Spalding IBC’s Hill is crowned national under-18 queen at Castle event

Ruby Hill roared to the national under-18 singles title as she made home advantage at Spalding’s Castle Sports Complex pay dividends.

Spalding Indoor Bowls Club was already proud to have been given the honour of hosting the event – so to see one of their top young talents win the competition was a huge moment for both club and player.

With an excellent standard of bowls on display, Hill topped her group to reach the semi-finals thanks to wins over I Cracknell, A Pitfield and J Larter.

An open draw saw Hill pitched against Cumbria’s Daniel Pool, with Pool taking the opening set 11-3 before Hill fought back in the next, winning it 11-7 to set up a tie break. Spalding star Hill was down in both ends of the tie break but found wonder bowls in both to take an unassailable 2-0 lead to reach the final.

In the other semi, Devon Cooper (Riverain) beat William Moulton (White Oak) in straight sets.

Played in front of a full house, the crowd saw another high-quality match, with Hill pipping Cooper 7-5 in the first set.

It was then that Hill reached top gear and took a comfortable 10-1 victory in set two to claim the title of under-18 national singles champion.

• Adding to an extremely successful few days for Spalding IBC, four of their members were part of the International Series success for England.

Following the Ladies International series, in which Spalding had four players in the England squad, they had Annie Dunham and Martin Spencer representing England in the British Isles singles championships, – also held in Belfast.

They were selected as national singles champions and were pitched against the winners from other home countries.

Dunham faced a tough task against Chloe Watson (Ireland), losing 21-4.

Spencer also faced an Irish opponent in his first match, with Graham McKee putting up a good fight before the Spalding ace claimed a 21-15 victory.

That set up a final against current world champion Paul Foster, from Scotland.

A thrilling clash saw Spencer hold game until Foster took his two closest bowls out to take the title 21-19.

Next up was the men’s international series, still in Belfast and it proved a successful one for England.

Spalding’s Matt Whyers and Graham Smith formed a front end for skip Rob Paxton (Taunton Deane), with Perry Martin (Swale) making up the set. SIBC’s Martin Spencer was also recalled to the side, leading for skip Jamie Chestney (Exonia), David Bolt (South Shields) and Neil McKee (Kingsthorpe).

Spalding bowler Matt Orrey was also selected as travelling reserve.

First up was Wales, with England taking control early on and winning 128-93. Smith and Whyers won 23-15, while Spencer took a 19-14 victory.

Ireland were up next and England dispatched them with ease, winning 137-90. Spencer won 26-21, while Whyers and Smith won 24-12.

With Scotland winning both their matches, a final day clash would decide who took the spoils.

A typically nip-and-tuck match saw Scotland take the lead but England fought back and remained a few shots ahead for the final few ends, posting a final score of 118-112. Both Spalding rinks won again; Spencer by 22 shots to 16, with Whyers and Smith winning 32-18.

The Spalding players all managed to post 100 per cent records, which is a great achievement.

• Spalding IBC players performed admirably in national finals at Melton over the weekend, with Whyers, Smith, Spencer and Orrey winning one game in the fours before losing 19-8 against South Shields in the quarter-finals.

In the under-25 doubles rink, Ben Wilson and Jordan Philpott were representing Lincs in the last-end defeat against Devon in the final.

Despite a 20-15 win on their rink, Lincs lost 31-34.

• Spalding IBC’s over-60s team lost their latest game heavily at Louth.

Having secured their only win of the season when they played Louth at home, they hoped to secure much-needed points in the return fixture. Spalding started well, but found the new carpet difficult to play on and slipped behind on four of the five rinks and finished winning on only one rink.

The final result saw Spalding lose 16-2 and 111-80 on aggregate. Their sole winning rink was skipped by Maurice Elding, ably assisted by David Lunn, Derek Groves and Martin Hawkes. Captain for the day was David Lunn.

• Spalding IBC’s ladies beat Boston 16-2 at home last week.

A comfortable victory saw them just lose one rink and narrowly win one by two shots, but the other rinks were comfortable. The best winning rink – with a 24-15 scoreline – was J Patterson, V Elms, B Hurst and G Haney.

Other rink scores: B Deaton 18-20; P O’Brien 18-16; G Needham 22-17; S Wade 24-16.

• Spalding’s A team lost at home against Louth, taking just one rink win in a 89-95 defeat.