Melton lose first match in defence of their Inter-Club League Title

In the first match of the new season away against Barwell on Saturday Melton just lost a verty close match by 95-98 shots.

Unfortunately, this did not translate into points for the Melton team, who gained four points out of a maximum of 22 points, with Barwell scoring 18 points.

Jamie Deakin, David Pick and Keith Abbott started well on rink one, keeping ahead of their opponents for the first 12 ends, when the score was 10-7 to Melton. Barwell scored four shots in the 13th end, pulling ahead.

But Melton equalised at 12-12 in the 15th end.

Barwell scored a further three shots in the next two ends, to Melton’s one shot in the final end, giving Barwell a narrow win with 15-13 shots.

Mike Jones, Paul Lonsdale and Mark Williamson faced an uphill battle on rink two.

The match was close for the first seven ends, when the score was 5-4 to Barwell.

However, Barwell then took charge, winning the next five ends (including six shots in the 12th end) and brought the score to 18-4 in their favour.

Melton tried to regroup, but a four in the 17th end sealed victory for Barwell with the score at 23-10.

The teams on rink three were very closely matched for the first 15 ends, when the score was level at 12-12.

Then the Melton team – Kevin Clarke, Peter Kipling and John Robinson -managed to win the last three ends, giving them a total of 17 shots to Barwell’s 12 shots. On rink four, Nigel May, Des North and Trevor Main had a slow start, with Barwell pulling 10 shots ahead by the seventh end.

Melton won the next end by two shots, then scored a six in the ninth end to close the gap to 10-8 to Barwell.

The rest of the game was finely balanced, with Barwell holding on to their two-shot lead to win by 18-16.

Another close game for Alan Hickin, Pete Farrow and Matt Smith on rink five, with the scores level at 5-5 after eight ends, then Barwell won the ninth end by three shots - a lead they managed to hold on to for the rest of the game and the final score was 13-10 to Barwell.

On rink six, Jim Tyers, Steve Kent and Gez Moore had some high-scoring ends, with a five and four fours.

Although Barwell had scored two fours early on in the game, bringing the score to 14-12 to Melton in the 11th end, Melton then surged ahead to an unassailable lead, winning the game by 29-17.

Skip Gez Moore was later named ‘man of the match’.

Melton are defending their title, having won this competition for the last three years.

Their next match is on Saturday, 9th November, at home against Leicester.