One-shot defeat for Men's A in Boston thriller

Post date: Mar 30, 2015 1:17:56 PM

STAMFORD MEN'S A team has had to concede second place in the Lincs County First Division to Boston, but only after an exciting finish against their rivals. They lost 102-103, writes Bob Warters.

With only a handful of ends to play across the board, the home team looked to be cruising to a comfortable 20 shots win to repeat their success at Stamford earlier in the season but a late flourish took it to the wire and only the loss of a close measure for six shots on Mike Humphreys' rink robbed the visitors of a deserved tie overall.

Indeed Humphreys played despite after a sleepless night following a work shift but together with some good leading from Richard Allam helped pull his rink around from 4-18 to take the next seven ends and only missed earning a draw by millimetres in a measure that earned five shots but that would have tied the overall scores.

Elsewhere Keith Rippin's and Cliff Watson's rinks also picked up late shots in defeat but Peter Edwards' rink were inspired with good front end play from veterans Dave Hudson and Doug Want and Martin Bailey drafted in as an animated No.3. They raced into a 16-1 lead and took six of the last seven ends to win 29-9.

Martyn Dolby's rink included included a seven in their 23-16 win and they held several shots that would also have clinched the points until Mick Asplen salvaged what proved to be a match-winning shot with his last bowl.

The A team complete their fixtures tomorrow (Saturday) with a re-arranged home match with local rivals Sleaford.

Scores

Lincs Division One: Boston A 103 (14pts), Stamford A 102 (4).(Stamford names only) R Allam, S Travis, B Warters, M Humphreys lost 17-18; D Hudson, D Want, M Bailey, P Edwards won 29-9; A Romaine, R Keating, J Travis-Jenner, C Watson lost 15-21; M Ramsden, D King, J Holroyd, K Rippin lost 18-29; A Warrington, S Harris, J Earl, M Dolby won 23-16.

Though already secure as champions of the Lincs Third Division, Stamford Men's B ended the season on a sour note, losing 119-86 at Louth, claiming only three of the 18 points available.

Captain Dennis Henshaw was hampered by late withdrawals including a handful on the day of the match but managed to compile a side to make the long journey north and put up a plucky performance.

Ken Rawlins, Arthur Lonslow, Charlie Jones and Alan Barnes emerged as the only winners with Albert Horton's rink claiming a point in a 19-19 tie.

Result

Lincs League Division Three: Louth B 119(15) Stamford B 86 (3). (Stamford names only): D Howarth, R Graham, J Geary, C Ballard lost 19-21; P Pheasant, D Veasey, N Graham, M Owens lost 13-27; J Shellard, B Edwards, G Corby, D Henshaw lost 8-29; K Rawlins, A Lonslow, C Jones, A Barnes won 27-23; T Barwell, P Rhodes, D Bruce, A Horton drew 19-19.

In its two-leg annual match with Spalding, Stamford's 'weekend friendly' team regained the Welland Silver Salver first played for 22 years ago.

They trailed by 25 shots from the first leg but having won it on 14 occasions were determined, despite captain Dennis Stapleton having to drop out through illness, not to let their rivals return with it securely in their grasp.

And with a re-shuffled team won on all but one rink with Maurice Dye inspiring wife Janet, Kevin Toner and Janet Benns to a convincing 30-7 victory claiming 18 shots in the last 10 ends .

Result

Welland Salver: Stamford 135 (first leg 96) Spalding 76 (121). Stamford win overall by 231-197. Stamford names only: P Barton, R Blake, S Suffling, N Carr won 30-13; H Fidom, H Neath, T Stokes, T Christie won 23-7; V Shackleton, P Almond, C Warters, S Shackleton lost 13-21; A Chapman, G Knight, A Edwards, B Warters won 23-12; J Dye, J Benns, K Toner, M Dye won 30-7; J Hebden, V Anthony, S Brunning, P Hoare won 16-13.

Friendly Captain, Denis Stapleton reports, although we only won on three of our six rinks in our Friendly home match against Melton we avenged our defeat on their green earlier in the season. Mainly due to the rinks skipped by Peter Herrick, Colin Lunn and Tim Stokes we ran out winners by 108 - 89. Special thanks should be made to Tim Stokes and David Thorpe who played the 21 ends, four hour long match, straight after competing in a two hour novice's competition, without a break. We'll have some of their tablets please!

Rink scores (Stamford names only): Linda Bassett, Margaret Grainger, Tim Stokes won 18 - 13; Rosemary Roberts, Maggie Holden, Colin Lunn won 23 - 10; Harry Fidom, Howard Neath, Peter Herrick won 23 - 8; Brian Tuplin, David Thorpe, Stuart Shackleton lost 11 - 17; Eileen Purvis, John Purvis, Pam Barton lost 15 - 19; Diane Lunn, Kevin Toner, Melvin Des Champs lost 18 - 22.

WELL DONE the Weekend Friendly team, who in my unplanned absence, snatched the annually played for Welland Silver Salver from the clutches of local rivals Spalding (see Bob Warters report in our last match of the season. Thanks to Bob and Carol for taking over at the last minute and organising a Grand Finale to a season that has had its highs and lows. In the end we won nine and lost ten, which I think is pretty good. Thanks to everyone who played. Hope to see you again next season.

PETER Edwards will play Stephen Harris in the semi-final of the Stamford IBC men's singles after beating Richard Allam, while Harris beat fellow junior Jay Travis-Jenner. Martyn Dolby beat Phil Rhodes to earn a tussle with Derek King.

The finals are due to be staged on April 11/12.