Mixed miss chance to.top the league

Post date: Jan 11, 2016 11:26:12 AM

IN A TENSE finish to their county mixed match with Lincoln B, Stamford missed a chance to top the second division table, beaten by just three shots.

Despite winning on two rinks and drawing a third, Margaret Bloxham's team were pipped by just three shots, claiming only five of the 18 points available.

Needing three shots to tie the match, and with two bowls handily placed, John Holroyd was unable to wrest out opposing skip Brian Cross's magnificently weighted bowl nestling on the edge of the ditch, leaving his rink 16-30 behind and Stamford 103-100 in arrears overall.

Captain Bloxham's rink rallied bravely to capture a point fire trailing 2-12, while rinks skipped by Paul Bailey and Bob Warters respectively won by eight and nine shots respectively.

Results ( Stamford names only):

Lincolnshire Co-op County Mixed League, Division Two: S Harris, M Bloxham, J Robinson, A Barnes drew 18-18; C Barnes, S Suffling, T Mackie, P Bailey won 24-16; L Harris, D Mackie, D Ford, M Humphreys lost 17-23; D Hudson, C Warters, S Moir, B Warters won 25-16; M Holroyd, P Birch, J Little, J Holroyd lost 16-30.

Stamford Club singles champion Shirley Suffling has been invited to represent Lincolnshire in a Midland Counties match against Bedfordshire.

June Brennan, Glenys Edwards and Christine Ford progressed to the Area final of the women's national triples with an outstanding 25-16 defeat of Freda Huggins' rink at Long Sutton.

The reward is an away tie against Spalding's internationals Annalisa Dunham, Chelsea Tomlin and Ruby Hill.

And Ruby Hill will be the next opponent for Jay Travis-Jenner, who beat Emily Day (Spalding ) by two clear sets in the latest round of the English 18 and Under singles.

Martyn Dolby beat clubmate Derek King 21-14 to reach the Area 6 final of the Over 60 singles. He now faces either George Draper (Lincoln) or Phil Parker (Scunthorpe) winner of the national title in 2011.

Northants Bowling Federation suffered a set back in its hopes of capturing the Derbyshire Trophy indoor inter-county championship to add to the outdoor Adams Trophy they won in the summer.

Facing Lincolnshire at the Lincoln and District stadium, they lost on three of the four two-bowl triples rinks to go down 106-74, conceding 12 of the 14 points available.

Northants still head the southern section table with a total of 14 points following their defeat of Hunts and will need to take maximum points against North Cambs in their next match at Peterborough on January 24 to keep their hopes of reaching the finals alive.

Lincolnshire mastered the surface much better on the day once they had taken a stranglehold of the faster conditions, to take a 60-42 lead after 15 of the 25 ends, though on many occasions heads were decided by fractions of an inch as both teams showed great drawing and conversion skills.

Outstanding for Northants was left-handed Tris Morton who showed time and again why he is much in demand as a skip with touch in his drawing shots and power and accuracy in his drives.

He was supported on his rink by Brian Martin and Bob Warters in a 30-18 win, the margin of which probably flattered them thanks to 10 shots achieved in the last three ends with the overall match already beyond Northants.

Elsewhere Simon Law's rink never came to terms with their opponents after trailing 1-12 after seven ends, while Jon Earl's trio held a slender lead until opposite number George Draper switched to No.2 -as the Federation rules allow - and proceeded to inspire a runaway 25-13 win.

Captain James Harford kept his trio in touch for long periods against the equally talented Jonathan West but 11 shots without reply on the last six ends put the match beyond them.

Results (Northants names only)

Derbyshire Trophy: Lincolnshire 106 (12 pts) Northants 73 (2). J Holroyd, N Wright, S Law lost 15-33; S Harris, P Dalliday, J Earl lost 13-25; H Shipp, N Wilkie, J Harford lost 15-30; B Martin, B Warters, T Morton won 30-18.

Stamford IBC indoor competitions are in full swing with the men's pairs providing some good quality play this week as well as a few upsets including 93-year-old Arthur Chapman over Mark Hebden and Nyran Graham & Chris Ballard over Richard Allam and Martin Hewitt.

The second round draw features: T Barwell v G Knights, A Barnes v M Dolby, D Henshaw v T Christie, D Hudson v S Harris, R Lynch v A Lonslow, A Chapman v G Cameron, C Ballard v K Vinter, R Montgomerie v P Edwards (to be played on Feb 14).

On Saturday Stamford's women host Lincoln (11am) in the Yetton Plate and on Sunday Stamford Men's A travel to Scunthorpe (coach leaves at 10am) for a crucial Lincs County league Division One fixture.

Team: S Harris, W Morris, P Bailey, J Earl; A Romaine, A Warrington, B Warters, R Martin; D Hudson, S Travis,D Want, P Edwards; D Miller, R Allam, J Holroyd, M Humphreys;; J Travis-Jenner, A Barnes, D King, K Rippin.

On Monday a Stamford Seniors rink play Lincoln in the Area final of the Over 60s Double rink (10am) and the following Saturday (Jan 23), Stamford's Men's B host Long Sutton A (1pm) before the club's green and social area is transformed for the visit of The Skyliners (8pm).

Friendly Captain Denis Stapleton reports on the match last Saturday against Melton Mowbray:

The result rested on the last end of the last rink to finish in the friendly clash between us and Melton. Having been somewhat slaughtered at Melton captain Denis Stapleton made it quite clear in his opening welcome speech the this was no friendly and we were out for revenge.

From the start his troops, again a mixture of experience and youthful exuberance, rallied to the cause and by the halfway stage of the twenty one ends they were 14 shots ahead and looking comfortable.

Then the rot set in as Melton gradually decreased the deficit and on the last end our lead had diminished to 113 - 112. All the rinks had finished apart from that skipped by Mark Hebden, their score stood at 17 all. We of course only needed only one to be sure and they needed two.

Denis Stapleton had to go to the bar and turn his back on the proceedings. All was revealed when the final wood was bowled and a cry by Mark Hebden of "Oh,no" reverberated around the building and a cheer went up from the remainder of the watching Melton team. They had got the two to beat us by one shot. DS sunk another gin.

Who thought this was only a friendly, no way. On a cheerful note we again had some newcomers involved who did themselves proud, particularly those in our best rink, Jeff and Janette Bourne, Graham Watson and Martin Costin.

Rink scores (Stamford names only: Arthur Chapman, Serena Brunning, James Hebden, Mark Hebden lost 17-19; Tina Knights, Margaret Grainger, Ron Blake, Garry Knights lost 16-26; Janet Dye, Stan Godfrey, Tim Stokes, Maurice Dye lost 14-22; Mel De Camps, Hilary Watson, Richard Horne, Trevor Christie won 24-13; Janette Bourne, Martin Costin, Graham Watson, Jeff Bourne won 26-10 ;Terri Handley, Joy Winfield, Neil Handley, Doug Ellis lost 16-24.