Otters still in top spot, despite their defeat

Otters were beaten 17-7 by Matelots, who moved up to third place.

Title hopefuls Wasps were edged out 12-11 and second-placed Kestrels didn’t have a game.

Meridian had a good 17-10 win over Wishful to move off the bottom at the expense of Scorpions, who didn’t play in this round of games.

In the second set of games Otters beat Dreamers 10-5 to stay ahead of Kestrels, who had a comfortable 22-5 win against Meridian, but Wasps suffered another defeat going down 13-11 against Mudlarks.

Scorpions’ trio of Chris Nutton, Gordon Sharples and Rita Jackson scored six shots late on to go one shot in front of opponents Two Plus One and hang on for a 13-11 victory, moving off the bottom at the espense of Meridian.

Only shots difference seprates the top six contestants in Division One of the Australian Pairs.

Linda and Martin Oldfield were coasting along at 14-6 ahead of table-toppers Liz Draper and Barrie Scott, but the latter pair won the next five ends, including a score of seven on the next to last end, to take a one shot lead, only for the Oldfields to grab two shots on the last end for a 16-15 victory.

Malcolm Pearce and Mike Norton moved up to second after scoring three shots on an axious last end against Gill and Pete Fletcher to win 18-14.

Yvonne Cooper and John Clayton slipped one place to third after losing 17-14 to Jean Holdsworth and Wendy Porter.

Another tight finish saw Jenny and Terry Cornwall score two shots on the final end to pinch a 10-9 win against Derek Blow and Tony Willoughby.

In Division Two, Sue Gurbutt and Jane Scott had a comfortable win against Heather and John Masters to go top of the table, one point ahead of Christine and Bob Tice, whose game was cancelled.