Shiplake gain comfortable win to secure Top Club final date

SHIPLAKE LADIES recorded an impressive win in the county Top Club semi-final competition last Sunday where they defeated HANBOROUGH 87-50.

Shiplake won on three of the four rinks. Elaine Robinson and Sylvia Blackmore won the pairs 25-6, Sue Pitcher, Jean Buckett and Wendy Cross won the triples 17-15 while the rink team of Margaret Bullock, Sandra Gough, Ruth Copp and Janet Townley won 29-8.

The Memorial Ground side will now meet Witney Town in the final on Sunday, August 10. The venue has yet to be announced.

The was further success for SHIPLAKE the previous day when they ran out 95-74 winners at DIDCOT in a Plomer Cup fixture.

The villagers won on four of the five rinks. Pete Leverett, Sandra Gough and John Townley had a comfortable win 26-5 while Lorraine Walters, Jeff Harris and Wendy Cross triumphed 21-16.

Sue Pitcher, Keith Walters and Jim Bland won 21-17 and Sue Reid, Dave Bullock and Tony Reid triumphed 13-11.

HENLEY won convincingly on four of the five rinks in their home friendly 115-58 triumph against TRENTHAM on Wednesday of last week.

Peter Borsberry, with Glynis Holland and Ian Gibson, were the highest winning rink. The first nine ends were fairly evenly matched with Henley leading 8-6, but the home side scored consistently over the remaining ends, which included two sixes, a five and two fours, to finish 38-6.

Kevin Browne, with Karen Wakeling and Peter Watkins, started slowly, were 7-0 down after four ends, pulled back to 7-7 after six ends, then scored regularly over the final ends to win 24-10.

Simon Hatcher, with Romy Painter and John Munnelly, started strongly with a five on end two but from there on it was a fairly close match although Henley won 20-10. Joan Edwards, with Ian Ayers and Hylton Jenkins, raced into a 17-3 lead after nine ends and although Trentham reduced the deficit over the second half of the game, Henley won 21-12.

Kevin Currill, with Andrea Tate and Nigel Bridges, were always playing catch-up, were 8-5 down at the halfway stage but then fell away losing 20-12.

On Saturday HENLEY ran out 98-51 winners in a four mixed triples friendly at WARGRAVE.

Henley’s highest winning rink was skipped by Pete Falle with Glynis Holland and Hylton Jenkins. Although the score was 2-2 after four ends, Henley took command and were 12-3 up by the ninth. With a couple of sixes and a four over the next four ends, Wargrave couldn’t catch Henley who finished 30-9 winners.

Skip Peter Borsberry, with Karen Wakeling and Peter Watkins, also started off fairly evenly with the score being 4-4 after five ends. By the 11th end, Henley were starting to ease away with the score at 11-7. Henley then piled on the pressure and only dropped one shot over the remaining seven ends to finish 24-8 winners.

Kevin Browne, with Melinda Swann and Dougie Duguid, had a less easy passage and only scored on two ends in the first eight to be 11-5 down. They then scored on the next four ends, which included a six, to take the lead 16-11 and never looked back to finish 24-16 winners.

Joan Edwards, with Chris Swann and Nigel Bridges, looked like they had an easy game when they were 13-2 ahead by the eighth end. However, Wargrave fought back restricting Henley to only three scoring ends over the remaining 10 but Henley held on to win 20-18.

On Sunday HENLEY ran out 80-63 winners in a friendly match with THREE MILE CROSS. Originally a five mixed triples match, one triple was changed to a pairs game. Henley won on two of the triples, lost on two and the pairs game was drawn.

Kevin Browne, with Andrea Tate and John Munnelly, were Henley’s highest winning rink, outplaying the opposition at every end running out convincing 21-8 winners. Peter Borsberry, with Karen Wakeling and Martin Cranstoun, were leading from the start and surged ahead 19-5 at the 13th end when they had to replay a dead end, but they never lost focus and ran out 22-10 winners. Joan Edwards, with Glynis Holland and Hylton Jenkins, matched the opposition almost point for point and were 10-9 down after 16 ends but dropped a three and a two on the last two ends to go down 15-9.

Peter Menhinick, with Melinda Swann and Ramsey Adams, played a close match and were 10-8 down after 11 ends and 11-10 down at the 13th end when they dropped four on the next end. Although they fought hard to recover the loss they went down 16-14.

Simon Hatcher and Chris Swann played the pairs game and were equally matched throughout. The scores were 6-6 after nine ends, 10-10 at the 13th, 11-11 at the 15th and although they dropped three shots on the 16th they fought back to finish with a 14-14 draw.

WARGRAVE ran out 72-50 winners in their home Kennet League clash against MAIDENHEAD TOWN B on Wednesday of last week in a match that saw David Askew and Adam Ellis play their first matches for the villagers.

Wargrave had a good start and after five ends were winning on three rinks. On end 10, Wargrave were holding a good lead across three rinks and drawing on the fourth.

Maidenhead had a quick surge on end 14 and started to bring it back to two winning ends each but Wargrave held on to secure 10 league points to the visitors’ four.