Melton junior bowler plots course to regional finals

County winners, Alex Warrington (left) and William Higham EMN-191202-125354002

The Leicester Road-based club staged the first Leicestershire qualifying event for the English Bowls Youth Development Scheme’s national competition, which was organised by junior club coach Erica Warrington.

A total of 21 bowlers from Leicestershire, Warwickshire and Hertfordshire competed in a junior section for ages eight to 14, and seniors (14 to under 18s).

The first part of the day consisted of round-robin games which saw Ellie-Marie Hamblett (Barwell) lead the junior section with a 7-3 win against Grace Wade (Melton) 7-3, a last-end 7-6 victory over Ailish Sheehan (Rugby), and 8-3 win against Melton’s Tyler King.

Alex led the seniors section after wins against clubmate Alexia Agrafioti and Molly Fowler (Rugby), and a drawn third game.

The second part of the event was a series of skill assessments which were added to the matchplay scores.

William Higham (Rugby) topped the junior scores and took the overall junior title from Ellie-Marie, while Thomas Wheeler (Rugby) headed the seniors category in the skills, but Alex claimed the overall win ahead of Church Gresley’s Alice Atkin.

All four will now progress to the regional finals on Sunday, April 7, again at Melton IBC.

The club thanked George Ainge for the trophies, as well as everyone who helped on the day and those who donated raffle prizes with £70 raised on the day, to be split between Melton’s junior section and the Leicestershire under 18s team.