MARLOW welcomed a formidable line-up of bowlers when they entertained Bowls England at Pound Lane last Wednesday.

The weather was perfect as play got under way but it was clear from the off that the home team had a tough match on their hands.

Dave White’s rink of Sue Saunders-Miller, John Henniker and Ian Burns were ahead straight away, taking a 10-3 lead into the ninth end but, in that same end, dropped six shots and from there on were engaged in an uphill struggle.

The overall match was swinging in favour of Bowls England as the hosts laboured in the warm conditions.

Ian Harvey, skipping on his favourite rink, could not contain the opposition and his foursome found themselves 13 shots down without scoring after only five ends.

Mags Shelley, Clive Brooks, Alan Burden and Alex Hamill began well, leading 6-1 at one point, but fell 9-6 behind four ends later. Despite levelling at 14-14 in the 17th end, they were finally edged out 15-19.

Peter Barltrop, Alan Steptoe, Dennis Bloomfield and Felicity Rees were behind after seven ends, and were still 4 shots down into the 15th. Despite a late comeback, they were pipped by two shots at the death 16-18.

Probably the most exciting match of the day featured the rink of

Marlow

newcomer Bob Broad, who nurtured his team of Angela Moss, Mike Miller and Elizabeth Bamford to pull back from eight shots down in the 13th end to 21-21 in the 19th. The rink dropped two shots in the penultimate end but drew level in the very last end.

The final score was 147-91 to Bowls England.

It was a delight to see the appearance of ex-Marlow bowler Jim Kirk, who travelled from Australia for the game, and the event was a successful day for both

Marlow

and the visiting Bowls England players.

Marlow’s first trip to the new facility at Desborough Bowls Club proved successful as they won with an overall score of 95-77 despite winning only two of the five rinks.

The trio skipped by Lynda Taplin, with Roy Fabry leading and Peter Jennings, romped into a 15-0 lead after just six ends.

Desborough pulled back from the seventh, winning most of the ends, but Marlow got the big scores to win the match 27-11.

The other winning rink was Margaret Day, George Malster and Peter Barltrop, who were tied 9-9 after 11 ends but pushed ahead and won nicely 22-11.

Trevor Day’s rink were looking for victory but dropped a five in the penultimate end, so losing 17-16.

Clive Brooks lost by two shots whilst Alan Burden’s rink were ahead 12-6 in the 11th end but failed to register a score from there to lose 12-8.

Marlow continued their success in county matches, with Dave White, Brian Jones and Stewart Rump overcoming another Marlow threesome skipped by Bob Broad, winning 28-9.

Andrew Savin, Roger Turpie and Dave Turner won their match against Chesham 19-11.

It was a good week for Dave White and Stewart Rump, though they fell behind early on in their pairs match against another Chesham pairing, but came back strongly to win comfortably 24-14. Unfortunately the duo of Paul Simmons and Trevor Day could not follow their colleagues into the quarter-finals. Despite leading for much of the match they dropped shots near the close and eventually lost 22-17.

This means both Marlow triples teams play in the quarter-finals at Aylesbury. Dave White and Stewart Rump pair up in the quarters at Waddesdon