Graham Smith and Chelsea Tomlin represented Spalding Indoor Bowls Club at the men’s and women’s national champion of champions finals over the weekend after winning a series of qualifying games throughout the season.
They both got through the first day with relative ease as, in the last 16, Smith beat J Brennan from Worthing Pavilion (21-10) and followed it up with a win in the quarter final against S Cook of Colchester (21-15).
Tomlin also breezed through the same rounds beating S Walter from Wealden (21-4) and S Entwistle from Redcar (21-7).
In the semi-finals on Sunday, Smith played Tom Segolo from Norfolk, while Tomlin played Kirsty Mann from Beccles.
Unfortunately, Tomlin lost out in an epic encounter 21-18 where many spectators commented that it should have been the final.
Mann went on to win the final comfortably (21-7).
Smith fared better in his semi-final. He was always in control as he won 21-15 and set up a final clash against international colleague Matt Whyers from Boston.
This meant that the winner of the title would come from Lincolnshire for the first time since the 1999/2000 season.
In the final, Whyers started the better of the two players and Smith was always chasing.
Whyers picked up a crucial four shots to go 17-7 up, but Smith showed his fighting qualities as he reduced the deficit to 17-13.
However, Whyers closed out the match well to win 21-13 and claim the title of national champion of champions for the first time.
It certainly goes some way to make up for Whyers’ defeat in the national singles final in October 2021, where he lost against Huntingdon’s Nicky Brett.
- Spalding IBC’s ladies enjoyed another fine result in the Trudy Bates competition away at Boston last Thursday.
The match was closely contested throughout, with Spalding generally in front.
At the halfway stage, Spalding were winning on two rinks, level on another and down on the last by two shots.
Four ends later, Spalding were one shot behind on aggregate but a big push on the last three ends by the rinks skipped by Betty Deaton and Maisie Belding, scoring seven and six shots respectively, put Spalding back in charge – and they eventually won 71-63.
Spalding also collected 12 of the available 14 points.
The top winning rink was skipped by Julie Hicks, with Sheila Chamberlain, Chris Jackson and Jenny Horner who won 20-11.
After five group games, Boston remain top by three points with three games left to play.
- The latest game for Spalding IBC’s friendly bowlers was at Peterborough.
The side was captained by Paul Tuner and Tony Westland and was Paul’s first game in charge as friendly captain. At five ends, Spalding had already opened up a 34-13 lead which was extended to 61-29 by ten ends.
The scoring increased dramatically as the lead was 113-49 by 15 ends before a final score of 123-55.
The top winning rink was skipped by Rob West, with Chris Williamson and Paul Turner who had an impressive 33-3 rink win, having picked up 26 shots in ten ends without reply.
