Finals day brings curtain down on indoor bowls season
Desborough Bowls Club's indoor bowls season ended with a competitive Finals Week where 24 titles were decided, culminating in Helen Jones winning the women's championship singles and
John McGuinness claiming the men's title.
Helen's final against Nicola Jones started off as a cagey affair, but she quickly found her rhythm to claim victory by 21-12.
John's game against Steve McAlister was also worth of a final, with John having to claw by Steve's sizeable early lead to win by three shots, 21-18.
Nicola Jones had already won the ladies' novice singles final against Yvonne Hurley, but they then teamed up to defeat Sally Lane and Julie Beal 18-17 in the drawn handicap pairs.
Another fantastic final was played out in the men's nominated pairs as Jeff Beal and Colin Jones edged out Malcolm
Woodley and John McGuinness by a single shot, 17-16, having raced away into a big early lead.
There was another close finish in the mixed nominated triples where Andrew Essex, Gina Braddock and Mark Essex came good at the death to pip Helen Jones, Mark Peachey and Kevin Scrace, 14-13, while Martin Everard and Mike
Whittingham had to survive a late comeback from Michael Hobson and Keith Roper to scrape home 20-19 in the men's drawn handicap.
The Men’s Nominated Triples also went to the wire as Andrew, Mark and Len Essex defeated Gordon Knapper, Steve McAlister, and Dave Simpson, 16 – 15.
The Afternoon 12’s League Play off Final turned out to be a low scoring and cagey affair as Windsor Alex beat Gerrards X, 8-7.
It was refreshing to see some new names on the honours board, however, as Bob Forster beat Ralph Hatch to win the Men’s Novice Singles and Jacinta Monteiro defeated the more experienced Mark Essex to claim the Open Handicap Singles title.
With another indoor season finished, it's time for the competition to move outdoors.