Royal Leamington Spa men wilt in the heat against Sherwood Park

A spectacular late collapse saw Royal Leamington Spa's men slump to a 31-shot defeat in their five-rink home match against Sherwood Park from Birmingham.
Mike Wallace was a comprehensive winner for Spa but it was not such good news on the other rinks.Mike Wallace was a comprehensive winner for Spa but it was not such good news on the other rinks.
Mike Wallace was a comprehensive winner for Spa but it was not such good news on the other rinks.

For most of the afternoon, the overall match position had been very close and going into the 17th of 21 ends there was only one shot between the teams.

However, a disastrous finish saw Spa drop a series of large scores across four of the five rinks to concede a nett 30 shots in the last five ends.

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Only the rink of Bill Claridge, Mike Brayne, Jerry Horne and Mike Wallace resisted the onslaught as they held on to record a 22-15 win.

Despite a late scare, Dick Allibon eked out a 24-23 win but elsewhere Dick Williams (23-16), Dave Gardner (25-18) and Dave Turner (31-6) all succumbed to the late Sherwood Park surge as the visitors took the match by a margin of 117 shots to 86.

Spa’s ladies had no such trouble in their two midweek matches.

Playing a three-triples game at home to Whitnash, Bonny Claridge, Dawn Horne and Enid Reece powered to a 21-1 lead after 12 of the 18 ends.

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Despite relaxing slightly over the closing stages, the trio still recorded an impressive 24-10 victory.

Nine shots on the last three ends allowed Sue Deavall, Jean Leyland and Jenny Wickens to record a 23-9 win.

Lyn Wilne’s game was so tight that only a couple of twos were scored in the entire afternoon, with single shots recorded on the other 16 ends.

And despite Whitnash taking a 14-6 win, Spa took the overall match by 53 shots to 33.

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Two days later, Spa’s ladies travelled to Stratford to play a four-triples match where a powerful all-round performance saw them record a comprehensive 84-38 win.

The foundation was laid by a 31-4 victory for the threesome of Jane Wigman, Dawn Horne and Janice White.

Elsewhere, the whitewash was completed thanks to wins for Enid Reece (23-10), Cynthia Briggs (18-13) and Donna Kerr (12-11).

Meanwhile, Warwick Boat Club won their mixed triples battle at Shipston 56-52 despite only winning one of the three rinks.

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Stephen Hunt skipped a convincing 24-8 victory on his rink but Diane Harvey and Martin Dean lost.

Boat Club’s men were well beaten at home to Stratford, going down 61-28 after losing all three rinks.

They also lost 49-45 to Lillington despite Peter Boardman skipping his rink to a 17-14 victory.

Boat Club’s ladies lost 28-24 in a two-rink encounter at Ilmington.

Jill Minett skipped Jacqui Ashley and Cosette Lawton to a 14-13 win but Diane Harvey (skip), Carolyn Labrum and Jean Liggins lost 15-10.

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