THE EBF’s Derbyshire Trophy indoor county championship programme kicks off on Sunday, October 29th, with the county’s A and B teams crossing swords at Stamford.

With southern section champions Lincolnshire having moved into the northern section following the introduction of North Essex to the southern half it should, on paper at least, strengthen the chances of Northants qualifying for the national final, as Lincs have tended to be their main title rivals in recent seasons.

Rest of the fixtures

A team: November 12, away to North Cambs (March IBC); December 3, away to Hunts (Huntingdon IBC); February 11, home to North Essex (Stamford IBC); February 18, home to Norfolk (Stamford IBC).

B team: November 19, away to Norfolk (Gallow IBC, Fakenham); November 26, away to North Essex (Turpins IBC, Saffron Walden); January 7, home to North Cambs (Peterborough & District); February 11, home to Hunts (Peterborough & District).

All matches start at 10.00am, with the exception of the B team’s match at Norfolk which starts at 11.00am.

CONCERNS about the welfare and competitiveness of the NBF county teams, most notably the Adams, were expressed at the NBF annual meeting held at the Parkway club.

It’s been a struggle for a succession of Adams captains in the last two or three years to put together competitive teams, a situation exacerbated by the decision by some experienced players opting to play in the Newton team.

The very future of the Adams team was under threat at the start of this season until Roger Stevens stepped into the breach as a temporary captain, and to underline the selection issues the county finished bottom of the southern section with just one win from five matches, having last year forfeting a match, which was a ‘dead rubber,’ because they could only raise 15 players.

Now Ray Keating, who also captains the B team in the indoor Derbyshire competition, has put his head above the parapet and taken on the challenge of being the Adams captain for next season in the hope of changing the county’s fortunes. Dave Corney continues as the Newton captain.

As county secretary Melvyn Beck said in his report that while the county cannot compete with the likes of Suffolk, Lincolnshire and Norfolk in terms of strength in depth they have in the past punched above their weight and been very competitive, but sadly that is no longer the case.

In a bid to expand the pool of players next season, clubs will be issued with a list of fixtures and asked to submit the names of players who are interested in representing the county, and these players will then be put in the shop window in two early season ‘trial’ matches, one against Whittlesey Manor and the other against Hunts.

The secretary also informed delegates – 13 of the 17 affiliated clubs were represented at the meeting – that the EBF had issued an ultimatum to East Lindsey District Council that unless there was a guarantee about green improvements and security at the Skegness bowls complex by Christmas then next year’s national finals may well be the last at the seaside resort.

He also reported that the county luncheon at the Ellindon Banqueting Suite had been a success with a considerable number of positive comments received about the quality and quantity of the meal. The venue has been provisionally booked for Sunday, September 22nd, next year.

The statement of accounts, presented by new reporting accountant Andy Cox in the absence of treasurer Les Sharp, showed a deficit on the year of £1,274.70, but the county had funds of £7,701.23.

Competition secretary Melvyn Beck said that both the county indoor and outdoor finals had been brought forward for this coming season owing to the EBF bringing forward their deadline for final entries.

The indoor finals are at Stamford on Sunday, February 25th, which may result in some rounds being played before Christmas dependant on the number of entries, while the outdoor finals are at Blackstones on Sunday, July 14th, a week earlier than normal.

Honorariums remain unchanged at £200 received by the secretary, treasurer, match secretary, competition secretary, results secretary and minutes secretary.

All the officers were elected en bloc for all the positions bar results secretary. Ally McNaughton took over last season when Cliff Watson was indisposed, and he has now been officially appointed to that role.

The county has only three management committee members – Ray Keating, Cliff Watson and former secretary Mike Ramsden who returns to the administrative fold – and so president Martyn Dolby asked for clubs to consider putting forward candidates for co-option as it was important to have as many clubs involved as possible to make an input into the running of the county.

