Northants Federation eclipsed by Lincs

Post date: Jan 13, 2014 12:36:03 PM

Despite the inclusion of five Stamford Indoor Bowls Club players, Northants Bowling Federation's hopes of reaching the national finals of the inter-county Derbyshire Trophy finals in April took a nasty jolt when they were comprehensively beaten by local rivals Lincolnshire on Sunday in their opening match of the 2014 campaign.

With three two-bowl triples rinks at Stamford and three at Lincoln IBC, Northants were beaten 158-111 with Lincs picking up 20 of the 22 points available, winning five matches out of six - two of them at Stamford.

Northants only consolation came with a win for the previously untried combination of John Holroyd, making an impressive county debut, Bob Warters and Peterborough's rising star James Harford, who held off the threat of the Boston IBC trio of Jonathan West, Iain Clark and county president Geoff Parker. Four shots on the concluding end earned a 24-15 reward for a generally tidy performance.

While the Lincs home rinks on their own slick surface, proved a near-impregnable fortress against Northants' travelling Peterborough-based skips Peter Brown, Jeff Newson and Tristan Morton, the home Northants rink couldn't keep pace with the visitors, many of them well used to Stamford's more even-paced conditions.

As the unique Federation rules allow, Northants home rinks inter-changed positions in a bid to stem the bleeding but were unable to prevent Lincs taking control early on and maintaining the pressure.

Northants remaining matches will be against North Cambs (Stamford and Wisbech) on January 26 and Norfolk (Stamford and Acle) on February 16.

Results (Northants names first):

Derbyshire Inter-Federation Trophy: Northants 111 (2pts) Lincs 158 (20). Home -N Wilkie, D Noble, S Law 13, A Field, M Asplen, T Bannister 26; R Allam, P Bailey, M Dolby 20 T Powell, C Gill, P Flatters 29; J Holroyd, B Warters, J Harford 24 J West, I Clark, G Parker 15. Away - H Shipp, J Randall, T Morton 18, R Ashton, C Barks, G Draper 24; G Agger, B Lawrence, P Brown 22, K Richardson, D Johnson, M Smith 35; B Martin, A Thurston, J Newson 14, R Horne, D Stevenson, T Gilroy 29.