Competition Finals (1)
Secretary's Pairs
The final of the Secretary’s Pairs competition was played at Langtoft on Saturday 26th August. This is a new League competition, with a trophy donated by Stamford League Secretary Nina Rawlins. The finalists were Richard Lambert and Jonny Abbott (from Market Overton) and John Cox and Peter Cozens (from Greetham Valley).
Thunder rolled as the match started and, by the fourth end, it was raining intermittently. The Greetham Valley pair started confidently and were 6-2 ahead by the sixth end. On-form Greetham Valley skip John Cox was holding shot in the 7th end, so Richard Lambert and Jonny Abbott swapped positions with Richard taking over as lead. Market Overton began to recover, winning the next three ends.
After 12 ends, the rain became heavier so, with the score at 9-6 to Greetham Valley, play was interrupted for 5 minutes until the rain began to ease. After the break, the Market Overton pair were holding until John Cox took out the shot wood, leaving Greetham Valley three up. This could have been the ‘kiss of death’ for Market Overton as they were 12-6 down, but they dug deep into their reserves to win the next four ends, including scoring a 3 in the 15th end.
After the 17th (penultlmate) end, the score was 12-12. Nerves began to tell; Market Overton had favoured short jacks throughout the game, but this time Richard Lambert sent the jack too short, ceding the advantage to Peter Cozens, who put down his preferred longer jack. Both leads struggled to get close to the jack on the wet green, but Jonny Abbott made shot with his first bowl. And that was it – John Cox put his wood in for second, but Market Overton held on to their single point, winning the title 13-12. This was an excellent game between two closely-matched teams and could have gone either way.
Boor & Wainwright Shield
Bourne Woods (Division 2) met Stamford Town D (Division 3) in the final of this handicapped competition played at Langtoft this Sunday, 27th August. Stamford Town D had an eighteen point advantage (6 points per rink) because of the handicapping system, which depends on the positions of the teams at the end of the previous season.
The Bourne team were on top form, managing to match the handicap points after a few ends, then forging ahead to win the title. Bourne pressed their advantage by scoring 2s and 3s in most ends, in contrast with the single points scored by the Stamford team. Of particular note was the success of the team on rink 1, with Bourne Woods scoring a hot-shot (6 shots) in the 12th end followed by two 5s in the 17th and 18th ends. The final score was 103-38.
The players were (Stamford Town first):
Rink 1: Graham Patrickson, John Renshaw and Linda Starbuck v Julian Wheel, Peter Bagworth and John Pearson.
Rink 2: Jan Marshall, Miriam Hulbert and Dennis Starbuck v Julie Allen, Peter Burt and Steve Buffery.
Rink 3: Marilyn Christie, Steve Christie and Paul Wakefield v Val Thompson, Alec March and Chris Davidson.
Congratulations to all those who took part in an enjoyable afternoon. The League would like to extend its thanks to Langtoft Bowls Club, who were excellent hosts for both these finals.
