The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Northants men suffer an Adams Trophy setback
Northants’ hopes of retaining the English Bowling Federation’s Adams Trophy they won last year for the first time suffered a setback at Whittlesey Manor on Saturday. The local men were beaten by title rivals Lincs 160-166, claiming just six of the 22 points at stake with three winning rinks.
With an unbeaten run of four games completed, the result puts Lincs in the driving seat at the top of the southern section with two matches remaining – Suffolk (away) and North Cambs (home).
For Northants, with no game this weekend and fixtures with Hunts (away) and North Essex (home) to come, they must rely on Lincs slipping up at Suffolk this Saturday and then concentrate on taking maximum points from their remaining two matches.
Home-based father and son, Martin and Lee Welsford, each won on their rinks by two and 12 shots respectively, while Northants’ other win came from the equally dependable Graham Agger – 27-17.
North ants’ Newton Trophy team were unlucky not to turn the tables on Lincs on their first appearance at the City of Peterborough club.
With just one end to play and three of the six rinks still in contention, Northants held a narrow lead, but four shots conceded over those closing stages proved crucial and the match was tied at 168-168 apiece, with Lincs taking the bulk of the points, 13-9, by virtue of winning on four rinks.
Credit must go to Roger Strong’s rink of Jack Corney and Malcolm Squires, who trailed 11-30 after 20 ends, but stuck manfully to their task over the final phase of the match to lose by only 11 shots and keep their side in with a shout.
El s ewhere, Mick Duell skipped Les Sharp and Michael Humphreys to a 3225 win, while Bob Warters, Cliff Watson and Peter Jessop maintained their 100 per cent record with a 35-17 victory.
NORTHANTS LADIES
The Lincs ladies also proved a problem for the Northants women’ s team a few days before the weekend men’ s clashes between the two counties.
There was a second defeat in four games in the Donald Steward Trophy for Northants, with Lincolnshire taking the honours 111-99 (16-2) at Peterborough & District, the only home success coming from the rink of Shirley Suffling, Doris Flowers and Julie Masters, who actually recorded the best win of the day with a 27-11 victory.
Over at Parkway, Northants came close to their first win of the season in the Silver Jubilee Vase, just four shots separating the teams in the end after rink honours were shared at two apiece with the fifth tied, but it was Lincs who won overall at 109-105 (13-9).
There were home wins for the rinks of Stella Dale and Gill King, while Wendy Harrold’s finished all square.