Invaders and Holland Fen maintain top two slots with good wins in bowls league

Invaders and Holland Fen, the top two teams in the Orchard Health Group Division One of the Evening League at Boston Indoor Bowling Club, both won their matches 6-0 in week 18 to confirm their positions.

Invaders comprehensively beat Nomads on both rinks.

Skip Scott Whyers, well supported by Nathan Dunnington and Sandra Tebbs, was utterly ruthless in winning 39-4.

The result on Rod West’s rink was 20-8, but the match was settled early as they built an unbeatable 19-1 advantage over the first 13 ends.

Holland Fen beat fourth-placed A40.

Les Feary’s rink established their lead early on and maintained it throughout the game to win 26-12.

The second rink produced a closer game and the scores were still tied at 8 all after 11 ends, before Jim Gott’s team pulled ahead with a burst of 11 shots in six ends, eventually winning 19-13.

Cosmos produced yet another good result to confirm the recent revival of their form as they beat Royal Mail 5-1.

That’s now 21 points scored out of a maximum 24 in the last four rounds.

Once Dave Fox’s rink took the lead on the eighth end, they kept control of the game to run out 16-10 winners.

The second rink ended in a 12-12 draw after a closely fought game.

Cosmos, with skip Simon Sperring at the helm, twice built a lead, and twice the Mailers, and skip Keith Sharp, came back at them, including four shots over the last four ends, to achieve the tie.

Bottom-placed Central had a good result against IBC, five places higher in the table, to take four points.

Brian Hunn, skip, with lead Carol Nundy and pin Heather Scarboro, produced an impressive win, 21-7.

Richard Pearson skipped his IBC rink to win 18-12 to take two points, leading from the start and never looking in danger.

The final Division One match this week saw Strollers beat Parthians 5-1.

Strollers are still in fifth place in the table, but now only one point behind A40 in fourth.

The rink of Mark Robinson, Mick Hippisley and Mick Dodes raced away to lead 21-4 after 13 ends, before winning 25-14.

The rink skipped by Alan Everitt for Strollers and Keith Nix for Parthians ended 17-17 for one point each.

Parthians were leading 17-10 with three ends to go, but then Strollers conjured the seven shots they needed to catch them at the finishing line.

The Burtons and Dynamics are now in second and third place behind Golfers in the T&B Containers Division Two, after they both won 6-0 against teams in the top half of the table.

Against Hotspurs, The Burtons posted 17-11 and 16-12 victories for their skips Chris Hill and Clare Britchford respectively, in both cases pulling away to win after closely fought starts.

Dynamics were always ahead on Graham Wilkinson’s rink against Amateurs and ran out winners by 16-10.

Amateurs started well on the other rink, to lead 9-1 and 12-6, but a burst of 10 shots over three ends turned the game round and Dynamics eventually won 19-14 for Josie Isaacs, Pete Isaacs and Don Williams.

Autos moved into fourth place after beating Vectors 6-0.

Ivor Roberts’ rink quickly went into a 21-1 lead, eventually winning 24-11 as Vectors fought back towards the end.

Vectors started better on the other rink and the game was still tied after 12 ends.

Autos with skip Jeff Homewood then forged the win by taking the last six ends by 12 shots to two to post a score of 23-13.

Vikings and U3, seventh and ninth respectively, faced each other with Vikings taking the match 4-2.

John Stray’s rink won 25-11 and were in control from the outset.

Neither side had a match winning advantage on the other rink until the final few ends, when U3 and skip Jack Carr managed to sneak ahead to grab a four shot lead.

They then held on as Vikings fought back to close the gap, the final result being 17-16 to U3.

Shipmates and Phantoms shared the points, three apiece.

Ted Vere’s Shipmates rink built a healthy 14-3 advantage at the start, then had to watch as Phantoms found form, winning the final 8 ends 12-4.

It was not quite enough, though, and they just fell short, leaving the final result 18-15 to Shipmates.

Phantoms started well on the second rink before Shipmates came back to grab the lead near the end, then Graham Taylor’s Phantoms squad finished better to win 17-14.