Carpets prove good practice

SIDMOUTH entertained a mixed team from Torbay who proved too strong for Sidmouth on the day, winning on all three rinks.

The Potbury’s sponsored Sidmouth league got off to a good start for the club with Sidmouth’s Matadors beating a team from Seaton 23-14.

The same evening, Lyme Smugglers beat Ottery St Mary 32-8. The second round of matches took place on Friday with some fine bowling from Madeira and Exonia. Madeira overcame Lyme Regis 22-13 and Exonia beat Budleigh Salterton 29-8. Unfortunately, Budleigh could not muster a full team and, therefore, had to concede a further 25 per cent reduction in their points score.

The second mixed match of the week was away against Padbrook Park. Although Padbrook won two of the three rinks, Sidmouth triumphed with a fine performance from Dave Lever, winning his rink 25-12 for a total of 59-47 in favour of Sidmouth. Dave's team was Ray Tallent, Jim Wrench and Wendy Limpus. Well done to all the players.

On the same day an additional fixture had been arranged by the captains due to a cancelled county match. A friendly mixed game resulted in two rinks having identical scores at the finish, requiring a countback to determine the winner.

The decision went in favour of Elaine Reed, Sue Mison, Mike Smith and skip Robert Cartlidge, winning on 15 out of 21 ends. Their rivals John Farmer, Wynne Clark, Ed Backhouse and Beryl Sparkes winning 12 out of 21.

The final match of the week was against Axminster who always arrive with a strong team, well adapted to indoor bowling, since their outdoor green is artificial and, for that reason, they play all year on fast running greens.

With only a four shot difference at 18 ends, the match could have gone either way, but Sidmouth prevailed thanks to a fine performance by Betty Farmer, Jane Painter, Ray Tallent and skip Sheila Burnand with a winning score of 34-13.

The home side won 66-57 score. Well done to all the Sidmouth players.