What a season it has been for Westlecot so far, with many area finals to be played, and they are all right around the corner! In our next report, it will be solely focused on reports from all of the area finals, which hopefully as many of our players as possible will be successful in!
However, in this report we will be focusing on results from the senior competitions, which have been no exception to the overall success of Westlecot this season, with many of the area finals containing Westlecot bowlers!
We start with the Ladies Senior Singles, where Yvette Maxwell-Darkes has secured her place in the area final. She ran out a convincing 16-4 winner over clubmate Sheila Kenny in a strong showing, and now finds herself just one victory away from the national finals at Nottingham. Yvette will face Pat Fowkes of Rivermead in the final.
In the Ladies O50 Triples, Janet Willis’ trio took on Jeanette Berry of Oxford City & County. Unfortunately for our ladies, they did not manage to find their way into this match at any point, and fell to a 20-4 loss, denying them a place in the area semi-final.
In the Ladies O60 Pairs area semi-final, Janet Willis was looking for revenge against Jeanette, in a rematch following on from her defeat in the Senior Triples. This time, things did go Janet’s way, as in a high scoring affair, she managed to record a convincing 28-18 victory to secure her place in the area final. Janet will take on Mary Price of Desborough, with a place at Nottingham up for grabs.
In the Mens Senior Pairs, our two remaining pairs went head to head, with a place in the area semi-final against Omar Sharif up for grabs. Barry Sictorness & Chris Cheesley took on Dave Snell & Mel Biggs in what looked to be a close encounter on paper. This was proven correct, as in a game of cat and mouse, Chris & Barry took a solid lead on a few occasions, but Mel & Dave responded each time by clawing the shots back. However, it was Barry & Chris who managed to hang on to record a 2 shot victory and advance to the area semi-final.
In the area Semi-Final, Barry & Chris travelled to Oxford City & County to take on Omar Sharif. It was a solid start from our pair, who found their footing early on, however a mixture of great bowling and some good fortune for the opposition pair left Barry & Chris trailing and requiring some big scores to find their way back into the match. Unfortunately, they could not respond which meant a 9 shot loss, with Omar advancing to the area final.
Following on from a close encounter with Barry Romain, where they recorded a 13-9 win, Neil Smith & co were due to play Steve Mead of Foxhill in the area semi-final. However, they were awarded a walkover for this match, meaning they advanced straight into the area final, where they take on David Simpson of Desborough.
There has been quite a bit of action in the Senior Fours, with two Westlecot rinks in action, and with the competition now reaching the area final stage.
Firstly, we go to Dave Matthews, Ian Farragher, John Thomas & Mike Shawyer, who travelled to Slade to face a tricky away test against Andy Hunt. This proved to be a fantastic match up, with our four giving a fantastic account of themselves, pushing Andy all the way, before unfortunately coming up just short, in a 1 shot loss, 18-17.
Our other four, made up of Kevin Embling, Paul Kistle, Dave Snell & Mel Biggs also had a challenging away tie, against Alan Dunkley of Brackley. Our rink were up to the task though, producing an excellent display to pull out a strong 16-10 victory, and book their place in the area semi-final, where they would seek revenge for our other rink, when they made the journey to Slade to take on Andy Hunt.
Once again, our four would produce the goods, getting off to a solid start before accelerating away to a 20 shots to 8 victory, booking their place in the area final after 2 fantastic wins away from home. Mel & co will now meet Derek Parsonson of West Berks at a neutral venue, with a place at Nottingham on the line!
Finally, a big congratulations to our O60 Double Rink team, who have booked their place in the national quarter final, after a great victory in the previous round. They produced some fantastic bowling, to record a convincing 45-24 win over Whiteknights. A 26-10 victory at home set the foundations for the away side, who more than kept up their end of the bargain, recording a 19-14 win. We will now take on Plymouth for a place at Nottingham!
That’s all for now, but we will be back soon with a roundup of all the action from the national area finals. Good luck to all in their respective matches!
Written by Mikey Titcombe
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