BOWLS: Sleaford ladies defeated in first round of national team competition

The format was two teams of four playing at home and two teams of four away. The 70-62 win for Boston now leaves Sleaford to compete for the consolation Yetton Plate against Gedling, from Nottingham.

Playing at the Sleaford club was Sheila Methven, who skippered the set of Barbara Barnes, Lily Searle and Andrea Davies into a 11-4 lead.

Then both teams began to match each other bowl for bowl until the 15th end, the score standing 15-8 in Sleaford’s favour. The Boston ladies found inspiration from somewhere, putting in a burst of accurate bowling to score 10 shots over four ends, stopping Sleaford in their tracks who were unable to prevent defeat by 15-18.

Also at home, Gillian Annison’s team of Carole Richardson, Steph Collin and Ann Garnham dropped three shots on the first end, tried to get themselves back into the game quickly, but could never pick up enough shots and trailed 3-9 after the ninth end.

Although they had success on two ends with heavy scores, the opposition never allowed the gap to be challenged, with Sleaford losing 11-20.

Playing at Boston, Gill Dwyer, Gloria Davies, Sheila Pratt and Linda Wills won 18-14 by making a quick start against their opponents, taking an 11-2 lead after the sixth end. Although the Boston set picked up a few more shots, this established Sleaford set never lost focus or control.

Playing at Boston, the set of Rhoda Wing, Diane Watson, Helen Quirke and Joan Gilbert held an 11-3 lead going into the seventh end. The Boston ladies replied by picking up five shots. Sleaford then matched them with five shots to leave the score standing at 16-8.

The next six ends were all won by Boston, taking 10 shots without reply giving an overall result of 18-18.

With 132 shots scored collectively, losing by eight shots showed the fine margin between success and failure.