County bowls success for Hunts and Northants, Morton and May reach singles finals and RIP Andy Cox
Hunts opened their Bowls England Middleton Cup campaign with a 105-82 win at Bedfordshire.
They won on four rinks, drew on one and lost the other to collect 19 of the 22 points on offer. Their next match is away to Northants on Saturday week (June 20).
Result: HUNTS 105 (19), BEDS 82 (3) - (Hunts rinks only): Matt Nickerson, James Harford, Scott Walton, Toby Furzeland won 21-9; Ollie Jeapes, Tom Swannell, Mack May, Phil Exley won 16-15; Craig Sutherland, Paul Dalliday, John Earl, Simon Law won 15-10; Simon Leader, Joe Stevens, Peter Brown, Tristan Morton won 26-14; Robbie Coleman, Mark Franklin, Barry Kitto, Joe Randall lost 14-21; Brian Martin, Tom Newman-Borrett, Sam Brugnoli, Ean Morton drew 13-13.
**Northants men recovered from their last bowl, one shot defeat the previous week to crush North Essex 210-129 at Blackstones in the English Bowling Federation's Adams Trophy and collect the maximum 22 points.
No fewer than three of the six rinks topped 40 shots as a much-changed Northants team went on a scoring spree against a team that had already won away to Norfolk and had only lost to Suffolk by three shots.
Northants are again in action this Saturday at home to Norfolk at Blackstones with the Newton Trophy team playing at Whittlesey Manor.
Result: NORTHANTS 210 (22), NORTH ESSEX 129 (0) - (Northants rinks only): Luke Murray, Dudley Smith, Adam Emery won 32-29; Craig Campbell, Alec Emery, Neil Wright won 41-22; Ally McNaughton, Darren Middleton, Mike Anderson won 40-20; Kevin Brown, Steven Shaw, Graham Agger won 24-20; Duncan Lee, John Holroyd, Kevin Vinter won 29-24; Wayne Morris, Michael Humphreys, Adam Warrington won 44-14.
SINGLES WINNERS
Tristan Morton (Parkway) and Juliet May (Buckden) will represent Hunts in the four-bowl singles competitions at the Bowls England finals in August.
Morton defeated Mack May (Brampton), winner of the two-bowl singles , 21-14, while Mack's mother Juliet pipped Chloe Brett (Brampton) 21-20.
RIP ANDY COX
The local bowls community have been stunned by the sudden passing of top bowls administrator Andy Cox 11 days after he collapsed on the green at the City of Peterborough club.
Andy was passionate about bowls and dedicated to its administration having been involved in the running of no fewer than 4 local bowls organisations.
He had been a key figure on the Peterborough League's management committee for several decades and at the time of his passing was secretary and treasurer.
In recent years he added to his administrative portfolio by becoming secretary of the City of Peterborough club, treasurer of the Northants Bowling Federation and a director at the Peterborough & District club, where he fulfilled a number of roles.