Helen and Louise selected for final England Under 25 trial
It’s been a stunning weekend for Stamford's bowlers with three victories in major competitions.
The men claimed their third successive triumph in the Lincs county league, the women reached the next round of the national Yetton Plate and the two combined to beat local rivals Spalding in the Egham Trophy - the country's premier mixed event.
It was the first time in recent history that Stamford have reached the third round of the prestigious Egham Trophy competition - played on a home and away format with four rinks of men and women split at different venues.
And it was particularly significant that the team beat Spalding, one of the country's leading exponents of mixed bowls, where men and women are equal participants.
Spalding are the current national champions of the Top Club discipline demanding a singles, mixed pairs, mixed triples and mixed fours format.
And this epic tie went down to the wire. With still two ends to be played by Martyn Dolby's home rink, the scores were level at 82-82 with an extra end in prospect to be played at Spalding if scores were still level.
However, despite the efforts of his opposite number Kevin Ekins, to recover shots or kill and re-set ends, Dolby's rink picked up five in the last two ends to put the result beyond doubt and set up a clash with Lincoln (who beat Scunthorpe 99-68) in the next round.
Fielding five internationals, Spalding dominated their home leg with victories for their outstanding skips Graham Smith and Martin Spencer by 27-12 and 31-14 over Simon Law and James Harford respectively.
But the Stamford players refused to be overawed and dug in, especially during the later stages to keep the score manageable and give Dolby and Paul Bailey the opportunity to take the tie beyond their opponents' reach.
Bailey said: "It was a terrific performance overall against our old rivals. We couldn't have asked for more from all our players."
Results (Stamford names only): Spalding 82 Stamford 87. Home - E Wallace, H Holroyd, P Edwards, M Dolby beat K Ekins 33-5; M Holroyd, K Bailey, J Holroyd, P Bailey beat J Philpott. 28-19. Away - P Dalliday, C Warters, S Suffling, S Law lost to G Smith 14-31; B Warters, P Jones, C Ford, J Harford lost M Spencer 12-27.
Stamford's women's team will play local rivals Peterborough tomorrow (Saturday) with home and away starts at 10am in the Yetton Plate after a thrilling 98-79 victory over Leicester.
After 18 of the 21 ends of a match that demands two rinks play at home while two play away simultaneously, Stamford trailed 68-77.
But a late surge of scoring from the home rink skipped by Denise Mackie and the away quartet skipped by Christine Ford, turned the tide in their favour.
At Leicester, June Brennan, Pat Jones, Shirley Suffling and Ford picked up nine shots in three ends and over a similar stretch at Stamford Jan Want, Joan Robinson - who had to step in for Ann Preston-Bambridge, taken ill after 10 ends - Carol Warters and Mackie claimed a successive five and four count.
Results (Stamford names only): Yetton Plate: Stamford 98 Leicester 79. Home - R Roberts, F Rogers, P Birch, M Bloxham won 29-25; J Want, A Preston-Bambridge ( J Robinson) , D Mackie won 31-15. Away - J Brennan, P Jones, S Suffling, C Ford won 21-16; E Wallace, M Andrews, M Holroyd, G Edwards lost 17-23.
Stamford will field the same team that finished the match against Leicester, when Joan Robinson deputised for the unwell Ann Preston-Bambridge. Louise Harris and Helen Holroyd have been named as reserves.
With a 15-shot defeat of Boston, Stamford Men's A team continued their winning streak of three away matches to top the Lincolnshire First Division table.
Following wins at Louth and Sleaford they quickly built up a handy lead and held on comfortably to take a 44-point aggregate of points into their next match - a home tie with current champions Lincoln 'A' on December 1.
Their three out of five winning rinks and a 110-95 scoreline, earned them 14 of the 18 points at stake.
Among the heroes of the victory were 10-year-old Owen Aspinall and teenager James Hebden, whom at lead and number two for Adam Warrington and captain Paul Bailey raced into a healthy advantage against Rod West's rink and despite dropping a count on the last end won 28-20.
