Westlecot IBC hosts club championships

The best performances were recorded by three players with two title wins each, while only two club championship titles were retained, both in singles events.

The most successful players were Wendy Anderson and Janet Willis, who together won the ladies pairs championship as well as the Over 60 ladies pairs title.

In the pairs they were 5-1 down early on to Jayne Croston and Linda Perfitt but fought back to lead and eventually win 21-16.

The duo had a much easier passage in the ladies over 60 pairs, crushing their opponents Ginny Nash and Patricia Murray 23-7.

The other double winner was Mike Titcombe, who took the honours in the U25 singles, beating Phil Gregory 2-1 in sets and combined with Paul Kistle to take the men’s pairs title convincingly 19-4 against Keith Williamson and Terry Walton.

Neil Smith and youngest daughter Katy, the ladies national U25 singles champion last year, recorded a family double with Neil lifting the men’s singles title and Katy winning the ladies singles crown.

Both retained these titles, the only players in the club championships to do so this year.

Neil won the men’s singles title for the sixth time in the last seven years while Katy took the club’s ladies singles title for the third time in the past four years.

Those two victories earned them the right to represent Westlecot again in the respective Area 14 national champion of champions competitions next season (2018/19).

The first three ends of the men’s singles saw Neil score a four then drop a four to Titcombe but bounce back to score a three to lead 7-4 after only three ends. The match was all over 21-14 after only 14 ends.

Katy had to come from behind to overcome Croston in the ladies singles final and retain her title.

She led 5-1 after five ends but was 17-9 down after 17 ends before powering back to score 12 shots and only concede one to win 21-18.

The open singles and two bowl singles produced marathon affairs.

In the former Barry Pittuck and Paul Kistle traded shots for a while before Pittuck moved 16-9 up at 19 ends but only led 20-16 at 26 ends and then got stuck on 20 and did not claim his 21-19 success until the 30th end.

It took 33 ends to decide the two bowl winner between Joe Stout and Paul Pope, with Stout winning the last end shoot-out.

The men’s O60s pairs saw veterans Dave Matthews and John Thomas take a 21-11 victory over Geoff Smith and John Williams.

Beaten narrowly in the mixed pairs final last year Croston and Denis Holborow staged a superb fightback to win this year’s final despite not taking the lead until the 18th and very last end.

They made a disastrous start conceding a four and two counts of five to trail Linda Perfitt and Titcombe 14-3 after only five ends and 18-7 after eight but by end 10 were only 18-15 adrift scoring a three and five.

However, with only four ends left they still trailed 22-17 at 14 ends. They then dug deep with a fine run of one, three, one and two to seal a hard-fought but splendid 24-22 victory.

After two defeats in ladies singles and pairs earlier this success gave Croston her only win of the weekend despite reaching three finals. But for Perfitt it was her second loss and Titcombe’s second loss also but in four final appearances.

Twelve club championship titles were competed for this season with all but one decided at the weekend or early this week owing to the clash with the re-arranged men’s Wessex League match between Westlecot and Bromsgrove on Sunday.

The one outstanding event has to be hastily rescheduled as the indoor season winds down is the men’s triples with Titcombe and Mike Richards looking to retain the title with new colleague Kistle who has replaced Craig Morphet who has switched clubs to Carterton.

RESULTS

MEN

Singles: Neil Smith (holder) beat Mike Titcombe 22-14.

Pairs: Paul Kistle & Titcombe beat Keith Williamson & Terry Walton 19-4.

Triples: Barry, Tom Pittuck & Paul Dawson v Kistle, Titcombe & Mike Richards (to be re-arranged).

Over 60 Pairs: Dave Matthews & John Thomas beat Geoff Smith & John Williams 21-11.

LADIES

Singles: Katy Smith (holder) beat Jayne Croston 21-18.

Pairs: Wendy Anderson & Janet Willis beat Croston & Linda Perfitt 21-16.

Over 60 Pairs: Anderson & Willis beat Ginny Nash & Patricia Murray 23-7.

MIXED

U25 Singles: Titcombe beat Phil Gregory 2-1 (in sets).

Two Bowls Singles: Joe Stout beat Paul Pope 21-20.

Open Singles: Barry Pittuck beat Paul Kistle 21-19.

Pairs: Croston & Denis Holborow beat Perfitt & Titcombe 24-22.

Triples: Val, Brian Coles & Fred Waite beat Kerry, Debbie & Craig Hatherall 18-8.

THE first block of the national championships are being held at Melton & District, Leicestershire, this week.

The Smith sisters Katy, 21 and Lucy, 22, from the Westlecot club came close to collecting a big scalp in the ladies pairs quarter-finals on Wednesday evening but missed out in a last-end shoot-out.

They were tied 5-5 with England internationals Sandy Hazell and Wendy King from the Swale club at Sittingbourne, Kent, the reigning pairs champions, at five ends but had moved 15-7 up at 10 only to be pegged back to 17-13 at 15.

However, the girls were unable to hold on to their advantage dropping two counts of two to go into the 18th and last end all square at 17-17.

Unfortunately the Kent team picked up another two to win 19-17 and keep alive their hopes of retaining the pairs title.

Thursday morning saw the Swale team thump Egham 23-7 to book a place in the final against Spalding and leave the Smith girls to ponder what might have been.

On Monday at Melton Lucy and Katy were joined in the ladies triples by Croston who they had won the Area 14 triples title with.

But they went out in their last 16 game losing to a trio of Carole Baker, Suzanne King and England international Rebecca Field from the Norfolk indoor club in Norwich 17-7.

At the same time a Westlecot men’s team of Mel Biggs, Ian Jefferies and Neil Smith were competing at Melton in the men’s triples championship.

They were involved in a very tight match and needed an extra end to beat Clarrie Dunbar trio of Craig Doughty, Russell Francis and Graham Shadwell 19-18. Ironically they play outdoors with all three for Wiltshire.

In the next round (quarter-finals) Westlecot dropped a seven on the first end and found life difficult to recover against Barwell (Leics).

They battled back from 11-4 down at five ends to cut the gap to 15-9 adrift at 10 and 18-12 at 15 ends but finally lost 18-16 to Barwell trio Bill Hobart, Chris Moore and Joe Dawson who lost in the final 14-13 to a triple from Huntingdon.

Westlecot have two chances left of a national indoor title this season.

Titcombe competes in the men’s singles championship this weekend. He kicks off today (Saturday) at 10am with a last 16 match against Glen Adams (Herga, Harrow, Middx).

If successful Titcombe would then face this evening Adam White (Chawton Park, Alton, Hants) or Trevor Roberts (Egerton Park, Bexhill-on-sea, Sussex) in the quarter-finals.

The semi-final and final will be contested tomorrow at Melton.

The final chance of success lies with the foursome of Dave Snell, Denis Holborow, Terry Walton and Mel Biggs.

They compete in Nottingham next weekend in the men’s over 60 fours.

Walton and Biggs will be seeking a senior fours double as they were members of the winning quartet that won the inaugural senior fours title outdoors at Royal Leamington Spa last August when representing Royal Wootton Bassett along with Barry Sictorness and Chris Cheesley.