Connaught battle away on mats

CONNAUGHT Bowls Club, Attleborough, had a slightly quieter week than usual but still managed three short mat league matches, all of them away from home.

CONNAUGHT Bowls Club, Attleborough, had a slightly quieter week than usual but still managed three short mat league matches, all of them away from home.

In the Breckland League Connaught B lost at Harling Rec by 48-88. Results (skips' names): R Ramm 17-23, A Rush 6-27, J Hazell 6-27, A Marshall 19-11.

Against the much-improved Harling team, Connaught B lost two matches very heavily. Ralf Ramm, Rick Gilmour and Stan Groom played well and fought hard but were undone by dropping four and three in the latter stages. Alan Marshall skipped Ron Maddern and Hazell Banks in the Connaught display of the evening to salvage pride and two points.

In the South Norfolk League Connaught had a sound win at Saxlingham by 56-48 and 6-4. S Bragg 14-15, R Gilmour 15-10, T Musk 10-16, G Wilcox 17-7. Rick Gilmour, currently a lead for Connaught B in the Breckland League, skipped Heather Winup and Ken Lurcock to victory in a good team display, and Gordon Wilcox, Moira Eades and John Winup combined very well.

In the Tens League Connaught won 55-50 and 2-0 at Thorpe Marriott after a nail-biting finish. Pairs: W Adcock 20-10, E Oatway 13-15. Triples: R Wells 13-9, R Oatway 9-16. Bill Adcock and Sylvia Parsons had another storming win as a pair, while Ray Wells, Diana Adcock and Gordon Wilcox battled hard for their win. After the first two matches Connaught were 14 shots up overall. Things slipped after that.

The second pairs match was the last to finish with everybody watching the final three ends. Elaine Oatway and John Winup won end 13 to put Connaught just one shot ahead overall and then held their nerve to score three and one for the five-shot win and two points.