Chelsea Spencer of Spalding Indoor Bowls Club will be taking part in the Ladies World Matchplay event
A Spalding bowler has achieved a coveted place at the World Championships.
Chelsea Spencer - who plays for the Spalding Indoor Club - will be taking part in the Ladies World Matchplay event.
Spencer will be partnered with one of the world's top eight players in the mixed pairs event at the Potters Leisure Resort in Norfolk.
She secured her place after progressing through the qualifiers that were held at Nottingham Indoor Bowls Club on Sunday.
In the first round, Spencer beat Welsh international Emma Woodcock in straight sets (6-3, 6-5) before defeating Jacqueline Henderson on the last end of the tie break (10-3, 6-7, 2-1).
Spencer had to hold her nerve again as she beat Izzy Pymm from Melton Mowbray in the quarter-final (9-1, 4-7, 2-0).
The Spalding ace continued her top form as she played former Commonwealth Games gold medalist Sian Honnor and won in straight sets (7-6, 8-4) to book her place in the final qualifying round where she played fellow England international Holly Chaytor.
The final was of the highest quality but Spencer started well to win the first set 8-6.
However, Chaytor battled hard to win the second set 5-3 to take the match into a tiebreak, which went into a tense final end.
Spencer again kept calm to win the last end of the tie-break to qualify for the Ladies World Matchplay for the first time.
There was also success for the Spalding Lightning team on Sunday as they started their Egham Trophy campaign with a comfortable win against Sleaford.
Lightning have lost in the national semi-final for the past two seasons and are looking to build on that this term.
They started strongly and were 20-10 up at five ends and the lead was increased to 49-20 at 10 ends and 70-35 by 15.
Lightning eventually won by 27 shots (82-55) to book their place in the second round.
Top winning rink was skipped by Mathew Orrey, with Ruby Hill, Louise Harris and Stephen Harris who had an excellent 29-11 win.
They now face Grantham in the next round on Sunday, November 3.
Rink scores: Home - Jean Patterson, Julie Hicks, Simon Lilley and Dominic McVittie won 23-9; Carole Nunney, Karen Martin, Kevin Ekins and Martin Spencer lost 9-23; Away - Ruby Hill, Louise Harris, Stephen Harris and Mathew Orrey won 29-11; Danielle Wild, Tracy Philpott, Graham Smith and Jordan Philpott won 21-12.
Lightning also opened their defence of the national Denny Cup title with a comfortable 95-63 win against Boston on Saturday.
They were in control from the outset and dominated the game to win by 32 shots.
Although winning on two rinks and having narrow defeats on the other two, the top winning rink was skipped at home by Jordan Philpott, with Ollie Jeapes, Owen Aspinall - who made his Denny Cup debut for the club - and Kevin Ekins who won 32-9.
The other rink to win was the away rink skipped by Dominic McVittie who had a remarkable turnaround from 13-5 down to win 30-15 which included seven unanswered ends.
The next test for the two-time Denny Cup champions is Sleaford on Saturday, November 2.
Rink scores: Home - Ollie Jeapes, Owen Aspinall, Kevin Ekins and Jordan Philpott won 32-9; Dan Mills, Jack Wells, Simon Lilley and Graham Smith lost 19-20; Away - Lewis Parnell, Martin Simpson, Martin Spencer and Dominic McVittie won 30-15; Brian Martin, Nick Wilkie, Ean Morton and Tristan Morton lost 14-19.
Spalding found it tough going in their home fixture of the Men's Over 60s County League against Sleaford.
The away team proved too strong on the day as they won by 20 shots (65-85) and 2-12 on match points.
Spalding did manage one winning rink which was skipped by Graham Wright, with Mike Taylor, Alan Tokley and Roger Billingsley who won 22-18.
Rink scores: Mike Taylor, Alan Tokley, Roger Billingsley and Graham Wright won 22-18; Bill Hodges, Eric Wakefield, Ian Harwood and David Nunney lost 18-20; Tony Westland, Rob West, Ian Stafford and Chris Warboys lost 16-26; Mick Dolton, Dave Amess, Graham Hicks and Martin Simpson lost 8-21.
Spalding's friendly team played an away fixture against Melton Mowbray.
The match was closely contested with Spalding winning by five shots, 125-120.
Top winning rink was skipped by Graham Fairbank, with John Selwyn and Sylvia Andrews.