Bowlers in action on national stage

Horncastle Indoor Bowls Club members have been involved in club, county and individual national competitons.
The latest local sports news.The latest local sports news.
The latest local sports news.

Keith Jackman and Paul Bark competed in the Men’s Pairs area final at Lincoln, facing T.W. Doig and Simon Skelton, from Nottingham.

This was a tough ask for the Horncastle duo, with Simon having taken the runner-up prize in the World Bowls singles final at the end of January.

Several club members went to Lincoln to support the pair, where they saw a very tight match at the beginning of the game.

The final score saw Nottingham win 22-11.

There were several EBF Area finals held at Lincoln.

Defending Ladies’s Pairs National Champions Jayne Taplin and Margaret Walmsley played Lincoln’s J. Earl and partner.

They were not able to catch up following the Lincoln pair’s excellent start and eventually lost by 14 shots to 17.

The EBF Mixed Rinks trio of Mary Johnson, Keith Jackman and Tracy Nunn had an early start at Lincoln against a Boston team and narrowly lost 14-17.

Tracy Nunn and Keith Jackman played Lincoln in the Men’s Pairs area final.

They had a splendid game and went on to win convincingly by 22 shots to 12.

Tracy and Keith now progress to the last 16 of the National Play-off finals at the end of March.

National EIBA competitions have also been held this last week.

In the Ladies’s over 50s Triples, Judith Moody, Olive Wells and Mary Johnson played South Forrest’s team of J. Tyers and partners at Granthamlosing by 3 shots to 17.

The same trio then went on to play in the Ladies’s Triples against Nottingham’s Jamie Lee Wynch, a senior England player, and partners.

Judith, Mary and Olive has an excellent game and went on to win 19 shots to 13.

They now progress to the last 16 in the country to compete in the finals at Nottingham, where they will initially play Ipswich on Sunday.

Mary Johnson and Olive Wells competed in the National EIBA Ladies’s Pairs area final at Grantham against Nottingham’s P. Cutts and partner.

This was a very close game throughout the match with it being all square going into the last end. Olive and Mary kept their nerve and had a well-deserved win by 14 shots to 13.

They now compete in the National Play-off finals in Nottingham next Wednesday, where their first opponent will be Egham.

The Ladies’s Trudy Bates team went away to Dunholme last Wednesday and, in a very close match throughout the full three hours, Dunholme won the shots aggregate on the last end by 89 shots to 85.

Horncastle won on four Rinks and lost on one and the teams shared the points at eight each.

Rink scores: Jean Hoyles won 21-13, J. Moody lost 6-25, P. Scholey won 21-19, O. Wells won 19-15, M. Johnson won 18-17.

The LIBA Men’s Division Two side played at home against Spalding on Sunday.

Horncastle won on two rinks and lost on three and won the aggregate by 119 shots to Spalding’s 98 shots.

Rink scores: J. Bontoft won 45-11, T. Dixon lost 16-33, J. Scholey lost 12-17, P. Limb lost 13-18, T. Tasker won 33-19.

The LIBA Mixed League Division One Team played host to Skegness and came away with an excellent 14-2 win.

Horncastle scored 108 shots to Skegness’s 97, winning on four rinks and losing on one.

Rink scores: K. Jackman 34-20, P. Ulyatt 21-10, P. Scholey 7-31, K. Taplin 26-23, N. Burton 20-13.

The team are currently third in the table, four points behind second place and only seven points behind leaders Louth A with one game to go.

The LIBA Over 60s Division One squad travelled to Louth where, after a close start, they lost by 121 shots to 84.

Horncastle took two of the 18 points available.

Horncastle played a friendly against Skegness with both teams starting off well before Skegness upped their game and eventually won with 103 shots to Horncastle’s 58.

Rink scores: P. Thomas won 16-14, T. Dixon lost 9-16; J. Rapley lost 16-19, M. Cornish lost 12-19, K. Argent lost 5-35.

In another friendly, Horncastle hosted Humberside Patrons on Saturday.

This was a close game from the beginning with Horncastle eventually losing by 83 shots to Humberside’s 91.

Horncastle won on two rinks and lost on three.

Rink scores: J. Rapley lost 15-25, T. Percival lost 13-15, Paul won 27-12, K. Argent lost 11-24, T. Dixon won 17-15.