Spalding Indoor Bowls Club’s under-25 double triples team finished as narrow runners-up at the national finals in Nottingham on Sunday.
The team consisted of Lauren Finbow, Ruby Hill and Jordan Philpott on one rink and the Rhys Hill, Chelsea Tomlin and Stephen Harris on the other.
Aaron Barnes was reserve with Colin Wilson as team manager, as the Spalding boys and girls were aiming to win the title for the third time in the club’s history, having won it back in 2004 and 2010.
In the semi-final on Sunday morning, Spalding faced off against St Neots – who boasted three under-25 internationals of their own.
In a match where the momentum went one way and then the other, Spalding finished the stronger and eventually won by nine shots (35-26).
Philpott’s rink won 18-10 against Adam Barker, while Harris also narrowly won 17-16 against Jamie Barker.
This impressive win secured a place in the final against defending champions Swale, who had beaten Wey Valley 37-26.
The final was always going to be close and an excellent advert for the sport as, of the 12 players on show, eight were internationals at either under-18, under-25 or senior level.
It was Spalding who started the stronger and they were actually leading at five ends, albeit only by a couple of shots.
The defending champions got a foothold in the game in the second half and with some class bowls of their own, eventually winning by six shots (36-30).
Harris led his rink to an 18-9 win against Andrew Rodger, but Philpott found his opposition, skipped by Paige Dennis, in top form as he went down 12-27.
- Martin Spencer and Graham Smith played in the semi-final of the county sets singles and county singles respectively.
Spencer played Lincoln’s Sam Ashton at Horncastle whilst Smith played Jonathan West from Boston at Sleaford.
In the sets singles, Ashton started the stronger as he took the first set 8-3 before Spencer bounced back to take the second set 7-3 and force a tie break.
Spencer held his nerve to win the first two ends of the tie break and secure his place in the final.
In the singles, Smith had to battle hard against West as the Boston youngster went into a 12-6 lead.
Smith soon got back into the game and eventually won 21-16.
Spencer and Smith then ensured all-Spalding clashes in the county finals – where they play each other in the final of the sets singles – while Smith will play Kevin Ekins in the singles.
The final Spalding involvement in semi-finals will be Matt Whyers and Philpott in the county pairs, which will take place at Louth on April 18.
- Spalding IBC’s over-60s county league team played their penultimate game of the season at Scunthorpe on Friday.
Spalding started slowly on a very quick carpet and, after five ends, were 28-13 down. By ten ends the deficit had extended to 61-23 and by 15 ends, the score got even worse to 96-38, with all five rinks going down.
The final score finished with all five rinks being won by Scunthorpe and the home team won 132-59 (18-0 on points).
p Spalding’s men’s county league team played their final two fixtures at home to Horncastle and Louth B.
Both games were won impressively and, on both occasions Spalding took control from the offset, won by over 100 shots, on all rinks and 18-0 on points.
On Saturday, the top winning rink was skipped by Martin Spencer, with Rhys Hill, Ab Belding and Ken Challans, who won 46-6 whilst on Sunday, the top rink was skipped by Martin Simpson, with Pete Bendell, Ab Belding and Andy Dunham, who won 41-9.
The final two wins secured second place and promotion to division one next season.
- In the closing stages of the season, Spalding IBC’s friendly team played an away game at Boston on Sunday.
Despite Boston being the home team, Spalding took an early lead on four of the six rinks and by the fifth end, were already ten shots in the lead. The lead was extended to 68-38 at 10 ends, 104-57 at 15 ends. The game finished 114-76 to the away team.
The Spalding team had some new players who put in a fair showing of their game.
Top winning rink was skipped by Roger Perkins, with Edna Perkins, Pat Cox and Maggie Wheatley. Perkins was also captain for the day.
