The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Acle’s Dan Seabourne won the under-25 Spalding Open after beating Sleaford’s David Bristow in a high quality final at the Castle Sports Complex.
The annual event, again generously sponsored by Hughes Electrical, was played to the Premier Threes format, with some of the best young players in the area on show.
After ten sessions of round robin matches, the top two in each group went through to the knockout stages.
An open quarter-final draw saw four Spalding players in the mix, but they were drawn against each other as Jordan Philpott edged out Ben Wilson 2.5-0.5 and Aaron Wild beat Ruby Hill by the same score.
In the other matches, Bristow continued his excellent group form by beating Rhys Morgan 2-0, with Seabourne beating Glenn Williams 2-0.
The semi-finals were both tense affairs, as all of the players’ fine form continued.
Bristow took another straight sets victory, this time against Wild as Seabourne beat Philpott 2-1, a match that went right to the last bowl played.
A packed crowd watched the final as Seabourne became the first player to take a set off Bristow, edging the first 3-2.
The next turned out to be the last in this best of three match, with Seabourne edging another close one 2-1 to take the £300 for first prize.
Bristow picked up a consolation prize of £150 for his fantastic showing, while the two losing semi finalists received £75 each and quarter-final losers took £25 each.
A Spalding Indoor Bowls Club statement said: “Thanks must go to all players, spectators, markers and umpire Colin, as well as tournament organiser Graham Smith.
“Our biggest thanks go to Graham Boor and his team at Hughes Electrical for sponsoring the event and providing a generous £700 in prize money.
“Without such gestures, tournaments like this couldn’t be held.
“Graham presented the cheques to the players and congratulated them on their efforts.”
- Spalding Indoor Bowls Club’s friendly section played the penultimate game of the season at Boston – and came away as worthy winners.
Even though Boston were playing on their home green, by the fifth end they were beginning to establish their dominance of the game and Spalding maintained the pressure and by the tenth end were scraping a four point lead overall.
Regardless of the aggregate score being level on many occasions during the game, Spalding held on to the lead and closed the game with a 19-shot advantage.
All present agreed it was a hard fought game played in the right spirit and all went home satisfied.
Spalding had a winning rink, who fought back from a disadvantage by the ninth end to close the game winning by 18 shots.
That rink consisted of Brian Skelton, Pat Cox, Maggie Wheatley and skip Alan Pitts. Spalding’s captain of the day was Roger Perkins.
- Spalding IBC’s mixed league team ended their season with a win against Boston.
The won on three rinks out of five and took the overall aggregate spoils.
The top rink was Judy Jackson, Ken Challans, Gill Needham and skip Graham Wright.
- Spalding IBC’s penultimate game of the season was at home against fellow strugglers Lincoln B.
The visitors started well and, after ten ends, were winning on three rinks. However, the aggregate scores were level at 49 shots each.
Spalding finished strongly on two rinks with scores of 26-10 and 30-19.
Close games on two further rinks finished in the home side’s favour, leaving the final result 16-2 in Spalding’s favour (117-92 on aggregate).
With both teams having one game left to play, Spalding now trail Lincoln B by nine points.
The best winning rink was skipped by Peter Godding, who was ably assisted by Pat Fillbrook, Derek Groves and Eric Wakefield.
Captain for the day was David Lunn, assisted by Pat Fillbrook.
