Under-25 Bowls Inter County Double Rink

DORSET 41 WARWICKSHIRE 30

DORSET made a successful start to their campaign as they attempt to land a unique back-to-back double by winning the outdoor National Under-25 title to add to the National Championship the county won during the indoor season.

Dorset, under the management of Andrew Paulley and the newly appointed Middleton Cup manager Mike Stapleton, hope to build on the success of last year when the county reached the semi-finals at Worthing – losing narrowly to Derbyshire 40 shots to 37.

The opening game of this season paired the county with Warwick-shire in a preliminary round encounter played at the neutral green of Bath Bowls Club.

Dorset included five of the successful indoor players in their side in Nick Voss, Phil Lawrence, Jamie Lockwood, Ben Paulley, and Ryan Stone.

Two of last year’s outdoor squad, Steven Huttley and George Spracklen, were also included and the only newcomer was Scott Fountain, who filled the gap at lead left by the unavailable Chris Lawrence.

The all-Dorchester rink of Spracklen, Huttley, Lockwood, and Voss made a confident start to their game with Hammond, Smith, Carter and skip Tom Millership, taking a 4-2 lead at five ends and increasing this to 10-5 at the midway point.

With Spracklen giving his side strong heads to bowl to and able support from the other members of the rink Voss dominated the remainder of the game as he raced into a 22-6 advantage at 18 ends.

The companion rink of Fountain (Poole Park), Stone (Wellworthy), Paulley (Blandford) and Lawrence (Poole Park) took longer to settle to the tricky conditions on their green and soon found themselves 9-1 down after just six ends. Some determined play from Lawrence, the Dorset skip, then forced his side back into the game thanks to a converted three and a single, to trail 5-9.

However, the Warwickshire quartet of Carter, Strain, Allen, and skip Chris Chapman hit back with three consecutive winning ends to pull away 13-5 before Lawrence retaliated once more by taking two singles and a body blow count of five shots to reduce the score to 12-13.

The game seesawed once more as Warwickshire strained to cover their losing rink. Chapman added seven shots to the total over the next three ends.

The repeated sequence of three winning ends then reverted to Dorset’s Phil Lawrence who picked up a net seven shots to bring the overall score back to a single at 19-20. The final end produced a single to Warwickshire who won 21-19.

For Lawrence, his performance was all the more remarkable due to a major injury to his bowling hand sustained in an accident at home, which had threatened to keep him out of the game for the whole of the season.

His incredible recovery brought about by his indomitable spirit and determination enabled him to line up in his regular position on day one of the season.

The deficit of only two shots secured by Lawrence was more than adequately covered by his fellow skip and England Junior International, Nick Voss, as he led his rink to a final victory over Warwickshire’s Tom Millership by 22 shots to nine.

Dorset move into the first round proper on Saturday, May 16 against Gloucestershire at Dorchester Bowls Club (2pm) and Paulley has already announced an unchanged side.