Stoke Fleming Bowling Club

A disappointing finish to the season for Stoke last Saturday as they travelled to Paign­ton for their final game in the Mid Devon League.

Yes, as we reported last week they had already secured promotion and were champions, but it would have been a fitting finally to have gone out with a win.

To be fair they did make some changes to the team and it was perhaps played in a more light-hearted way than normal, but make no mistake they were still trying their best to secure the victory.

It was a pretty even start across the rinks, with two ahead and two behind after the first five ends, and by the half way stage that had grown to then see three rinks with an advantage.

Leading the way in the early stages was the rink skipped by Mark Jordan, who this week had the rink’s usual skip Paul Lobb leading for them.

Dropping only one end in the first seven saw them quickly build up a 12-3 lead and looking like they were going to run away with it. It was not to be, however, as they were finally caught and then pipped at the post.

On the other hand, Les English’s rink always looked to have the game under control, with some excellent play from all four members of the rink.

Perhaps up against the strongest rink from Paignton, Les and his team were always go­ing to have a difficult task, but with some excellent bowls from Peter Sandell and Les in particular, they restricted their opponents to only win six of the 21 ends and ran out comfortable winners.

Mike Hyne’s rink had a very topsy-turvy afternoon, falling be­hind early in the game, only to catch up, but later fell away again.

Unfortunately for them, they conceded too many large counts that made it difficult for them to recover from.

Joel Jordan’s four looked like they had done enough and were six shots up with only four ends to play, but conceded shots on all four ends to final miss out by a single shot.

Rink one of Paul Lobb, Mike Jordan, Luke Bryant and Mark Jordan lost 20-26

Rink two with Bill Atkinson, Derek Darch, Tony Dore and Joel Jordan lost 17-18

Rink three comprising John Haynes, Bill Rowe, Arthur Wotton and Mike Hyne lost 18-27

Rink four consisting of Stan Dease, Danny Duncum, Peter Sandell and Les English won 17-11

Overall a loss for the villagers 72-82 and only two points to add to their total in the league.

Following the match the club’s president Bill Rowe called the players together to congratulate them on their magnificent achievement in securing promotion and shook hands with each of them in turn.

The Stoke players are now looking forward to their internal club competitions finals weekend on September 5 and 6.

In addition, they have their village day on September 13, when the two villages that make up the bulk of the club’s membership, Stoke Fleming and Strete, play a match against each other – perhaps one of the most competitive games of the season.