INDOOR BOWLS: Sleaford club just fall short in festive friendly

On the day, Lincoln won the match 127-104 with both teams having three winning rinks.

Rink one saw the Sleaford set of Dave Chambers, Eileen Chambers, Sandra Plummer with John Scott as skip. Sleaford won the first end but were never again in front of the Lincoln set who posted quite a few large scores, resulting in a loss of 14-34.

Lily Searle with her set of Bill Stevenson, Yvonne Paul and Malcolm Brett couldn’t post anything on the scoreboard until the sixth end, then had another four ends of blanks to stand 3-16 down at the start of the 11th. They suddenly found some form and began to match their opponents but the damage had already been done earlier in the match; 16-27 to Lincoln.

Playing on rink three, Diane Watson, Keith Richards, Arthur Plummer with Kim Callow in charge won 13 of the 21 ends played, but the game was close at the finish. Sleaford led after the eighth end, then Lincoln took the lead after 13, and at the start of the 20th end the match was all square. Winning the last two ends secured the result for Sleaford, 17-14.

The set of Alan Horne, Janet Horne, Bob McKie with Nigel Moxon skipping were never able to take the lead until the 11th end. With the score standing at 9-8 to Sleaford, the Lincoln set then produced some solid bowling to win nine ends on the bounce to finish winners by 11-27.

The club’s fifth set of Charlie Rands, Patricia Rands, Andrew Morris with Colin Upton at the back end was an experienced one that secured a solid win for Sleaford. But it wasn’t plain sailing; they were 2-8 down at the start of the eighth end put picked up five shots to change their fortunes and continued to pull away for a 24-13 victory.

Friendly captain Carol Wallis, joined by Jenny Elphick, Ken Searle with Terry Wallis as skip, led their match from start to finish for a 22-12 win for Sleaford. The Lincoln set were only able to win seven ends compared to 14 from Sleaford.