Spital v Glascote B

On the hottest evening so far Spital travelled up the B 5000 to Glascote Social Club to play in the Baddesley Mine Midweek League against Glascote B. In the previous week they had had a friendly on the same green when the weather was in stark contrast with torrential rain. Game 1 with Jackie Fox against Lynda Beal saw Fox get a good lead to 15-9 but Beal pegged back to lead 16-15. From then on it was nip and tuck as the players kept drawing level right up to 19 all but Fox managed the double to take the game 21-19. Game 2 saw Keith Evans struggling to get any sort of rhythm going and was 2-10 down on end 9 against Andy Athersmith but picked a few shots up mid game to draw near at 13-14 but despite his efforts Athersmith was able to regain his composure and take the next 7 shots over 7 ends to take the game 21-16. In game 3 David McAneny had a tremendous battle with Tom Beal lasting over 34 ends with the lead changing throughout the game with Beal leading 17-13 at end 25 but McAneny scored a couple of singles to pull back to 15-17 then 17-18. Beal took the next 2 singles to 20-17 then had to watch as McAneny played 2 doubles to take the game 21-19. At this point Spital were 2 shots behind and when Ray Vanstone took on Dave Chamberlain the pressure was on. Both players had a slow start but Vanstone took an early lead to 7-4 but was soon caught mid game trailing 9-7. He battled on to equalise 11 all then 12 all but Chamberlain pressed on to 18-13 ahead with Vanstone just managing a single to 21-14. The match deficit was now 9 shots so when David Storr played Charlene Parkinson there was everything to play for. Storr lead from the start and was well ahead at 18-11 on end 25 when Parkinson put in a tremendous effort to 19-14 then 5 shots over 3 ends to 20-19 but to lose on the next Storr single. The final game with the score line being 93-100 had Ade Coleman up against Kevin Beal where despite being 6-0 down pulled back to draw then take the lead mid game 10-7 but then got stuck as Beal powered back to lead 17-10 and finally take the game 21-12. Final match score Glascote 121-105.

R.Evans Cup

Spital travelled to Atherstone Grove to play against Tamworth Castle B in the first round of the R.Evans Cup in the Baddesley Mine Midweek League. The team had a good start when Keith Evans scored 9 shots over 7 ends against Zoe Locke and continued to dominate the game as Locke started to score but couldn’t make any headway finally losing 21-10. Game 2 was a marathon between David McAneny and Castle’s Dave Clay with McAneny building a lead and Clay drawing back throughout right up until end 32 at 19 all then taking a shot to 20-19 with McAneny pulling back to 20 all and clinching the game 21-20 at end 36. In game 3 Ray Vanstone started well leading 9-5 against Nigel Grounds but then got left behind as his opponent scored 12 shots over the next 9 ends to lead 17-9 at 25 ends finally taking the game 21-10. The shot score was now 52-51 in Spital’s favour and the next game of David Storr with Mike Pickford was crucial. Pickford got into a good rhythm early on and dominated the game throughout winning 21-9. Jackie Fox totally overwhelmed Lorna Findlay in game 5 taking the game 21-4 over 18 ends to redress the shot score 82-76. In the final game Sue Bates struggled to get any rhythm going against Lorraine Chritchley and despite pulling back to within 2 shots 9-11 didn’t settle and lost 21-12. This tipped the balance in favour of Castle B with the final score line 94-97. 

Spital v Wilnecote

In the Baddesley Mine Midweek League Spital Bowls Club travelled up the A5 to Wilnecote WMC with its spectacular views over Tamworth. The first game saw David Storr have a shaky start against Dave Bellamy but by end 20 had taken control to lead 16-10. Bellamy hit back to equalise at end 24 but Storr managed 2 doubles and a single to finish the game 21-16. Game 2 saw Ade Coleman build a lead of 10-7 against Steph Clancy who then took control to lead 15-10 at 20 ends. Coleman fought back to draw 16 all and after a dead end took the winning 5 shots to take the game 21-16. Game 3 had Sue Bates against Gordon Reid in a marathon match lasting 90 minutes with Bates leading throughout until end 32 after Reid pulled back to 18 all. Despite getting back a shot to 19 Bates finally succumbed with Reid taking the game 21-19. In game 4 Jackie Fox took control early in her match with Helen Sheldon scoring 6 doubles to contribute to her final shot score of 21-5 at 21 ends. At this point the shot score was 82-58 in favour of Spital. In game 5 Keith Evans managed to get to 5-7 down against Gordon Bath but never scored again as his opponent took 14 shots over 10 ends to take the game 21-5. The shot score by this time was 87-79 still in favour of Spital so the final game was crucial. David McAneny pulled back on Richie Brown’s early lead to 3-4 but got stuck as Brown built a lead of 9-3. He fought back to get 6 shots but Brown ploughed ahead to lead 18-6. McAneny had it all to do and managed to score 5 shots from 5 ends but it wasn’t enough and the game was lost 21-11 with Wilnecote taking the match 100-98.

