After their opening round victory last month in Norfolk, the Royal Mail Cart open EBF Durham Centenary Trophy team played their area semi-final in the Southern Section play-offs.
It was at home to Northamptonshire qualifier Blackstones and in a 25-end match of two-bowl triples over four rinks against the Stamford team, Cart were never in trouble.
They eased to a 97-62 win to earn a section final place at home to Suffolk qualifiers Marlborough, from Ipswich.
Rink scores: John Allen, Chris Mycock, Kevin Ekins won 34-9; Steve Hill, Chelsea Spencer, Martin Spencer won 27-17; Tracy Philpott, Phil Cooke, Jordan Philpott won 22-13; Dan Mills, Martin Simpson, Ben Wilson lost 14-23.
Royal Mail Cart’s national open Bowls England Club Two Fours team had won three matches and went into the area semi-final at home to Grantham full of confidence, looking to go one step closer than their national runners-up place last year.
As the match reached the final five ends, the games were very close with the opposition holding a 23-21 lead.
With six ends to play, they extended that to nine shots.
However, the Mail Cart team would not give up without a fight and went into the final end all square at 33-33.
The tie went down to the last bowl played by home skip and club captain Jordan Philpott who took the Grantham shot bowl out of the head but unfortunately clipped his team’s closest bowl out at the same time and Mail Cart lost the match by one shot to bow out of the competition.
Rink scores: Steve Hill, Andy Dunham, Martin Spencer, Dominic McVittie won 21-15; Ben Wilson, Kevin Ekins, Ashley Cares, Jordan Philpott lost 12-19.
In the section four EBA fours league, Mail Cart A were searching for a fifth straight victory to maintain their perfect start to the season at home to Gosberton BC.
They outplayed their opponents to win by 66 shots to 33 and collect another maximum eight points. The top rink won 27-8 and was skipped by Andy Dunham, with Steve Hill, Sally Humphries and Chris Mycock.
Other scores: Paul Caress, Ben Sharp, Ben Wilson, Kevin Ekins won 19-11; John Allen, Phil Cooke, Graham Smith, Martin Spencer won 20-14.
Royal Mail Cart B were playing their first game for three weeks, at Whaplode Drove. The tricky green proved too strong a task and Cart lost 67-31 on shots and 8-0 on points.
Rink scores: George Richardson, Graham Astley, Stuart Callaby, Paul Turner lost 13-16; John Breed, Joy Hardacre, Nigel Brown, Martin Simpson lost 9-24; Aarron Bates, Judith Lacey, Colin Wilson, Rob Lacey lost 9-27.
In Division One of the EBA Triples, Mail Cart B won 50-39 at Moulton Harrox A, collecting a maximum ten points.
The top rink skipped by Phil Cooke, with Sally Humphries and Stuart Callaby, won 22-15.
Other scores: Aarron Bates, Rob Lacey, Paul Turner won 15-13; Mel Mashford, Ben Sharp, Mick Dolton won 13-11.
In the Thursday Night League, the A team’s match at Castle was postponed because of the hot temperatures.
The B team are still looking for their first win of the season after going down 96-51, 6-0, at home to Moulton Harrox.
Rink scores: George Richardson, Graham Brickles, Joe Mellon lost 15-18; Malcolm Robinson, Joy Hardacre, Paul Turner lost 12-24; Aarron Bates, Colin Wilson, Rob Lacey lost 14-27; John Breed, Graham Astley, Alan Shakespeare lost 10-27.
Royal Mail Cart’s Dominic McVittie and Ruby Philpott (who plays her national competitions from Cleethorpes) travelled to the National Centre for Bowling in Ayr in Scotland to take part for England in the British Bowls International Series against Scotland, Ireland, Wales and Jersey in a multi-discipline international series event.
McVittie was named captain for the first time, however, he could not inspire his team to victory but they finished as runners-up, three points behind the hosts.
England ladies, captained by Spalding IBC member Annie Dunham, triumphed in their event by 12 points to retained the title.
At the same venue in the British Bowls Championships, Mail Cart’s Caroline Cullum and Chelsea Spencer (who plays her national competitions from Cleethorpes) reached the final of the pairs and collected a silver medal, losing out to Scotland.
Cullum, Philpott and Spencer also reached the final of the triples but again were rewarded with silver, this time losing out to Ireland.
Bowls Lincolnshire Men’s Midland Counties team were in action in the Francis Burton Trophy and won their second and final group stage match of the season on aggregate by one shot (129-128), collecting 16 points from the maximum 22 against Bowls Leicestershire at Blackstones.
The team included Royal Mail Cart players John Allen, Phil Cooke, Dan Mills and Martin Simpson.
Lincolnshire will play Nottinghamshire in the final at Royal Leamington Spa on Saturday, August 1.
☐ Only one match was played in the Sutton Bridge Banks Rose Bowl League.
It saw leaders March Town narrowly edge past Sutton Bridge 3½-2½, with the shots scores equal at 41-41.
P W L F A PsMarch Tn 6 5 1 366 298 26.5
Emneth 6 4 2 417 334 22.0
Newton 6 4 2 377 371 22.0
Gorefield 4 2 2 248 246 13.5
Sutton Br 6 1 5 282 331 11.5
Parson Dr 3 1 2 173 173 6.5
Blk Cats 5 1 4 192 302 6.0
