Stamford Indoor Bowls Club are aiming to retain the Lincs Men's League southern section title
Stamford bowlers must take advantage of a lifeline thrown to them by their nearest rivals if they are to retain the Lincs Men's League southern section title on Saturday.
Following their recent defeat by Spalding, Stamford Men's A team were hanging on to the faint hope that the league leaders would slip up in their final game at Boston A last weekend.
And so it proved with Boston taking 12 of the 14 points at stake in a 94-74 shot win.
It leaves Stamford A with a stark challenge. They simply need to beat bottom of the table Boston B overall and take the eight points needed to tie the leaders on 93 - and win the league by virtue of a superior shots aggregate. Any additional rink points would be a bonus.
Said stand-in captain Bob Warters, deputising for Tony Barwell who is recovering from heart surgery: "Spalding are eight points ahead of us and knew what they had to do at Boston - take nine of the 14 points available - to put the title beyond our reach.
"In the end, we owe the Boston lads, our admiration. They restricted Spalding to just two points in a 20-shot win. But we still have a job to do against the Boston second string - it's a must win for us."
Stamford A will be without two of their most consistent regulars, with Wayne Aspinall supporting his son Owen (15) who is playing for Lincolnshire Under 25s at Nottingham in the final of the inter-counties double rink.
However, among those who have been drafted in is Jim Pryor from the Langtoft club, who has impressed in singles and pairs competitions this season, to make his indoor first team debut.
Simultaneously Stamford B, who have enjoyed a much improved season, will travel to play Grantham.
Teams: Stamford A home to Boston ‘B’ on Saturday: K Rawlins, B Crouch, B Warters, M Linnell; M Ramsden, C Ballard, J Pryor, J Earl; M Humphreys, D Heffernan, N Wright, A Warrington; P Shaw, K Rippin, A McNaughton, R Martin.
Stamford B, away to Grantham on Saturday: J Suffling, B Orme, D Bruce, D Henshaw; P Linnell, M Owens, D Edwards, H Gordon; S Christie , G Clarke, C Jones, N Crees; G Patrickson, J Hare, M Hewitt, D Wilkinson.
With a resounding maximum points haul at Grantham, Stamford’s mixed team completed their fixtures in some style to finish third in the Lincs League behind Spalding and Boston.
After a disappointing start to the season, they recovered to finish ahead of Skegness and Grantham, with captain Shirley Suffling appreciative of the loyalty and commitment of her players.
But it was perhaps appropriate that her rink of her husband John, Marilyn Christie and Bernie Crouch took the honours by 12 shots having earlier built a 22-5 lead.
Lincs Mixed League (South). Grantham 57 (0) Stamford 84 (14). Stamford names only. L Cave, R March, A March, D Cave won 26-17; M Christie, J Suffling, S Suffling, B Crouch won 24-12; M Ramsden, V Du’Kett, S Christie, S Moir won 16-14; R Roberts, J Lonslow, J Hare, H Gordon won 18-14.
In the Trudy Bates Lincs Women’s League, Stamford completed a gruelling end of the season fixture list with two games in 24 hours at home to Boston, then away to Skegness.
So all credit to those who made themselves available for both games, following a transport hiccup which cancelled their visit to Skegness earlier in the season and which demanded the game be re-arranged.
Sadly they only managed four points from a possible 28 following a single shot defeat at Boston and a 100-52 loss at the seaside.
Lincs Women’s Trudy Bates League (South): Stamford 64 (2) Boston 65 (12). Stamford names first. A Northen, L Tuck, S Suffling, S Henshaw lost 12-15; E Wallace, P Birch, R March, S Moir lost 13-19; R Roberts, J Lonslow, P Jones, D Mackie lost 13-24; M Christie, R Downs, M Holroyd, C Ford won 26-7.
John Holroyd will meet club colleague Jeff Pitt in the final of the Lincs IBA Over 60s final on April 17 which will guarantee Stamford a 2024 county title.
When Pitts’ opponent, Jeremy Russell from Grantham, withdrew from the 9am semi-final at Louth on Sunday, it meant Holroyd’s clash against the experienced Lincoln legend George Draper would determine whether Stamford would be ensured a champion in their ranks.
Recalled Holroyd: "I fought back well after conceding a couple easy scores early on but once I got the hang of short jacks (on the tricky Louth carpet) I caught up and managed to get over the line 21-17."
Stamford will also have finalists in the men’s singles and Under 25 singles.
Fourteen-year-old Ollie Jeapes beat Boston’s Ian Clarke 21-17 in the men’s event and Owen Aspinall (15) accounted for Jake Johnson (Lincoln) in the Under 25 singles in straight sets.
Jeapes will play Dominic McVittie (Spalding) who beat the defending champion, Lincoln’s Richard Ashton.
Jeapes lost in a tie break to Nathan Dunnington (Boston) in the other Under 25 semi-final. Both will play alongside Owen for Lincs Under 25s in the national double rink final at Nottingham on Saturday.
Chris Ballard had a chance to give Stamford another finalist but also came up against McVittie, fresh from winning the recent EIBA Champion of Champions title and named man of the series for England in the onternationals against Scotland, Ireland and Wales at Chelmsford the previous day
Said Ballard: "I lost 2-0 in sets against Dom but gave him a good game and was winning at start of both sets but eventually lost them both."
Together with McVittie, Stamford’s Stephen Harris was also a member of the England team at Falcons IBC.
He led in a rink which included Martin Puckett and former world indoor singles champions Les Gillett and Greg Harlow.
They won their first match against Ireland 23-18 but lost 15-17 to Wales and 17-20 to Paul Foster’s Scotland rink. England were unbeaten overall.