However, rink honours went to Wayne Aspinall, Chris Ballard, Bob Warters and Roger Martin who beat Richard Vinter's quartet by 10 shots.
Stamford's third rink win came in topsy turvy fashion. Skip John Holroyd thought his team had let two points slip when leading by three on the penultimate end when they dropped a six count. However, they hit back immediately with a six of their own to win 26-23.
Lincoln 'A' retain top spot in the league by six points after a 130-74 whitewash of Sleaford - their third successive home match.
Result (Stamford names only): Lincolnshire Men's League Division One: Boston 95 (4pts) Stamford A 110 (14). R Allam, M Linnell, M Humphreys, J Holroyd won 26-23; D Hudson, Mal Smith, K Rippin, P Edwards lost 16-20; W Aspinall, C Ballard, B Warters, Roger Martin won 25-15; M Ramsden, J Travis-Jenner, C Watson, T Collins lost 16-17; O Aspinall, J Hebden, A Warrington, P Bailey won 28-20.
Following confidence-boosting wins over Louth, Sleaford and Boston, Stamford's men's team take on another local rival - Grantham - tomorrow (Saturday, 10am) in the second round of the Denny Plate - a national inter-club competition for those beaten in the first round of the Denny Cup.
Spurred also by the knowledge that at least six of the team beat Leicester in the final of this competition as previous members of Peterborough IBC in 2007, Stamford will be hoping they can again find the form in both the home and away legs, to earn a tie against either Scunthorpe or Boston.
Captain Paul Bailey has re-shuffled the side which beat Louth in the previous round to introduce Mick Humphreys and Roger Martin into the home side, while Neil Wright joins Simon Law's rink at Grantham.
Stamford: Away- Paul Dalliday, Bob Warters, James Harford, Tristan Morton; Richard Allam, Neil Wright, Jeff Newson, Simon Law.
Home - Dave Hudson, John Holroyd, Adam Warrington, Peter Edwards; Wayne Aspinall, Mick Humphreys, Roger Martin, Paul Bailey.
Helen Holroyd and Louise Harris from the Stamford Indoor Bowls Club have been selected for the final England Under 25 trial ahead of the Home Internationals.
The duo took part in the regional development trial at City of Ely IBC at the weekend along with clubmate Katie Bailey and the cream of the regions young women bowlers and did enough to catch the selectors' eye to earn a place in the final trial at Rugby Thornfield on December 2.
Also taking part are Ruby Hill, Danielle Wild and current England Under 25 captain Chelsea Tomlin - all from the Spalding Club.
Competing simultaneously at the same venue for a place in the men's under 25 team will be Stamford-based Stephen Harris, also representing Spalding.
Stamford bowler Richard Montgomery produced a game-changing shot to clinch Lincolnshire's Midland Senior League victory over Notts at the Nottingham Bowls Centre.
With the match delicately poised and the overall scores only narrowly favouring Lincs, he produced the shot of the day, ditching the jack from a two-down position for an eventual four count.
It not only put his rink of Mal Smith, Mick Owens and skip Bob Warters ahead for the first time in 19 ends - winning 21-19 - but clinched the six rink match aggregate.
Lincs won 120-111 and picked up 18 of the 22 points at stake.
John Little and David Heffernan also joined the Boston pairing of Keith Nix and Richard White to take rink honours 26-18. Scunthorpe, Lincoln and Horncastle clubs were also represented.
Stamford IBC travel to Kettering Lodge on Sunday morning in the second of the EIBA Top Club event, which demands a mixed team playing singles, pairs, triples and fours.
Team: singles - Christine Ford and Adam Warrington; pairs - Elizabeth Wallace and Martyn Dolby; triples - P Dalliday, S Suffling, S Law; fours - H Holroyd, K Bailey, J Harford, T Morton.
Christine Ford, from Ketton Bowls Club, has taken over as president of Northants Women's Bowling Federation. She succeeds Jessica Phillips who has held the post for the past year.
