Stamford Indoor Bowls Club round-up
The Stamford quartet of Tony Barwell, John Holroyd, Tony Scarr and Trevor Collins have reached the English Indoor Bowling Association national finals of the Over 60 Fours.
They will represent the club after beating an established Lincoln and District four skipped by George Draper on the neutral Sleaford carpet.
Stamford held the edge in the early stages of their match on Tuesday morning but a loose fve-count on the 13th end put them 12-13 behind.
However, they hit back immediately with four shots, only to enter the last of the 18 ends at 17 shots apiece.
Lincoln held two until Collins shuffled the head with a heavy bowl, leaving the jack nestled next to Barwells yellow bowl.
And, when Draper failed to recover the shot, it left Stamford 18-17 winners with Collins not needing to deliver his last bowl.
In the last 16 in April, they will play either Domingo's (Redhill) or Hounslow.
And in another nail-biting finish at Sleaford, Stamford’s senior team extended their lead at the top of the Lincs League (South) but will face a tough challenge when on Monday (10.30am) they host title rivals Boston A, who will still have two games in hand.
A 13-point haul at Sleaford from a 73-68 shots win took Stamford to 102 points - 21 clear of Boston A who must also travel to Spalding on Thursday.
It was a tense battle on Sleaford’s blue carpet which could have gone either way.
But, with three narrow rink wins and a draw for captain Kevin Vinter’s quartet, near maximum points should set them up nicely for Boston’s visit.
Elsewhere, Derek King’s rink held on for a 17-16 win despite conceding five shots over the last two ends, with Jeff Pitt’s four fighting back to claim victory after trailing 7-13 at halfway.
Trevor Collins' four took the rink honours 23-20 despite leading 19-9 at one stage.
Lincs Over 60s League (South): Sleaford 68 (1) Stamford 73 (13). Stamford names only. D Heffernan, A Hynes, M Hewitt, D King won 17-16; J Bourne, P Shaw, P Burt, K Vinter drew 18-18; T Scarr, D Henshaw, P Smith, T Collins won 23-20; T Barwell, D Bruce, D Oakey, J Pitt won 15-14.
Yvonne Monaghan won three titles at the Northants Bowling Federation indoor finals held at Peterborough IBC on Sunday - claiming the women’s singles, senior singles and pairs.
She beat Elizabeth Wallace, Chris Ford and Lyn Tuck and Shirley Suffling respectively (with Vicky Simpson) but lost the two-bowl triples to Wallace, Ford and Sue Moir.
Federation chairman Martyn Dolby retained his county senior singles title against Kevin Vinter and in the men’s singles Stephen Harris beat John Holroyd.
There was a last end win for Tom Newman-Borrett and substitute Liz Hext in the mixed pairs and it took a final bowl on an explosive extra end to see Paul Dalliday, Simon Law and Tristan Morton beat holders Mike Humphreys, Newman-Borrett and Harris in the men’s triples.
The winners will represent the county in the national finals at Lincoln IBC at the end of April.
Men
Singles: S Harris beat J Holroyd 21-14; Senior singles: M Dolby beat K Vinter 21-15; Pairs: B Martin & C Ballard beat M Mitchell and N Wright 23-11; Triples: P Dalliday, S Law, T Morton beat M Humphreys, T Newman-Borrett, S Harris 20-19 (after extra end).
Mixed
Pairs: T Newman-Borrett & LHext beat L & K Tuck 19-18; Triples: P Dalliday, L Harris, S Law beat M Mitchell, C Ford, S Harris 19-6.
Women
Singles: Y Monaghan beat E Wallace 21-10; Senior singles: Y Monaghan beat C Ford 21-10; Pairs: V Simpson & Y Monaghan beat S Suffling & L Tuck 18-11; Triples: E Wallace, S Moir, C Ford beat J Baker, P Seymour, Y Monaghan 25-15.
Ollie Jeapes retained his NBF Under 25 singles when he beat friend and rival Owen Aspinall in their delayed final 21-7 at Stamford IBC on Monday.
The pair were unable to compete in the county finals at Peterborough IBC owing to a previous commitment at York IBC at the weekend but, in a high quality two-bowl singles match, Jeapes earned the right to defend his national EBF title in April.
Against bottom of the table Boston B, the Stamford A men's team needed maximum points if they were to have any chance of retaining the Lincs League team title.
Following their latest defeat by rivals Spalding, hopes had dwindled of qualifying, despite a game in hand, so it required a full house of points - but their stubborn opposition were in no mood to concede quietly.
There was a comfortable win for the rink skipped by Jeff Pitt while Malcolm Mitchell, Neil Wright and Adam Warrington performed heroics to win 20-9 despite being a player short.
Injuries during the game and counts against them at crucial stages left the fours of Trevor Collins and Roger Martin empty-handed.
Pitt - with Dave Heffernan, Jim Pryor and Chris Ballard - took the rink honours 33-12, having led 23-2 then claiming 13 shots without reply in seven ends.
Lincs Men’s League (South): Boston B 63 (4pts) Stamford A 81 (10). Stamford names only. D Heffernan, J Pryor, C Ballard, J Pitt won 33-12; T Barwell, G King, D Oakey, T Collins lost 13-21; M Mitchell, N Wright, A Warrington won 20-9; M Anderson, M Ramsden, M Linnell, R Martin lost 15-21.
There will be debuts for Aprille Sharpe and Ike Zucchetti when Stamford entertain Grantham in the Lincs Mixed League on Saturday (2pm).
Stamford are likely to be included in the planned, re-shaped second division next season but it is an opportunity for new faces to stake a claim in the team.
Stamford: C Warters, J Suffling, S Suffling B Warters; A Sharpe, V Du’Kett, R Blake, N Crees; S Gentry, L Cave, B Orme, D Cave; R Roberts, J Lonslow, I Zucchetti, D Wilkinson.
