NORTHANTS returned from the English Bowling Federation national indoor finals at Lincoln with a record haul of three individual titles.
Young Ollie Jeapes and senior statesman Martyn Dolby retained their respective singles titles, something that had never before been achieved by the county indoors, and Paul Dalliday, Simon Law and Tristan Morton claimed the rinks title, Law and Morton having won it back in 2015 with Neil Wright.
The county were agonisingly close to claiming a fourth title with the mixed rink of Dalliday, Louise Harris and Law losing in the final.
On top of that, the county reached two other semi-finals via Stephen Harris in the singles and Liz Hext and Tom Newman-Borrett in the mixed pairs.
Rising star Jeapes has now won the indoor junior singles title three times in the past four years and he is also the current holder of the EBF under 25 singles outdoors.
He was again imperious as he swept to the title with fairly comfortable wins against Lincs (21-17), Norfolk (21-8), Northumberland (21-11) and Derbys 21-16 in the final.
NBF chairman Dolby had two nail-biting 21-20 wins en route to a 21-13 victory in the final against host club manager Danny Brown.
After hard fought wins against Cleveland (18-16) and Suffolk (23-16), Northants romped to a 26-8 victory in the rinks final against Notts.
With Northants having retained the Eversley Trophy for executives two weeks earlier, it means the county matched last year’s trophy haul of four, which included two team competitions.
The ladies were desperately closing to winning their version of the Eversley Trophy, as they finished joint second in the Harry Carver event just half a point behind tournament winners Lincs.
The Northants rinks were Terri Handley, Shirley Suffling, Sheila Craig; Viv Hempsell, Yvonne Monaghan, Liz Hext.
Spare a thought for Yvonne Monaghan who qualified in three events, but had to play all her opening matches on the same day and fatigue was certainly a factor as she lost all three following a marathon stint on the green.
The only win for the ladies came from the rink of Elizabeth Wallace, Sue Moir and Chris Ford who defeated North Essex 25-9 before losing 22-11 in the second round against Hunts.
RESULTS
LADIES: Singles – Yvonne Monaghan lost 21-16 to Hunts; Senior singles – Yvonne Monaghan lost 21-19 to Hunts; Pairs – Vicky Simpson and Yvonne Monaghan lost 21-11 to Notts; Rinks – Elizabeth Wallace, Sue Moir, Chris Ford lost 22-11 to Hunts after defeating North Essex 25-9.
MEN: Singles – Stephen Harris lost 21-17 to Humberside in the semi-finals after beating Suffolk 21-12; Senior singles – Martyn Dolby defeated Lincs 21-13 in the final after beating Notts 21-10 and North Cambs 21-20; Under 25 singles – Ollie Jeapes beat Derbys 21-16 in the final after wins against Lincs 21-17, Norfolk 21-8 and Northumberland 21-11; Pairs: Brian Martin and Chris Ballard lost 23-18 to North Cambs; Rinks – Paul Dalliday, Simon Law, Tristan Morton beat Notts 26-8 in the final after wins against Cleveland 18-16 and Suffolk 23-16; Mixed pairs – Liz Hext and Tom Newman-Borrett lost 21-13 to Derbys in the semi-finals after beating Northumberland 18-13 and Hunts 16-14; Mixed rinks – Paul Dalliday, Louise Harris, Simon Law lost 20-12 in the final against Durham after wins against Derbys 24-5, Suffolk 23-10 and Norfolk 24-6.
Below: Ollie Jeapes and Martyn Dolby retained their respective EBF indoor singles titles.
Below: Tristan Morton, Paul Dalliday and Simon Law, winners of the EBF indoor rinks title.
Below: Paul Dalliday, Louise Harris and Paul Dalliday lost in the mixed rinks final.
Below: The Harry Carver team that finished joint second – (left to right) Liz Hext, Shirley Suffling, Terri Handley, Jess Bolam (president), Yvonne Monaghan, Sheila Craig, Viv Hempsell.
