Royal Mail Cart Bowls Club players Martin Spencer and Ruby Hill are celebrating international gold after helping England to victory in the European Championships in Ayr.
They were part of the successful ten-player team (five men and five women) and played two disciplines each. Spencer was no.2 in the triples event with Jack Emmerson (Nottinghamshire) and Andrew Briden (Buckinghamshire) and they were joined by Nick Wardle (Leicestershire), who led the fours.
Hill played in the triples with Emily Kernick (Warwickshire) and county teammate Amy Pharoah (Cleethorpes) and with Kernick, Nicole Rogers and Harriet Stevens (both Devon) in the fours.
Spencer helped his triple get through the group stage with a draw against Ireland (15-15) and wins against Hungary (18-17), Czech Rep. (29-7) and the Netherlands (21-12).
Hill got through the fours group with wins against Jersey (16-9), an astonishing 51-0 win against Spain and the Czech Republic (23-4) but lost against the Isle of Man (16-13) and Wales (17-9).
Spencer’s team were always ahead in their semi-final against Ireland and, despite a close finish, England won 17-12 to earn a place in the final against the host nation, who beat Israel in the other semi-final.
Hill’s team were beaten 17-14 by Scotland in their semi-final and then 19-5 by Wales in the bronze medal match.
However, Spencer helped his triples team to gold, beating Scotland 17-10 in front of their home crowd.
The men’s fours breezed through their group with twins against Wales (12-8), Switzerland (20-9), the Isle of Man (18-7) and Hungary (25-6).
The ladies’ triples got through in a similar fashion as they beat Israel (27-7), Turkey (38-5), Scotland (21-13), Spain (38-10) and Jersey (26-7).
An agonisingly close semi-final saw the men lose on an extra end to Ireland and then go down 13-12 to Israel in the bronze medal match.
The ladies’ triples lost on the last bowl of the game against Wales but Hill and her team recovered to beat Ireland 24-12 to claim bronze.
Collectively, the England team came home with four golds and a bronze medal.
l It was also a good day for Royal Mail Cart as they won the county club championship for the fourth time in a row and for the fifth time in the last six seasons.
The finals were played at Mareham Le Fen and their opposition in the semi-final were Sleaford Town. Royal Mail Cart were always in control, mainly thanks to the rink skipped by Ash Caress, who won 32-12. Although Sleaford battled hard, Royal Mail Cart proved too strong as they won 63-52 to book their place in the final, where they played Cleethorpes, who had beat Burton House.
Royal Mail Cart stamped their authority from the outset and were always in control as they beat Cleethorpes 53-25.
Rink scores – Semi-final v Sleaford Town: Paul Caress, Martin Simpson, Kevin Ekins and Ash Caress won 32-12; Simon Lilley, Chelsea Spencer, Harry Mycock and Dominic McVittie won 20-18; Dan Mills, Tracy Philpott, Graham Smith and Jordan Philpott lost 22-11.
Final v Cleethorpes: Simon Lilley, Chelsea Spencer, Harry Mycock, Dominic McVittie won 23-7; Paul Caress, Martin Simpson, Kevin Ekins, Ash Caress won 17-7; Dan Mills, Tracy Philpott, Graham Smith, Jordan Philpott won 13-11.
l James Cherry won the Castle Bowls Club Open under-25 four-woods singles title for the second time, beating Nathan Puttrell in the final.
The first person to win the trophy was Mark Cherry, his late dad, in September 1990.
