jenner (and his distinctive set of orange-coloured bowls) in two of them.

He joins John Holroyd and skip Roger Martin in the triples against a Boston rink at 1pm and at 5pm takes on Spalding's Ashley Caress in the Under 25 singles.

Alan Romaine and Martyn Dolby also have a lunchtime date with Tony Musson (Louth) and John Maury (Boston) respectively in the Over 65 singles in a bid to land places in the finals at Sleaford to win the trophy which fellow Stamford bowler Mike Ramsden donated in 2009.

The improvement shown by Stamford bowlers has also included their women's Trudy Bates team in the county A league which, despite a 4-12 defeat by champions Spalding earned them one of their best ever finishes - in second place.

One of the rink wins was a 28-15 defeat of former international Gloria Haney by Val Du'Kett, Stella Henshaw, Peggy Birch and Joan Robinson, coming with a late burst to claim 12 shots in the last three ends.

Result: Trudy Bates A League: Stamford 94 (4), Spalding 104 (12). (Stamford names only). J Gamble, J Dupree, A Cullingworth, F Rogers lost 10-26; V Du'Kett, S Henshaw, P Birch, J Robinson won 28-15; M MacKellar, M Andrews, M Bloxham, S Moir lost 18-20; J Brennan, M Broadbelt, S Suffling, C Ford won 27-17; P Barton, D Mackie, A Edwards, G Edwards lost 11-26.

Bowlers well known to Stamford - from Peterborough and Boston - performed with great credit in the EIBA Over 50s Triples at Nottingham this week. Nick Wilkie, Howard Shipp and Jeff Newson beat Yeovil 15-12 but lost to Tye Green 13-12, while Boston's Adrian Field, Paul Flatters and Les Feary beat Deangate 19-17 and Welford on Avon on an extra end but lost in the semi-final to Bodmin 18-14.

Friendly Captain Denis Stapleton reports:

Our fired-up Weekend Friendly team recorded their biggest ever win in their latest match against local rivals Oundle. OK, maybe the nearest a few of the Oundlers get to indoor bowls, as we know it, is short mat bowls. Who cares, shouted jubilant captain Denis Stapleton, who in his excitement very nearly offered to buy his opposite number a drink. Our win by 137 - 85 was spearheaded mainly by the rink of Linda Bassett, Ron Blake, Denis (he knows which players to play with) Stapleton and their talented skip Pam Barton. It was particularly encouraging for Ron Blake, who after graduating through the club's coaching scheme, found out that he was good enough to take his first step into the competitive arena. He is certainly one of the new breed to look out for in the future.

Result: Janet Dye, Kevin Toner, David Thorpe, Maurice Dye won 20 - 17; Vanessa Shackleton, Gill Beresford, Daphne Lowe, Stuart Shackleton lost 16 - 21; Arthur Chapman, Diane Lunn, Ray Beresford, Tim Stokes won 21 - 14; Linda Bassett, Ron Blake, Denis Stapleton, Pam Barton won 35 - 9; Rosemary Roberts, Serena Brunning, Peter Herrick, James Hebden (who was skipping for the friendly team for the first time ) won 28 - 12.