Two Spalding Indoor Bowls Club players came away from an Easter event at Hartlepool Indoor Bowls Club with silverware.
Hartlepool hosted their open singles on the Friday, which is part of the EIBA (English Indoor Bowling Association) Open Singles Circuit – and that was followed by their 49th International Masters Pairs Tournament on the Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
Spalding’s Dominic McVittie came away with the singles crown and was joined by Martin Spencer to win the pairs tournament.
In the singles event, McVittie came through his first three rounds with apparent ease, beating Gary McPheaters 2-0 (11-2, 9-1), Josh Minto 1.5-0.5 (9-0, 6-6) and Mark Goodfellow 2-0 (9-5, 8-4).
Also through to the quarter final was Spalding’s Jordan Philpott, who had an excellent run too.
Philpott enjoyed a comfortable win against Scotland’s Stevie Rankin whilst McVittie beat the host club’s Glenn Skipp in straight sets 2-0 (10-5, 8-6).
This set up a very impressive semi-final line up where Philpott was matched up against Jamie Walker, who has recently been selected to represent England at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, while McVittie took on England international, David Bolt from South Shields.
Unfortunately, Philpott’s run came to an end at the semi-final stage and found Walker in top form.
McVittie, on the other hand, had an exceptional game against Bolt, winning in straight sets but on the deciding end of each set, securing a place in the final 2-0 (6-5, 7-6).
The final was eagerly anticipated and the crowd were not disappointed by two players at the top of their form.
It was Walker who started the better of the two players, taking the first set 7-5 but McVittie did not let that phase him as he took the second 8-1 to take the match into a three end tie break which went to the final end.
McVittie held shot before Walker drew close with his third bowl of the end.
The players, nor the marker, were not completely sure who was closer but McVittie took matters into his own hands.
He played a perfect runner with his last bowl of the match to put the jack in the ditch and sit approximately six inches away, making it nearly impossible for Walker to retrieve the shot.
Walker missed out with his last and McVittie won the Hartlepool Open Singles title for the first time.
For the rest of the weekend, the attention turned to the pairs tournament where Spencer and McVittie enjoyed success.
With 16 teams in each group, every pair played six games, three on Saturday, three on Sunday, aiming to make top four of the group to qualify for the knockout finals day on Monday.
On Saturday, Spencer and McVittie put themselves in an excellent position, beating Paul Wallace and Mark Irwin (9-7), Dale Oram and Steve Tindale (28-5) and Sam O’Donnell and Jonathan Ross (15-10).
They followed that up with three more wins against T Sclater and M McGowan (12-10), Stevie Rankin and Derek McClue (9-5) and Rae Graham and Eddie Murray (13-8).
Also enjoying six wins from six games in the group was Philpott, who partnered with Hartlepool’s Carl Higgins, and came second in the group with Spencer and McVittie third and both qualifying for the finals day of the tournament.
Higgins and Philpott lost at the quarter final stage, going down 5-14 against Paul Hartley and David Bolt.
But Spencer and McVittie progressed as they beat Daniel Poole and Graham Vipond (12-6).
Again, the semi-final competitors were of the highest quality as the Spalding pair took on Josh Minto and Martin Heitzman, who topped the group the day before.
Spencer and McVittie raced into an 11-0 lead before their opposition acknowledged defeat at 14-3 with a couple of ends to spare.
The other semi-final saw Matt Pownall and Jamie Walker beat Hartley and Bolt, 11-10.
The final was extended to 15 ends after playing 12 ends or 90 minutes for the rest of the weekend.
Walker would have no doubt been out for revenge after his singles final defeat to McVittie.
But the Spalding pair started the better by collecting a count of four shots on the very first end.
Pownall and Walker fought back to 4-4 at four ends, but that’s as good as it got as the Spalding aces complimented each other exceptionally well to outclass their opposition and eventually win the final 18-6 when the match was conceded after 12 ends.
That meant Spencer and McVittie, who won tournament for the first time, join some very good company on the honours list – including a number of world champions.