Spital v Atherstone Grove

In the Baddesley Mine Midweek League Spital travelled up the A5 to their hosts for the evening Atherstone Grove. On a very slick green with a true crown Spital struggled to find form. Jackie Fox had a tremendous start against Steve Bown leading 14-8  but after a failed challenge for long tapes seemed to lose momentum and got stuck on 16 shots while Bown pulled back back 12 shots over the next 10 ends to lead 20-16 and take the game 21-17. Game 2 saw David McAneny up against Lisa Chapman  who kept level until end 5 then started to build an impressive lead to 14-6 and despite an attempt to pull back by McAneny took the game 21-10. Ade Coleman suffered the same fate against Ian Cope going down 21-8 after 21 ends. In only his second league game Paul Greenaway followed the trend and trailed 16-2 against John Wilson pulling back a few shots in the latter stage of the game but losing 21-6. In similar fashion David Storr struggled to find any flow in his game with Norman Kester and lost 21-7. The final game saw Keith Evans unable to get into any rhythm against Gary Taft in the early stages but hung on despite being down 20-11 by end 24. He then scored 7 shots over 4 ends to pull back to 20-18 but finally succumbed to Taft 21-18. Match result Atherstone Grove won by 126-66.

Spital v Birch Coppice A

In the Baddesley Mine Midweek League Spital played host to Birch Coppice A on an unusually warm evening for late April. David Storr had a tight game with Mark Pratt to end 18 keeping in touch at 11 all but couldn’t pick up the shots as Pratt forged ahead to 17-11 and despite getting a couple of singles went down 21-13. In game 2 Ray Vanstone started strongly against Simon Thomas leading 16-10 at end 20 but Thomas scored 9 shots in 6 ends to lead 19-16. Vanstone fought back with 3 singles to level the game 19 all but Thomas sealed the game with 2 singles. In game 3 David McAneny had a marathon match lasting well over an hour with Laura Pratt where she led most of the game to end 26 at 15-14 but McAneny managed to draw at 15 all then pull away to 18-16 at end 31 finally taking the game 21-17. Game 4 saw Jackie Fox play Andy Jones who never settled as Fox steadily built the shot score leading 10-2 then 14-4 finally taking the game 21-9. Keith Evans started well in Game 5 against Steve Betteridge with a steady score line up to mid game but Betteridge fought back to equalise at 10 all then 16 all and finally took the game with 5 shots over the next 4 ends. By the last game the shot score was Spital 90 to Birch Coppice A 89 so the onus was on Ade Coleman to try and secure the match. His opponent John Hammonds had a shaky start but soon got into his stride and got into a good scoring rhythm whilst Coleman could only trail behind finally losing 21-13. Final shot score Baddesley A 110 - 103.

Spital v Tamworth Castle A.

After three weeks of beautiful weather Spital played host to Tamworth Castle A in the Baddesley Mine Midweek League on a cool and cloudy evening. In game 1 David McAneny played a powerful game against Glyn Evans leading 16-2 at end 13 and taking the victory 21-6 in 21 ends. Game 2 saw David Storr start slowly but by end 11 had equalised against Tony Millerchip 8 all then kept in the lead from then on taking the game 21-14 on 28 ends. Game 3 saw league newby Paul Greenaway have some unlucky knock-ons against experienced Castle player John Bennet in the early stages but buckled down to pull up to 1 shot behind 14-15 at end 25. Bennet held his nerve and took 6 shots over the next 6 ends to take the game. Game 4 saw Jackie Fox have a slow start against Chris Barnett but pulled back to draw 5 all then 8 all mid game. Barnett pushed Fox for the next 11 ends to lead 15-14 then Fox scored 3 doubles and a single on the last 4 ends to take the victory. Game 5 had Ade Coleman playing Bill Jephcott who lead until end 6 but Coleman pulled back the score and from then on the game swung in favour of both players until end 28 when Jephcott led 20-19 only for Coleman to bowl a double for the win.The final game saw Ray Vanstone take on John Coope who led in the early stages but Vanstone equalised at 8 all and then built a steady lead and maintained it to take the game 21-14. Final score Spital 120-90