The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Graham Smith and Kevin Ekins both progressed to the semi-finals of the Lincolnshire singles after strong showings at Lincoln Indoor Bowls Club on Saturday.
The duo were among five Spalding Indoor Bowls Club members to take part in the county competition.
Smith, who only last weekend lost in the national Champion of Champions final, beat Lincoln youngster Richard Ashton 21-17 in the last 32.
The last 16 saw a repeat of last season’s final, where Smith played against Spalding’s defending champion Stephen Harris.
On this occasion, Smith was triumphant 21-20.
In his final game of the day, Smith defeated Sleaford’s Paul Roberts 21-17 in the quarter-final.
In the other half of the draw, Ekins was fortunate enough to receive a bye in the last 32.
Next up he saw off George Draper from Lincoln (21-15) and Richard Vinter from Boston (21-16).
In the quarter-final against Vinter, Ekins was certainly up against it as he fell 14-2 behind. However, the Spalding ace fought back well, picked up a full house of four shots, changed the jack length and eventually won the game.
In the last four, Smith will play Boston’s Jonathan West whilst Ekins will play Lincoln’s Kevin Rands.
County semi-finals day will be held at Horncastle on Sunday, March 30.
- A team of friendly bowlers from Spalding IBC won 91-79 at Peterborough on Sunday.
The top winning rink was skipped by Gerald Horner, with Edna Perkins and Martin Cox, who won handsomely by 21-5.
Captain for the day was Jenny Horner, assisted by Phyl Borst and Edna Perkins.
- Spalding IBC’s friendly team played host to a team from Stamford, who were playing the second round of two for the Welland Salva, last Sunday.
At the half way stage, there was only a single shot separating the two teams however, Spalding turned on the pressure and eventually won 111-99.
The top winning rink was skipped by Trish Stafford, with Tony Wigston, David Head and Ivy Tyler, who won 28-5. The captain for the day was Ken Challans, ably assisted by Tony Westland.
- Spalding IBC’s mixed team won their latest fixture 83-80 at Boston.
In an extremely close game from start to finish, with two winning rinks and a draw, Spalding eventually won by three shots to secure a victory of 13-5 on points.
The top winning rink was skipped by Roger Perkins, with Maxine Coleman, Edna Perkins and Dave Coleman.
Rink scores: Roger Perkins – 24-13; Ian Stafford – 18-11; Graham Wright – 17-17; John Needham – 16-20; Mick Jennings – 8-19.
