Invaders on top as bowls league reached halfway stage

Each division has a clear leader, while the challenge for the minor places behind them is intense.

In the Orchard Health Group Division One, new leaders Invaders faced IBC, currently seventh, and won 6-0.

IBC started well and held the lead initially on both rinks for about half the games before their opponents caught them and moved ahead to achieve the wins.

Their victories were 28-17 for Scott Whyers’ rink and 19-13 for Ian Tebbs.

Bottom team Cosmos had their best result of the season, taking all six points off Parthians, that’s now 10 points from the last two rounds, meaning they should go into the Christmas break feeling more confident about the second half of the season.

Simon Sperring’s rink started slowly but eventually won 13-11 by virtue of their better finishing run of 6 shots to nil over 4 ends.

The lead swapped back and forth on Bob Thompson’s rink, with victory again coming from the better finish.

Breakaways took four points from their match with third-placed Holland Fen, which featured two high scoring games.

Breakaways remain in fifth spot as a result, just one point adrift of A40 in fourth.

For Breakaways, Carol Dowse, Debbie and Neil Harrison quickly went 15-1 ahead and never lost control of the game, winning 28-9 at the end.

Breakaways also started well on the second rink and were 12-5 up after 11 ends before Barry Wilson, Bob Tingey and Steve Skelton took control, winning the last 9 ends by 18 shots to 1 to get the win 23-13 for the Fenmen.

Royal Mail followed the previous week’s encouraging result by beating Nomads 4-2.

A topsy-turvy start saw the score tied at 4 all on Keith Sharp’s rink, but then they dominated the scoring to win the game 19-7.

Nomads under skip Derek Smith took the other rink 20-10, by grabbing command of the game and scoring 13 shots to 1 over the final 8 ends.

The extra points for the aggregate went to Royal Mail by only two shots.

For A40, Jean Cammack’s rink took the lead from the off and steadily built on it to win 21-13.

Strollers with Andy Warne as skip won a high scoring game on the other rink by just a single shot, 20-19, beating off a late flourish from A40 by scoring 3 on the final end to snatch the victory.

Leaders in the T&B Containers Division Two, Golfers, took on Vectors and won convincingly on both rinks.

After a tight start on David Marshall’s rink, tied 6-6 after seven ends, they scored heavily to win 27-11.

The other rink, skipped by Graham Scarboro, dominated the match to post the win by 22-4.

The Burtons in second spot played seventh-placed Vikings in a match ending 2-4.

They won Dave Bailey’s rink in a low-scoring game, 14-8, after leading from the start.

There wasn’t much between the sides on the second rink for the first 10 ends, then Vikings and skip John Stray were dominant, scoring 17 unanswered shots, to take the game 24-9.

Burtons slipped to third on shot difference as a result.

Dynamics have moved into second place after beating Patriarchs 6-0, winning the single rink to bowl by 19-17.

The score line suggests a close match, although Dynamics held control for most of the game.

Two points and two places in the table separated Amateurs and Hotspurs before they met; after the match, won by Hotspurs 4-2, they were equal on points and only separated by shot difference.

For Amateurs, once Mick Greet’s rink took the lead at the sixth end, they were not headed again and won 15-13.

The other rink went to Hotspurs, skipped by Neil Owen, and won mainly because of their good start as they went 11 shots up after nine ends; they held on to win 19-15 as Amateurs fought back towards the end.

Ivor Roberts’ rink won 34-11, scoring heavily from the off and including three ends each won by 5 shots.

Phantoms took the other rink 18-13; Graham Taylor’s team started well to lead 12-1 after six ends, then had to hold on as Autos came back at them.

U3 took 4 points off Shipmates, Michael Teasdale’s rink winning convincingly 21-6 for 2 points.

Shipmates started slowly on the other rink but they caught up and took the lead, before a close finish; they won 21-15 in the end, with the help of a six on the penultimate end.