Officers elected:

President, Martyn Dolby; Secretary, Melvyn Beck; Treasurer, Les Sharp; Match secretary, Graham Agger; Competition secretary, Melvyn Beck; Results secretary, Ally McNaughton; Minutes’ secretary, Linda Toms; Safeguarding & welfare officer, Peter Brown; Press officer, Melvyn Beck; NDC delegate, Melvyn Beck; Adams captain, Ray Keating; Newton captain, Dave Corney; Derbyshire A captain, Simon Law; Derbyshire B captain, Ray Keating; Management committee, Ray Keating, Cliff Watson, Mike Ramsden; Reporting accountant, Andy Cox.

SAD to report the passing of former NWBA president Joan Hill at the age of 93.

She was county president in 2002 when a member of the Whittlesey Manor club and in her presidential year the county won the EWBF’s Harry Carver Trophy. She was also a regular member of the Donald Steward and Silver Jubilee Vase teams.

There will be a committal at Peterborough Crematorium on Monday, November 6th at 12 noon followed by a service of thanksgiving at Eye Church at 1.00pm.

ALTHOUGH the start of the Derbyshire Trophy campaign is more than a month away, Northants A and B team captains Simon Law and Ray Keating have already named their teams for their meeting at Stamford on Sunday, October 29.

Northants A: Michael Humphreys, Tony Scarr, Adam Warrington; Brian Martin, Tom Newman, John Earl; Paul Dalliday, Michael Jeapes, Simon Law; Stuart Agger, Graham Agger, Peter Brown.

Northants B: Tony Barwell, Cliff Watson, Roger Martin; Jeff Clipston, MIck Greaves, Mick Linnell; John Holroyd, Ray Keating, Kevin Vinter; Martin Bailey, Ally McNaughton, Paul Bailey.

COUNTY presidents Shirley Suffling and Martyn Dolby hosted the Northants Bowling Federation’s joint presentation luncheon held at the Ellindon Banqueting Suite, Bretton.

Principal guests were both national presidents, Ian Bratton, president of the English Bowling Federation, and Elaine Haddon-Holmes, president of the English Women’s Bowling Federation.

They proposed a toast to the respective county federations and assisted the county presidents with the presentation of indoor and outdoor trophies.

During the proceedings, the EBF president re-presented the EBF veterans singles trophy to Graham Agger and the indoor Eversley Trophy to county president Martyn Dolby, who led the team of county executives, Graham Agger, Peter Brown, Les Sharp, Cliff Watson and Bob Warters to success at Lincoln.

The ‘Player of the Year’ trophies were awarded to John Earl (Derbyshire A), John Holroyd (Derbyshire B), Owen Aspinall (Adams Trophy) and Michael Humphreys (Newton Trophy).

SAD to report the passing of former NWBF president Mary Malton following a lengthy illness.

She was president in 1994 when the county won the Donald Steward Trophy for only the second time in their history and claimed the EWBF four-bowl singles title at Skegness in 2000.

She was an active member of the county for many years and an avid supporter after her retirement.

Away from the Federation, she won the English and British Isles fours titles in 2003 and 2004 respectively with Whittlesey Manor colleagues Emma Thurston, Wendy Lutkin and Pat Reynolds.

The funeral service takes place at Christ Church, Dogsthorpe on Friday, September 1st at 12.30pm. The wake is being held at the Peterborough & District club.

JUST one English Bowling Federation title came the way of Northants bowlers at Skegness courtesy of Graham Agger (Whittlesey Manor) in the veterans singles.

Playing in the event for the first time, he claimed a fifth success for the county in this competition after coming from 16-10 down to defeat Cleveland’s Steve Slaughter 21-18 in the final.

He also reached the semi-finals of the two-bowl rinks with Roger Stevens and Peter Brown, where they lost 27-18 to the eventual winners from North Essex.

The county’s other finalists were Blackstones pair Katie Bailey and John Earl in the mixed pairs, but having shown good form throughout the week, they had an off day in final and crashed 22-8 to Lincolnshire.

Once again the greens at Skegness proved much more of a challenge than usual, as they were vastly under-prepared resulting in bowls becoming something of a lottery on most rinks.

Damaged caused by unauthorised football matches on one of the greens meant two of the rinks having to be taken out of commission, and as a result the other two greens had to be turned into seven rinks.

