Spalding IBC deliver dominant display at Lincolnshire finals

Spalding Indoor Bowls Club’s top talents were in dominant form at the county finals held at Sleaford.

The finals day included both men’s and ladies’ finals – with Spalding represented in eight of them.

In the under-25s ladies’ singles, Chelsea Tomlin beat Katy Tointon 21-8. Tomlin also won the ladies’ singles courtesy of a 21-11 victory over Lin Mountain.

Ashley Caress narrowly lost in the under-25 singles, missing out in the deciding tie-break end 2-1 to Jonathan West.

Caress was then joined by Graham Smith, Martin Spencer and Matt Whyers for the fours final where they beat Billy Jackson’s Lincoln set 20-14.

In the mixed pairs, Smith and Rebecca Simpson narrowly beat Kevin Rands 18-17.

Simpson then teamed up with Annie Dunham and Tomlin in the triples final, where they beat M Wilson from Lincoln.

Ruby Hill joined the trio for the fours and they outplayed E Nicholson to record an 18-14 win.

Also victorious was Jordan Philpott, who beat Stephen Harris, from Stamford, 21-6 in a one-sided under-18s final.

• Spalding IBC’s over-60s finished as Lincolnshire League Division One runners-up to 16-time winners Lincoln A.

They completed their league fixtures with two games, the first of which being a 111-72 (15 points) win over Horncastle.

Of Spalding’s three winning rinks, the best was skipped by Chris Stagles and included Derek Overton, Roger Rout and Dave Amess.

The final game was a 110-73 success over Lincoln B, which earned Spalding 16 match points.

That win allowed them to jump two places up the league to seal second spot.

• Spalding’s Trudy Bates team beat rivals Lincoln in the final to become county champions. They travelled to the neutral venue of Sleaford on April 14 and romped to a 100-88 shot victory.
• Spalding IBC’s members did themselves proud at the national finals at Melton and Nottingham.

Gloria Haney had an excellent run the in over-60s singles, beating M Darkin (Atherley) 21-7 in the quarter-finals before losing a close game against D Hankin 21-19 in the last four.

In the Mason trophy, Spalding started well against Desborough but were pegged back to lose narrowly on both rinks.

Val Bowker, Sylvia Wade, Barbara Hurst and Haney lost 20-19, while Irene Blackman, Betty Deaton, Margaret Dark and Gill Needham went down 20-18 on their rink.

In the men’s triples, Matt Whyers, Martin Spencer and Graham Smith beat Darlington 20-6 in the last 16 before losing by one shot to eventual runners-up Wellingborough.

Elsewhere, Rebecca Simpson and Annie Dunham recorded wins over Swale (24-5), Rugby (28-6) and Egham (18-16) to reach the final of the ladies’ pairs.

However, a high quality match saw them lose by just two shots (13-15) to Blackpool Newton Hall.

The pair were joined by Chelsea Tomlin in the triples – and they beat Barwell and Blackpool on deciding ends to book their place in the semi-final, where they cruised past Torquay Utd.

Unfortunately, they ran out of steam and lost 11-21 to Ipswich in the final.

Meanwhile, some 11 Spalding players took part in the inter-county final against Northamptonshire in what turned out to be a very close match.

Lincolnshire started well and took a narrow lead before a Northants comeback late on saw them snatch the title for the first time in their history, by 110 shots to 107.

• Spalding’s friendly team picked up a well-earned 149-84 win over their counterparts from Stamford – despite having a depleted side.

The strongest winning rink was Ivy Tyler, Jean Collin, Jean Patterson and skip Maggie Wheatley.

Two days earlier, Spalding’s friendly side earned a 119-106 success over Lincs VPs in a game that saw both sides win three rinks each.

Spalding’s best rink consisted of Jean Collin, Brian Wheatley, Abs Belding and skip Alice Cooper. The captain of the day was Mick Jennings.

Meanwhile, the friendly bowlers lost their final away friendly match of the season at Boston by 122-107.

Spalding did manage two winning rinks, with the best of those skipped by June Taylor – whose team were trailing 10-1 after six ends.

They then took control of the jack and thereby the match by shortening the end lengths.

They conceded only three more shots to their opponents before running out winners by 28 shots to 13.

Taylor was assisted by Terry Grimshaw, Alex Cooper and Gerald Horner.