Drama as Eastenders close gap on leaders Carlton Road in bowls league

Matched against bottom team Patriarchs, they collected all six points but remain way off third spot, which is held by Holland Fen.

The Fenmen were matched against leaders Carlton Road, the result going in the Road’s favour thanks to Ian Clark, Sue Simpson-Shaw and Les Feary, who led 18-1 at the halfway stage and went on to win 28-9.

The leaders had to be happy to win just four points as Mick Tomlin replied 13-21, which fell well short of the number of shots needed.

Second-placed Eastenders closed the gap on the leaders to just three points when they secured maximum points from Jolly Farmers.

Skips Paul Flatters and Jonathan West won 24-11 and 37-10.

With 11 more games to the end of the season, will Carlton Road have the resilience to fend off last year’s champions to win the title?

Norprint’s Barbara Kenny, Geoff Taylor and Jeff Nicholson put in a good performance this week to beat Punchbowlers’ top trio 20-16 - but it was not enough to take the overall win. Replying for the Bowlers, Terry Dawson, Michael Goodeson and Jeff Skelton secured a win of 13-19 which won the aggregate points.

Royal Mail could not deliver a winning result this week when they fell to Invaders.

The Invaders team, with two juniors on board, saw skips Scott Whyers and Ian Tebbs winning 24-14 and 22-12.

Have IBC a star in their midst?

Matched against Swineshead, Ted Bourne - ably assisted by Steve Shaw and Richard Toy - put in a winning result of 22-7 which enabled IBC to win the lion’s share of the points.

There were some surprise results in the T&B Containers Division Two this week.

The Feathers, in second, fell to Breakaways on both rinks.

Gordon Gallichan recovered from 7-14 down to win 20-15 and Ivan Dilley, 6-11 down, picked up 15 shots without reply to win 22-13.

Strollers, who are the leaders, were matched against fifth-placed Boston Park.

The rink points were shared but the leaders’ Alex Seaton, June Bates and Derek Butwright won 24-14 which secured the aggregate points.

Replying for the Park, skip Ken Cook won 19-20.

Third-placed Parthians fell on both rinks to the Poachers.

For the Poachers, John Riches and Mick Dodes won 24-12 and 26-14.

The Crowns at the bottom fell to the Burtons.

For the Crowns, John Adcock won 14-18 but this was surpassed by the Burtons’ Chris Hill with a 22-14 success.

Second-bottom Central had the best result of the night’s play when they defeated Red 5.

Pete Sharman and Fred Epton were successful 19-13 and 26-12.

The Golfers versus Amateurs game was very close with the Golfers just edging the result by just one shot.

For Amateurs, Mick Greet won 15-21 while, replying for the Golfers, Graham Scarboro secured the aggregate with a win of 17-10.

In the Cammacks Division Three, leaders Autos had their championships hopes held up when Vikings’ Janet Loughran, Ray Loughran and Keith Stones won with plenty to spare, 25-9.

Replying for the leaders, Bernard Skelton had to be happy with two points only with a win of 14-22.

Cosmos, in second, closed the gap at the top to just three points with a maximum points haul against Dynamics.

Skips Bob and Jean Thompson had wins of 22-10 and 21-9 respectively.

The bottom two were matched against each other, the points going to Traders, the higher of the two.

Gordon Neal won 19-10 and Norman Stanley 18-14 to see off Traders.

Fairways were favourites to win their game against Shipmates but the latter triumphed on both rinks.

William Parker and Ted Vere had successes of 19-17 and 20-17.

Sibsey, in third spot, proved too strong for Highflyers, securing maximum points with wins of 21-6 for Kath Dunnett, Peter Stubley and Alan Dunnett, and 24-14 for Jim Baker, John Hodgson and Pete Sharman.