Bowls round-up: Maidenhead Town's A team rumbled by Royal Household in the Kennet League

Jeff Beal

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Maidenhead Town’s A team suffered a five-shot defeat to Royal Household in the Kennet League this week. Their only winning rink was that of Clive Knowles, Cliff Jenkins, Jeff Beal and skip Malcolm Tingle who led throughout for a 24-14 win. A miserable away game followed at Great Hollands where the Kennet League B team were heavily beaten 91-54, losing on all of the rinks.

It was a different matter in the KLV where Town’s A team managed an 87-27 victory over Wraysbury. All three rinks returned high winning scores but the best of them were Cliff Jenkins, Clive Behmber and skip Malcolm Tingle who won 34-8. The B team also managed a great away win at Windsor & Eton (95-31). Again all three triples were triumphant with Richard Smith, Derek Jackson and skip Peter Stoop taking top rink honours (37-8).

The C team had a tougher afternoon, losing by 10 shots to Windsor Great Park (52-42). They did, however, manage one winning triple, that of Stephen Tegg, Bill Pearson and skip Tony Ruffell (16-15).

In the Royal Shield Town’s ladies beat Windsor Great Park 55-36 away from home, despite having only one winning triple. Kim Eales skipped Joyce Motley and Jan Mayne to a 34-3 win.

Town were also too strong for High Wycombe at Oaken Grove on Saturday, claiming a 121-86 victory. Top rink of the afternoon belonged to Barbara Patton, Sue Page, David Cormigan and skip Eddie Cutche, 27-11. A return match is scheduled for two week’s time when Wycombe will attempt to reverse the score.

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The record high temperatures experienced across the UK last week led to the postponement of Maidenhead Thicket’s Ladies’ Royal Shield and men’s KLV matches.

But the club did squeeze home to a three shot win in Sunday’s five triples mixed friendly with Cippenham on Sunday (81-78).

The best of their winning rinks was skipped by Melvyn Forward, with Richard Thrift and Gemma Hanks. They picked up seven shots over just two ends to win 20-10.

Pam Pulsford, Tom Hanks and skip Chris Goodchild picked up five shots over the last three ends to run out 20-12 winners, while Malcolm Summers, Tony Gwilliam and skip Nicola Jones had a much closer contest, coming from behind on the last end to win 19-18.

Ken Scowen, Freda Cox and Skip Jim McDonell played out an honourable 14-14 draw while Christine Howard, Maxine Carpenter and skip Steve Carpenter found shots hard to come by as they lost 24-8.

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Sunningdale beat Horsell at home by 88-68, with the highest scoring rink played by Alf Chell, Barry Hobbs and Mike Thompson (skip). The club also played against Egham in the annual Colledge Cup game but were unable to win back the cup.

In the Kennet League Sunningdale travelled to Wokingham B picking up just two points from their defeat. In the LV Division  the B team were beaten by Desborough C (55-46) despite winning on two of the three rinks. The best of their rinks was that of Alf Chell, Les Mathias and John Turner (skip). Sunningdale’s A team travelled to Windsor and Eton where they suffered another defeat.

The club’s Les Green is through to the semi-finals of the county two-wood champion of champions match after beating T Davies of Bracknell. He’ll play in the next round at Caversham on August 9.

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Chesham BC once again punished Marlow’s bowlers to lift the Chesham Cup at the weekend.

Chesham came into the second leg of the clash with a victory already in the bank and went on to claim a reasonably convincing 88-71 win.

Marlow’s only winning rink came courtesy of Sue Moore, George Malster and Ray Justice, who claimed a slender 12-11 victory. The closest anyone else came to a win was Jean Barltrop, Bill Pocock and Ralph King who grabbed five shots in the final end to square the rink 16-16.

The taste of defeat to Gerrards Cross in the senior fours was still lingering in the minds as foursome Pat Ryan, Nobby Anson, Alan Steptoe and Paul Simmons faced the same club again in a humid mid-week friendly. Marlow found themselves nine shots behind after eight ends and went down 19-15 despite a late fightback.

Revenge was in the air for Marlow as they won on each of the rinks in Monday’s clash against Chalfont St Giles. Paul Simmons rink turned things around to win 24-17 while Trevor Day (18-11) and Bob Broad’s (23-13) rinks also held firm to give Marlow a full-house of wins and all 10 points.