Her inauguration took place at the NWBF annual general meeting this week when Terri Handley, of Langtoft Bowls Club, was voted in as secretary to replace Liz Barr who has retired after several years in the post.
Chris is a former president of the Stamford and District (Outdoor) League and a prominent member of Stamford Indoor Bowls where she is captain of the county mixed team. Married to Dick, she lives at Uffington and said she is looking forward to her new role.
Joan Robinson is set to continue as captain of the county's Donald Steward team with Ann Cooper will carrying on in a similar role with the Silver Jubilee Vase team.
Following their maximum points defeat of Northants B, the Northants A captain James Harford has re-shuffled his team for the visit to Wisbech on November 25 (10am) to play North Cambs in the second series of Derbyshire Trophy matches.
Trevor Collins deputises for Martyn Dolby, still not fully fit, while Bob Warters replaces Nick Wilkie as lead on Tristan Morton's rink.
Northants A: P Dalliday, J Harford, S Law; S Harris, T Scarr, T Collin; B. Warters, J. Newson, T. Morton; A Warrington, M. Humphreys, R. Martin.
Northants B play Norfolk at Gallows IBC at Fakenham on Sunday (Nov 19).
The team is: Les Sharp, Ray Keating, Mick Linnell; Brian Bassam, Dick Noble, Graham Agger; Richard Allam, John Holroyd, Jon Earl; Malcolm Squires, Cliff Watson, Peter Brown.
Senior bowlers at Stamford (Over 60s) will be represented by two of the six rinks at York on Monday for the first round match for Lincolnshire against Durham in the national Senior Liberty Knock-out competition.
Lincs just missed out on reaching the final last year - beaten by one shot by Norfolk at St Neots and are determined to at least go one better.
Peter Edwards and Jeff Newson will skip the Stamford rinks while other clubs represented will be Lincoln, Scunthorpe, Boston and Horncastle.
Stamford rinks: B Warters, T Scarr, Roger Martin, J Newson; Mal Smith, M Owens, A Barnes, P Edwards.
Stamford play Grantham away on Tuesday in the Lincs Over 60s League Division Two.
John Holroyd, Derek King and Mike Ramsden are the first of six bowlers to qualify for the knock out stages of the Lincs men's county singles, having beaten Mark Hebden, Wayne Aspinall and his son Owen respectively in the Stamford IBC internal qualifiers.
Players have until December 9 to play their final qualifying rounds in six disciplines.
Open sets singles: H Holroyd v M Ramsden, J Holroyd v J Hebden, W Aspinall v A Warrington, M Hebden v K Gentry, C Ford v K Rippin, D King v T Barwell.
Men's singles: J Hebden v G Oliver, A Ro,Kane v M Humphreys, A Warrington v C Ballard. Open Over 60 Singles: M Dolby v K Rippin, S Suffling v B Warters, R Allam v J Bourne, C Ford v K Gentry. Mixed pairs: D King v R Allam, M Humphreys v J Holroyd, C Ballard v C Ford.
Men's pairs: N Wright v G Oliver, K Vinter v J Holroyd, B Warters v T Barwell. Men's triples: R Allam v C Watson, K Vinter v J Holroyd, N Wright v M Hebden. Men's fours : N Wright v T Christie, C Ballard v M Ramsden
World-ranked bowler Mark Royal will be bringing his Potters Roadshow retail bowls shop to Stamford IBC on Wednesday November 21 from noon- 7pm.
As well as sets of the latest bowls, bowls clothing, shoes and equipment for sale, the Suffolk-based player is always happy to answer questions and offer advice to bowlers whether new or experienced.
Stamford women bowlers will entertain Sleaford on November 21 (10.30am) in their next Trudy Bates A League match.
Team: J Lonslow, M Andrews, P Jones, H Holroyd; E Wallace, S Gentry, F Rogers, G Edwards; M King, A Lea, S Suffling, C Ford; R Roberts, J Dye, S Henshaw, P Birch; J Want, M Holden, C Warters, D Mackie. Res V Du'Kett, A Preston-Bambridge.
