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Royal Mail Cart Bowls Club enjoyed another successful weekend as they won the Ron Kitchen Memorial Trophy on Saturday and retained the Cecil Driffill Trophy on Sunday.
Just a week after winning the Challenge Bowl, Mail Cart arrived at the finals day of the Ron Kitchen Memorial Trophy at Skegness Foreshore in high spirits.
An EBF competition, the event was played in a top club style format. Mail Cart had beaten Friskney and Horncastle on their way to the semi-final, where their opponents were defending champions, Cleethorpes.
Ash Caress got Royal Mail Cart off to a good start as he won the two bowl singles 21-15, but Jordan Philpott narrowly lost the four bowl singles 20-21.
John Allen and Simon Lilley then lost the pairs 17-22, which meant that to progress to the final, Mail Cart needed to win both the two and three bowl triples matches.
Tracy Philpott, Martin Simpson and Martin Spencer were always in control of the two bowl triples as they won 25-9, which left the outcome of the match on the three bowl triples, where Steve Hill, Phil Cooke and Dominic McVittie were 16-11 up going into the last end.
They consolidated well to only drop two, win their rink 16-13 and the match 3-2 to secure a place in the final against Shires, who beat Burton House in the other semi-final.
The final was as closely contested. Caress started well and won the two bowl singles comfortably 21-13 before Jordan Philpott was unfortunate to lose the four bowl singles 19-21.
Allen and Lilley didn’t have much go their way as they lost the pairs 8-19, while Hill, Cooke and McVittie won the three bowl triples 25-6.
This left the match locked at 2-2 and the title would be decided on the two bowl triples.
Tracy Philpott, Simpson and Spencer collected five shots to go 15-11 up and after a closely fought next few ends, went into the last end, 19-17 up. A tense final end saw the Mail Cart trio drop a single shot, win their match 19-18 and the overall match 3-2 to go one better than in 2021 and win the Ron Kitchen Memorial Trophy for the first time.
On Sunday, the Mail Cart team had also qualified to the final stages of the Cecil Driffill Trophy at Eslaforde Park.
Royal Mail Cart were defending champions and had beaten Castle and Blackstones on their way to the semi-final where they faced Dunholme St Giles.
The Spalding side were always in control as they won by 18 shots, 66-48.
Although all rinks won in the semi-final, the main damage was done by the rink skipped by Simpson, with Hill and Pete Horsfield, who won 21-9.
Horncastle beat Blossom Way in the other semi-final.
Mail Cart actually beat Horncastle at the semi-final stage last season, so were slight favourites going into the final – but it was clear from the outset that Horncastle were not going to give up without a fight.
Royal Mail Cart were four shots clear at both six and 12 ends before a strong finish meant that they won overall by 15 shots, 76-51 and won the Cecil Driffill Trophy in back-to-back seasons.
The Spalding side won on three of the four rinks in the final but an impressive 27-11 rink win by the rink skipped by Jordan Philpott, with Tracy Philpott and Graham Smith, led the way to the team’s victory.
Royal Mail Cart now hope to continue their good run as they represent Lincolnshire in the EBF Durham Centenary final on Saturday and then as Spalding’s EBA league champions at the county club championships on September 4.
