Winter Leagues to include a new Australian Pairs League

Stamford Indoor Bowls Club is planning to make changes to its existing leagues for the 2023-24 winter season, starting on September 11, including the introduction of an Australian pairs format on Thursday lunchtimes. The Australian pairs format allows both lead and skip to change places during the game at alternate ends, enabling each player to gain valuable experience in each others’ roles.

Monday evening fours has been switched to triples by popular request, whilst Tuesday evening rinks presently only has five teams and is looking for more teams to join. The Tuesday evening rinks will now play 18-end sessions rather than the previous 21 ends.

Potential captains have until July 21 submit new teams or withdraw from existing leagues. Registration is £5 per team payable before the start of the first fixtures.

Team entry forms for new teams can be obtained from league secretary Roger Clarke (clarkeroger911@gmail.com).

To encourage more new bowlers to take part in competition, a Thursday afternoon Novice triples league will be repeated, open to members who must not have played indoor bowls for more than three years (at Sept 11, 2023). It will initially run until Christmas with a new league reformatted from January 2024 until the end of the winter season.

Elsewhere, competitions with more than 12 teams are likely to be split into two divisions.

Bowlers who wish to play but have yet to join a team, can contact the league secretary for assistance.

LEAGUES

• Sunday AM Open Pairs (10.00am);

• Monday PM Open Triples (2.10pm/4.15pm) (Two sessions if required);

• Monday Evening Open Triples (6.30pm);

• Tuesday PM Ladies Triples (2.10pm);

• Tuesday Evening Open Rinks (6.30pm);

• Wednesday PM Open Triples (2.10pm/4.15pm) (Two sessions if required);

• Wednesday Evening Open Triples (6.30pm);

• Thursday PM Open Australian Pairs (12.05pm);

• Thursday PM Open Triples (2.10pm); 

• Thursday PM Novices Triples (4.15pm);

• Thursday Evening Open Fours (6.30pm);

• Friday AM Open Pairs (10.00am/12.05pm) (Two sessions if required);

• Friday PM Open Triples (2.10pm);

• Friday Evening Men’s Triples (6.30pm).