Invaders close in on bowls league leaders Eastenders

Eastenders’ lead over Invaders at the top of the Division One table in the Evening League at Boston Indoor Bowling Club was cut to three as a result of this week’s matches.

They drew one rink in their game against A40, collecting five points from the contest, while Invaders took all six in a closely-fought encounter with bottom side Cosmo’s.

EastEnders and A40 had a real battle for supremacy on the rink skipped by Matt Whyers and Sue Hoyles, with the lead changing hand several times.

Three shots for A40 on the penultimate end gave them a one-shot lead, but Eastenders took the final end by a single shot to tie the scores.

Eastenders took an early advantage on Alex Tomlin’s rink and built on it to win 19-12.

Invaders and Cosmos played out two highly competitive rinks when they met this week.

The lead changed regularly on Scott Whyers’ and Dave Foxs’ rink and there was nothing between the teams after 17 ends.

Invaders then scored three shots over the final two ends to get the win 16-13.

The second rink was also level pegging at 7-7 after nine ends before Invaders had to run of scores to take the game 14-8.

Yet another close encounter featured IBC and Holland Fen with IBC rolling out 5-1 winners.

The rink skipped by Dave Gill for IBC and Jim Got for the Fenmen ended in an 18-18 draw with both sides fighting throughout to gain the upper hand.

IBC, under Richard Pearson, took the other rink 16-14 by virtue of their better start and finish to the game.

Third-place Holland Fenn are now 15 points behind Invaders and 13 ahead of fourth-placed A40.

Another drawn rink was in the match between Strollers and Nomads.

A score of five shots on the 12th end seem to give Strollers and Mick Dodes control of the game.

But Nomads, under skip Derek Smith, won the finishing stretch 7-1 to bring the scores level at 16-16.

Strollers, with Alan Everett as skip, were thoroughly dominant on the second rink to win 28-5.

Central, in 11th place, beat Royal Mail, one place above them,4-2.

Brian Hunn’s Central rink won 23-11 through consistent scoring during the game.

Ian Smith’s rink won 14-9 for the Mailmen, and were never headed.

The Mail are now four points ahead of Central in the table.

Breakaways won convincingly against Parthians on both rinks, taking the games 34-14 for Derek Butwright and 27-16 for Michael Rymer.

They are in fifth place on shots difference from A40 above them.

Division Two featured the top of the table clash between Golfers and Amateurs, the result going to Golfers 4-2 extend their lead.

They took Graham Scarboro’s rink 21-8 after a closely-fought start was followed by a burst of 14 unanswered shots in eight ends.

The other rink was won convincingly 18-9 by Amateurs’ Tony Nixon.

The closest finish was Patriarchs beating The Burtons by one shot, 17-16.

The lead has swung back and forth, with Burtons seemingly in control towards the end, before Patriarch’s scored six over the last three ends, including four shots on the last end, to grab the win.

Hotspurs got the better of Shipmates on both rinks to take all six points and move into fourth place in the table, just below Amateurs in second and Burtons in third.

They won 23-15 For Mike Nelson and 14-10 for Neil Owen.

Dynamics proved to be too strong for Autos, winning 33-10 and 28-10 on the two rinks to take them into fifth place in the table with Autos slipping into sixth.

However, only five points now separate Amateurs in second and Autos in sixth.

Bottom team Phantoms took two points off Vikings, five places above them, winning Keith Browns rink 14-10 by virtue of their better finish.

The other rink was a thoroughly dominant win for John Stray’s Vikings, 28-2.

U3’s good form of late continued with a 4-2 win against Vectors and kept them in ninth place, just below Shipmates on shot difference.

Jack Carr’s rink had a good win 23-10.

U3 were also ahead on Colin Louth’s rink for over half the game before Vectors, under Keith Rockall, fought back to take the lead and win 19-11.