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Desborough duly took their chance to avenge an earlier season defeat to Stoke Poges, beating them by six-shots last week (92-86). Two rinks were narrowly beaten and another two won by a single shot. However, Kath Spracklen, Michael Hobson and Ray Weaver claimed top rink honours with a 20-11 win.

Desborough suffered an agonising one-shot defeat (89-88) after making the arduous journey to South Oxford. Three of the five triples managed a winning scorecard but their cause wasn’t helped by one rink having an afternoon to forget. The best rink was played by Jim McDonnell and Rhona and Howard Pike, who won 26-15.

After an interesting afternoon’s play Desborough emerged as four-shot winners over Tilehurst at Green Lane. The home side won only two of the five rinks, but Maurice Rhymer’s crew snatched victory from the jaws of defeat by picking up six shots on the final end, while Carole Tupling, Brian Harris and Paul Winstanley won 18-6.

It was a disappointing week in the Kennet League as the A team lost 12-2 to Three Mile Cross and the B team were beaten 10-4 by Woodley. The KLV A side drew 5-5 with Royal Household and the B team beat Maidenhead Thicket B 8-2 on points.

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Royal Household’s ladies remain on course to retain their Royal Shield trophy after an emphatic 10-0 points win over Windsor & Eton this week. Victory takes them 14 points clear at the top of the league.

Top rink honours went to Julia Conway, captain Lorna Craig and skip Dee Prior (20-6). The men have progressed to the quarter finals of the county double fours after home and away wins over Hurst (51-23). The home team were skipped by Michael Thornton, with Mark Stanley, Alan Speller and David Dixon (29-12) and the away team at Hurst were Colin Carson, Marc Leyton-Smith, George Burbridge and skip Graham Crisp (22-11).

The Kennet League team claimed a 12-2 win at Maidenhead Town after victories on all three rinks. George Burbridge, Mick Sayers, Tom Dynan and Colin Carson took top rink (18-11).

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Windsor Great Park’s KLV team are still on the march after they claimed a good away win at Maidenhead Town C this week (52-42). They claimed eight of the points on offer. The ladies’ Royal Shield team managed to claw back four points from a 55-36 defeat at home to Maidenhead Town. Pam Simms skipped Pat Yates and Pauline Fothergill to top rink honours. The second game of the week was cancelled due to the extreme hot weather.

In the 2-Wood champion of champions clash, Alan Jones was beaten 17-11 by Lambourne’s Dale Taylor, despite putting up a good fight.

The Park’s men’s team came away from their clash at Maidenhead Thicket with a 15-shot defeat. Top rinkers, and saving the day, were Paul Short (skip) Bruce Cox and Colin West.

Great Park enjoyed a competitive afternoon’s play against Crablands of Selsey Bill. Skip Paul Short, along with John Yates, Peter Simms and Kate Ibbertson sealed an overall victory with a 16-shot rink win.

In the Ben and Peg trophy match on Saturday the ladies’ captain’s team beat the men’s captain’s team by 11 shots (70-59).

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Windsor & Eton’s KLV ‘A’ team enjoyed a good win at home against Sunningdale ‘A’, taking all 10 points. The shot score was 50-31; created in no small measure with the help of top rinkers, John Giles, David Bradfield and Brian Parrish, who racked up a decent 22-6.

The ‘B’ team’s away fixture against Maidenhead Thicket ‘A’ was postponed, but made way for a re-scheduled home game against Maidenhead Town ‘A’. The visitors won all rinks by 22-52, and went away with 10 points under their belts.

Maidenhead Town’s ‘B’ team inflicted a similar fate upon W&E ‘C’; winning all rinks and with a score of 31-96.

There was no joy for the ladies who lost their RS match at The Household.

The weekend friendly put a sparkle back into the week when a team from Kettering made a return visit. The home team won by 133-108. The top rink accolade went to Jill Barker, Colin Andrews, Carole Williams and Tony Scott, who ended the match with 30-17 on their card.

Further good news came from the KL home tie against Maidenhead Thicket. W&E won over all by 90-51. Losing just one rink secured the Goswell Meadow boys 12 points to Thicket’s 2.

Top rink was Martin Allum, Jim Fenlon, Tony Scott and Ralph Cooke with an amazing 31-6.

Of the 13 fixtures played so far, the rink skippered by Ralph has won 12 times.