Bowls round-up: Including national success for Potten End teams

Potten End have enjoyed a successful week in national competitions for both the men’s and ladies’ teams.
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The men visited St Ippolyts for a second round match in the Club Top 10 and, after a closely fought match with both sides winning two rinks, Potten End took the match with a shot difference of nine.

In the first round of the Top 11, the men had a more comfortable win at Herts as they were victorious on all five rinks.

Not to be outdone, a mixed team visited Kings Langley in the first round of the national 2 fours and progressed to the next round by winning both rinks. Both the men’s Veterans League teams were in action and they also recorded good wins. The red team maintained their 100 per cent record with a good win over Chesham by 19 shots, while the blue team had a closer game against Kings Langley, winning by 43 shots to 38.

In their friendly matches, the club had a comfortable win over Hemel Hempstead men by 85 shots to 52. Top rink went to Bob Anderson, Keith Martindale and Tom Jordan.

In the mixed match against Linslade all rinks were tightly contested but Potten End went down by 60 shots to 73. Top rink was Lesley Wilson, Pam Smith and Arthur Page.

At the weekend the men suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Dunstable Town, going down 61 shots to 103. The club’s only winning rink was Tom Masters, John Coleman, Keith Martindale and Mick Kirkby.

In the club’s first fixture at Luton West End, members struggled on a very slow green and succumbed to the home team by 56 shots to 82. Top rink was Eileen Clements, Mick Young and Arthur Page.

> Kitcheners

Kitcheners Bowls Club had a very busy week, recording two victories from four matches.

Five mixed triples visited Amersham Bowls Club and, despite winning three of the triples, Kitcheners went down by 65 shots to 90. The highest winning triple for Kitcheners was Michael Conelly, Jan Scattergood and Steve Mitchell, winning 18-9.

On Thursday, a team of five triples visited Princes Risborough Bowls Club and ran out 110-90 winners. Kitchener’s highest triple was Conelly, Debbie Whiting and Shirley Seager who won by 45 shots to 15.

On Saturday, Kitcheners took on close rivals Berkhamsted in a Dacorum Shield match and, despite winning two out of the three rinks, lost by 58 shots to 62. Kitcheners won both the men’s and mixed rinks, with Berkhamsted winning the ladies’ match, meaning Kitcheners scored two points to Berkhamsted’s three.

Berkhamsted also won the friendly rink, with highest winning rink for Kitcheners going to Steve Dave, Dave Richardson, Kate Jenkyns and Sue Halsey as they triumphed 23-19.

On Sunday, Kitcheners took on Harpenden at home over four rinks and won the match 91-63. Kitcheners’ highest winning rink was Shirley Seager, Bob Rance, Mike Waterhouse and Chris Ivin with a score of 29 shots to 13.

> Hemel Hempstead

Roger Wakefield continued his fine start to the season as he provided the backbone to some good performances by the Hemel men’s team.

Wakefield was in the top rink on three occasions in key matches. Hemel bowled well on all rinks to record a convincing 73-40 win in the Ray Cup against North Watford – the top rink of Don Connors, Wakefield, John Tierney and Jim Norman comfortably won their rink.

An excellent team effort led to an unexpected 72.5-7.5 points win against Townsend in the District League.

Hemel won on three rinks, with the top rink being Malcolm Smith, Roy Barlow, Wakefield and skip Bill Salmon.

In a second District League game, Hemel suffered a 35-45 loss to Harpenden. Hemel’s top rink was Alan Thornley, Kevin Greene, Wakefield and Brian Smith.

In their Dacorum Shield match against Tring, Hemel had an overall 4-1 points win. It was a hard-fought game on all rinks, with Hemel winning two rinks to one.

The ladies’ rink of Mary Kinzelmann, Pat Barker and Sylvia Ingleby was skipped by captain Lena Emmins who progressed from early setbacks to record a six-shot win.