The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Royal Mail Cart Bowls Club lifted the Challenge Bowl Trophy for the first time since 1996 on Saturday.
The historic success means that they will be Lincolnshire’s representatives in the Durham Centenary in 2022 – which will see them play in a knockout competition against the other county championship winners.
After a series of qualification rounds throughout the season, Royal Mail Cart were joined at the finals day by Railway Sports in Scunthorpe, Horncastle and Cleethorpes. The finals day was held at Burton House Bowls Club in Boston.
In the semi-final, Royal Mail Cart played against Railway Sports, which did not prove to be much of a contest.
Mail Cart stamped their authority from the outset and won by an incredible 75 shots overall (135-60).
While they won comfortably on all four rinks, leading the way with the best winning rink was the set skipped by Martin Simpson, with Steve Hill and Pete Horsfield, who won 47-14.
In the other semi-final, Cleethorpes beat Horncastle 95-71 to set up a final clash with the Spalding side.
The final was always going to be a close affair which proved to be the case as each side took turns to lead by the odd shot before Royal Mail Cart strung a few good ends together to lead by about 15 shots at the halfway stage.
Cleethorpes were not going to give up without a fight and clawed the deficit back to only two shots at one stage before Royal Mail Cart finished the stronger of the two teams and ran out winners by 11 shots (104-93).
There were two winning rinks for both sides, but the final was probably decided by the rink skipped by Martin Spencer, with Dan Caress and John Allen who won 33-19.
All players played a massive part in securing the final win though to lift and bring home the trophy.
Rink Scores: Semi-final (v Railway Sports) – won 135-60: Dan Caress, John Allen & Martin Spencer – won 23-13; Mick Dolton, Ruby Hill & Jordan Philpott – won 38-17; Julie Allen, Chelsea Tomlin & Dominic McVitte – won 27-16; Steve Hill, Pete Horsfield & Martin Simpson – won 47-14.
Final (v Cleethorpes) – won 104-93: Dan Caress, John Allen & Martin Spencer – won 33-19; Mick Dolton, Ruby Hill & Jordan Philpott – won 30-26; Julie Allen, Chelsea Tomlin & Dominic McVitte – lost 22-26; Steve Hill, Pete Horsfield & Martin Simpson – lost 19-22