With the local council desperate not to lose the championships which bring several million of pounds into the town’s economy, it is hoped that improvements in both the maintenance of the greens and security will be the result of upcoming discussions between the relevant parties.

Once again clashes with the Bowls England finals at Leamington resulted in matches being conceded before the start of the championships, although the three-bowl rinks from Hunts, after defeating a two-man Northants rink (Ean Morton had a family crisis) in the second round, then handed their opponents a ‘walkover’ in the semi-finals, which resulted in county president Martyn Dolby and skip Tristan Morton lodging a complaint only to be informed the national body were powerless to act as there was nothing in the rules to prevent it happening and that they hoped good sportsmanship would prevail in such circumstances.

The only other Northants player to reach the semi-finals was 14-year-old Ollie Jeapes in the under 25 singles, where he was beaten 21-18 by Hunts’ Sam Brugnoli, his partner in the Bowls England junior pairs who went on to claim the title.

It was a disappointing week for the Northants ladies as only Ann Northen (Langtoft) managed to win a match (Champion of Champions singles) with qualifiers in the other eight competitions all falling at their first hurdle.

It was particularly frustrating for the rinks teams who were both beaten on the last end, Market Deeping’s —-, Emma Providence and Linda Kemp dropping a single having gone into the last end all square and Stamford’s Elizabeth Wallace, Mora Holroyd and Chris Ford conceding four shots when leading by two.

RESULTS

MEN

Two-bowl singles: Michael Jeapes (Parkway) lost 21-16 to Cleveland in the first round; Four-bowl singles: Paul Dalliday (Parkway) lost 21-19 to Northumberland in first round; Under 25 singles: Ollie Jeapes (Parkway) lost 21-18 to Hunts in the semi-finals having beaten North Cambs 21-13 and Notts21-11; Veterans singles: Graham Agger (Whittlesey Manor) won the final 21-18 against Cleveland having beaten Hunts 21-12 and Norfolk 21-15; Secretaries singles: Melvyn Beck lost 21-9 to Lincs in the first round; Champion of Champions: Robert Heath (Yaxley) lost 21-7 to North Essex in the first round; Sam Downs & Paul Buckley (Blackstones) lost 19-10 to Hunts in the second round having had a bye; Mixed pairs: Katie Bailey & John Earl (Blackstones) lost 22-8 in the final to Lincs having beaten Humberside 22-14; Northumberland 20-17 and North Essex 20-15; Senior pairs: John Suffling & Bob Warters (Ketton) lost 26-3 to Suffolk in the second round having beaten Humberside 20-13; Mixed senior pairs: Les Sharp & Gill King (Yaxley) lost 20-13 to Hunts in the first round; Open under 25 pairs: Ollie Jeapes (Parkway) & Owen Aspinall (Blackstones) lost 17-15 to Humberside in the second round after beating Hunts 19-9; 2b rinks: Roger Stevens, Graham Agger, Peter Brown (Whittlesey Manor) lost 27-18 to North Essex in the semi-finals having beaten Notts 17-11 and Humberside 19-13; 3b rinks: Adam Emery, Ean & Tristan Morton (Parkway) lost 17-11 to Hunts in the second round after beating Norfolk 13-9; Mixed rinks: Sophie Morton, Simon Law, Tristan Morton (Parkway) lost 22-16 to Norfolk in the first round.

WOMEN

Two-bowl singles: Karen Porter (Crowland) lost 21-11 to North Essex in the first round; Four-bowl singles: Emma Providence (Market Deeping) lost 21-9 to Durham in the first round: Senior singles: Sue Moir (Langtoft) lost 21-18 to Notts in the first round; Secretaries singles: Angela Cox (Langtoft) lost 21-9 to Derbyshire in the first round; Champion of Champions singles: Ann Northen (Langtoft) lost 21-11 to Durham after beating Hunts 21-10; Pairs: Lynn Hulme & Shirley Suffling (Ketton) lost 19-8 to Norfolk in the first round; Senior pairs: Anne White & Sue Moir (Langtoft) lost 22-13 to Norfolk in the first round; 2b rinks: Julie Nolan, Linda Kemp, Emma Providence (Market Deeping) lost 18-17 to Cleveland in the first round; 3b rinks: Elizabeth Wallace, Moira Holroyd, Chris Ford (Stamford) lost 20-18 to Lincs in the first round.

