Henley ease to derby victory in combined league and cup clash

A HENLEY triple lost out in the final of the annual Millennium Cup competition played at Reading Bowling Club.

The competition, sponsored by the Oddfellows friendly society and each of the nine clubs which compete in the Oddfellows Triples League, entered a team as did Oddfellows.

The teams were drawn into two groups. Group A was formed from Henley, Shiplake, Maiden Erlegh, Burghfield and Reading and Group B from Tilehurst, Palmer Park, Hurst, Pangbourne and Oddfellows.

Each group played a round-robin of four games each with each game consisting of four ends. With two points for a win and one for a draw, Henley and Shiplake tied at the top of Group A with six points each but Henley went through to the final on a shot difference of four compared to Shiplake’s three.

Group B was won outright by Palmer Park who accumulated seven points.

In the final, Henley's team of skip Kevin Browne with Melinda Swann and Peter Menhinick were beaten by Palmer Park.

On Saturday HENLEY went down to a 113-58 defeat at TILEHURST in an Oddfellows Triples League clash, with the home side securing all 14 points on offer.

Norman Daniells, with Phil Smillie and Joan Edwards, struggled to get a foothold early on, finding themselves 17-0 down by the sixth end. A brief fightback saw them 20-9 down before the home team pulled away to win 33-9.

Kevin Browne, with Angelika Crisa and Peter Watkins, endured a tough match marked by two dead ends. They battled hard but went down 23-11.

Peter Borsberry, with Sally Daniells and Ramsay Adams, were narrowly ahead 8-7 at the 11th end. However, they were undone by a nine-shot swing across the next two ends and eventually fell 21-12.

Peter Menhinick, with Melinda Swann and John Munnelly, looked to be in control early on but they couldn’t convert their good start into a win and slipped to a 22-13 defeat.

The closest match saw Simon Hatcher with Glynis Holland and Hylton Jenkins level at the 15th end but, despite consistent play, lost narrowly 14-13.

On Saturday HENLEY defeated SHIPLAKE in a combined Oddfellows Triples League and Plomer Cup clash with the home side easing to victory. Henley picked up all 14 Oddfellows League points and all 12 Plomer Cup points. Peter Borsberry, with Chris Swann and Joan Edwards, staged one of the day’s most dramatic comebacks. Trailing 14-2 by the seventh end, they steadily clawed their way back, narrowing the gap to just four shots by the 16th end. Holding their nerve, they won the final two ends to clinch a hard-fought 19–17 win.

Steve Sullivan, with Glynis Holland and Peter Watkins, delivered the most emphatic result of the day. After a steady start, they completely shut out their opponents from the seventh to the 14th end, racking up a dominant 28-6 victory.

Kevin Browne, with Sally Daniells and Ramsay Adams, made an early statement with a seven-shot haul on the third end. From there, they maintained control of the game, playing steadily and conceding little to finish 25-9 winners.

Simon Hatcher, with Andrea Tate and John Munnelly, found themselves in a tightly contested battle, with the lead changing hands several times. One shot down after the 15th end, they rallied impressively in the final stages to take the win with a 17-13 score. Peter Menhinick, with Angelika Crisa and Martin Cranstoun, were relentless from the start, barely allowing the opposition a foothold in the game. They won 15 of the 18 ends in a dominant 23-3 display, completing Henley’s clean sweep in style. WARGRAVE ran out 70-50 winners in their home Kennet League clash with DESBOROUGH on Tuesday of last week. The home side picked up 11 points to the visitors’ three.

Wargrave picked up two wins, a draw and a narrow defeat on the four rinks.

The following evening in a four rink mixed triples friendly fixture away against the same opponent, DESBOROUGH thrashed WARGRAVE 101-38.

Tony Boffin, Jim Thompson and Norah Holder narrowly went down 15-14 while Chez Annetts, Stan Crooks and Brian Turnbull lost 30-13. The other two rinks saw 26-7 and 25-4 defeats. On Saturday WARGRAVE went down to a 119-68 home five rinks mixed triples friendly defeat against SHIPLAKE. Tony Boffin, Ian Robbins and Jean Burton recorded Wargrave’s only win of the day, 21-17.

The Wargrave rink of Chez Annetts, Barry Holder and Peter Burton had an even drawn game until the last end when Wargrave needed three to win and were holding until the Shiplake skip brought it to two down with her last two woods as the visitors of Barrie Jones, Ali Uygur and Wendy Cross triumphed 16-12.

On the other rinks Wargrave lost 30-16 to Jenny Ward, Margaret Bullock and Alan Gough, 18-12 to Dave Ward, Jean Buckett and Janet Townley and 38-7 to David Lloyd,  Sue Reid and John Townley.