Evening League at bowling club entering the final stretch

The decision regarding which team, Hotspurs or Optimists, will take the Division Two title and be promoted will be resolved in the final round of matches.

Holland Fen beat Burtons for all 6 points, with scores of 28-10 and 22-12 for Martin Tomlin and Les Feary respectively.

Invaders could only manage 2 points from their game with A40, for Nathan Dunnington’s rink, winning 20-15. The other rink, skipped by Jean Cammack, pulled away from the ninth end to establish a clear lead for A40, winning 23-13, also ensuring the extras for shot aggregate.

Third-placed Strollers and fourth-placed IBC both won 6-0. Strollers beat Dynamics 24-14 and 20-13, while IBC faced Parthians and won 21-12 and 16-10.

Breakaways’ better form of late saw them beat Nomads, two places above them, on both rinks. Mark Brown’s rink was only one shot up with three ends to go, but they finished well to win 20-12. Neil Harrison’s rink was trailing 7-13, but ended the game strongly to post a winning score of 14-13.

Royal Mail faced Golfers and won 4-2. Ian Smith’s rink established their position early in the game and ran out 21-9 winners. The other rink was tightly contested and won 12-10 for Golfers by Bob Tingey.

First played fifth in the Division Two clash between Hotspurs and Central, producing two competitive games, Hotspurs taking all the points. Mick Rate’s rink started well to be 6-1 up before Central pulled back, then kept their nerve to manage the end game and win 15-14. Mike Long’s rink finished their game well to win 15-9.

Optimists beat Shipmates 6-0, 22-10 on Andrew Reeson’s rink and 15-11 on Yogie Richardson’s, while third-placed Vikings got the better of Amateurs, snatching a 16-14 victory on Doug Staples’ rink and winning 20-15 on John Millership’s.

Surprisingly, perhaps, Vectors took all the points off Desperados, seven places above them, winning 19-12 for Kevin Rockall and 16-14 for Ollie Tyson.

Finally, Kingfishers, tenth, beat Woodpeckers, seventh, for six points, John Fell’s rink winning 21-6 and Scot Gray’s 15-11.

The last triples tournament of the current season attracted a full complement of 72 bowlers to enjoy a fun day of competition.

Generously sponsored by the club and the club’s Bonus Ball, the winners were the team of Dave ‘Yogie’ Richardson, Chris Hoyles and Trevor Coulson, who won their three games convincingly for 30 points and a net shot difference of +31.

Behind them in second place came Phil Wilson, Carol Clarke and Mike Cornish, who had three closer games while scoring 27 points and +10.

Also winning three games during the competition, for 26 points and +14, were the trio of Cathy Moore, Malcolm Hilton and Pauline Atkin who finished in third place.