THERE will be an unbalanced look to the NBF county fixtures next year as North Cambs, having won the Newton Trophy this season have been automatically promoted to the Adams competition.

As a result, it means there will be seven teams in the Adams next year and only five in the Newton.

The national rules state that any county with only one team, such as North Cambs, who choose to play that team in the Newton and then win that said league are automatically elevated to the Adams the following year.

The provisional fixtures have been released ahead of the fixture meeting at Skegness where they will be confirmed or otherwise.

As a result of the odd number of teams in each competition, it means counties will get a weekend off next year as opposed to playing on five consecutive Saturdays.

With regard to Northants, Dave Corney has expressed his desire to continue as the Newton captain, but this does not preclude anyone else from throwing their hat into the ring. However, the Adams team are seeking nominations for captain as Roger Stevens, who stepped in at the last minute this season to enable the fixtures to be fulfilled is not planning to stand.

If there are any nominations, then contact the secretary before the county AGM on October 18th.

WHITTLESEY Manor lifted the NBF’s Adams Cup for the first time since 2012 by defeating Yaxley 63-44 in the final at City of Peterborough.

When two of the three rinks had finished, Yaxley held a slender one-shot lead, but that was purely academic as the Manor rink of Peter Brown had already secured a commanding advantage over Les Sharp’s rink, the final scoreline being 30-10.

Yaxley’s Peter Marchant’s scored three shots on the last end to edge out the rink of Graham Agger 17-15, while on adjoining rink Robert Heath’s rink came from 14-4 down to draw within one shot of Martin Welsford’s trio after scoring eight shots over the last three ends.

RESULT

WHITTLESEY MANOR 63, YAXLEY 44 (Whittlesey Manor rinks first):

Roger Stevens, Mick Linnell, Martin Welsford 18, Tony Duthrie, Andrew Cooper, Robert Heath 17; Michael Humphreys, Tom Fielding, Graham Agger 15, Mike Gordon, Luigi Caporale, Peter Marchant 17; Stuart Agger, Zack Brown, Peter Brown 30, Ian Flack, Gill King, Les Sharp 10.

PARKWAY have retained the Dan Duffy Trophy, the Northants Bowling Federation’s club championship.

They defeated Blackstones 78-67 in the final played at Langtoft, winning on three of the four rinks.

The result of the match was in the balance until the closing ends when Parkway forged ahead to retain the crown and qualify for next year’s Durham Centenary Trophy.

Blackstones led by three shots at the five-end stage, but Parkway edged ahead to lead by two shots after ten ends and the margin was still only two shots after 15 ends. However, over the last six ends Parkway stretched that advantage to 11 by accumulating 23 shots to Blackstones’ 14.

Level at 12-12 after 16 ends, the rink of Stuart Popple won the last five ends to win 20-12 against Paul Buckley; Simon Law’s trio snatched a 20-19 victory by scoring a three on the last end to pip Stephen Harris, while Tristan Morton scored on seven of the last nine ends to secure an 18-12 win against John Earl.

Blackstones’ consolation win came from the rink of Adam Warrington who led from start to finish to win 24-20 against Mike Robertson.

Northants Bowling Federation president Martyn Dolby was on hand to present the trophy to the winning team.

RESULT

PARKWAY 78, BLACKSTONES 67 – (Parkway rinks first):

Paul Dalliday, Michael Jeapes, Simon Law 20, Trevor Smith, Darren Russell, Stephen Harris 19; Ollie Jeapes, Michelle Coleman, Tristan Morton 18, Dusty Miller, Mal Smith, John Earl 12; Neil Wright, Tony Scarr, Stuart Popple 20, Martin Stokes, Sam Downs, Paul Buckley 12; Trevor Collins, Brian Martin, Mike Robertson 20, Wayne Morris, Darren Middleton, Adam Warrington 24.