McVittie has a week of glory

Spalding were well represented and successful in a number of disciplines at the Lincolnshire County semi-finals day at Louth & District Indoor Bowls Club.

Brian Martin, Stephen Harris and Dominic McVittie booked their place in the county triples final with a 24-8 win against Boston’s Ian Clark, Alex Tomlin and Martin Tomlin. Their final opponents will be another Boston trio, Rod West, Nathan Dunnington and Jonathan West.
McVittie continued his excellent run of form by beating Richard Ashton from Lincoln in the singles semi-final 21-10 and will play Ollie Jeapes, from Stamford in the final.
The county sets singles final will be an all Spalding affair with McVittie playing Jordan Philpott. In the semi-finals, they beat Chris Ballard, from Stamford, and Richard Ashton, from Lincoln, respectively, both in straight sets.
Stephen Harris and Graham Smith progressed to the pairs final with a 21-19 win against Richard Feetham and Colin Barks from Dunholme. Their opposition is unknown as the semi-final between Spalding’s Simon Lilley and Jordan Philpott and Lincoln’s Danny Brown and Billy Jackson is due to be played at a later date.
Due to McVittie being in four other semi-finals, the all-Spalding mixed pairs match between McVittie and Jean Patterson and Chelsea and Martin Spencer will be played tomorrow.
l McVittie, along with Harris and Smith, was part of the men’s England team at the British Isles International Series at Falcon Indoor Bowls Club in Essex.
Harris was selected at lead in a rink with Martin Puckett, Les Gillett and Greg Harlow. Smith was No.2 in a rink skipped by Robert Paxton, with Paul Hartley and Joe Dawson at lead and three respectively. McVittie was selected for the first time at No.3 in a rink with Shaun Jones, Andrew Walters and Jamie Walker.
Scotland were defending champions so England were hoping to regain the Hilton Trophy in front of their home crowd. England started well with comfortable wins against Ireland (151-105) and Wales (129-75). Scotland also won their first two games, to set up a series decider between the old rivals.
England started well and, although Scotland battled hard to reduce the deficit to eight shots at one stage, the hosts proved too strong as they prevailed 120-93 to win the series for the eighth time in nine years.
Harris’ rink came away with one win (23-18, 15-17, 17-20), Smith’s rink the same (17-26, 16-14, 14-20) but it was an impressive first series for McVittie as his rink came away with three wins (37-20, 27-11, 29-18). McVittie’s performances did not go unnoticed and his first series was made extra special as he was presented with both the EIBA and BIIBC Men’s Player of the Series.
l Spalding Indoor Bowls Club beat Skegness 79-65, 12-2 on match points in their final fixture of the Mixed County League. Top winning rink was skipped by Graham Jackson, with Gill Haydon, Dave Overton and Trish Stafford, who won 21-13. It left them top of County South Division and they will play in the county final on Saturday, April 6 at Sleaford.
Spalding’s final Men’s County League fixture brought a 94-74 (12-2) defeat at Boston A. Spalding did manage one winning rink, which was skipped by Brian Martin, with Max Butters, George Almey and Ean Morton who won 15-14.
l Spalding Indoor Bowls Club presidents Kevin Ekins and Julie Hicks invited 48 players to play in their annual charity fundraising match.
A total of £323.60 was raised for The Tulip Suite at Johnson Hospital and Lincolnshire Air Ambulance.