International bowls bronze for Melton's Izzy Pymm in Wales

It was played at the Sully Indoor Bowls Arena in Wales between two teams each from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, plus a British Lions team.

Izzy bowled in the England 2 Pairs team with George Hopper.

In the initial stages, they won both their Group A games, making them top of their group.

In the final stages Izzy and George lost both their games, but gained sufficient points to win a bronze medal.

Izzy also played in the England 2 Fours team with Ollie Jeapes, Sam Brugnoli and Charlie Beeton. They lost both their games in the group stage, but won both their games in the final stage play-offs for position.

Scotland were the overall champions with England in second place.

Izzy’s next international match will be in the BIIBC U25 Ladies’ International in Belfast on 10th-11th February.

The following teams from Melton have reached the area finals of the English Indoor Bowling Association (EIBA) National Championships:

Men’s Triples: Chris Rodgers’ Melton C team will play John Mildren’s Nottingham F team.

Men’s Fours: Mark Warrington’s Melton A team will play Simon Barker’s Nottingham D team.

Men’s O60 Singles: John Robinson (Melton) will play Mark Lee (Nottingham)

Women’s Singles: Izzy Pymm will play Nottingham’s Jacqueline Henderson.

Women’s Fours: Sue Lemon’s Melton A team will play Pam Cutts’ Nottingham B team.

Mixed Pairs: Chris Rodgers’ Melton A team beat Calvin Rawson’s Nottingham E team by 20 -11 in the Area Final. They will now go on to play Tina Broderick’s team (Wellingborough BC) in the last 16 on 25th February at Bristol Indoor Bowls Club.

Mason Trophy: Melton Ladies lost to Nottingham in the Area Final. Nottingham will now go on to play Lincoln in the last 16 on Friday 1st March.

In the Men’s Inter-Club League, Melton had an excellent match against Leicester, winning 130-79 and gaining a maximum 22 points.

This will enable them to hold on to their second place behind Charnwood in the league table.

On rink three, Paul Lonsdale, Peter White and Ethan Giblett had a very close game.

They had forged ahead to a 9-2 lead after five ends, but then Leicester began to fight back.

A six in the ninth end enabled Leicester to pull back then overtake Melton, with the score at 12-14 to Leicester after 11 ends.

Melton managed to claw back the deficit to win the rink by 18-16.

Rink four saw Steve Kent, Kyle Warrington and Paul Warrington gain an overwhelming victory by 31-8, whereas on rink five Steve Sharp, Peter Farrow and Brandon Giblett had a slow start, being 13-2 down after nine ends, but then recovering to win 18-15.

There was another close game on rink six for Dave Pick, Mike Jones and Jordan Butcher.

An eight in the sixth end put them 12-4 ahead, which they maintained for the next nine ends, but Leicester recovered in the last three ends to bring the final score to 20-18 for Melton.

For Des North, Trevor Main and Keith Abbott on rink seven, the game went first in Melton’s favour, then Leicester’s, until a five in the 12th end enabled Melton to pull ahead again.

They held on to their lead, with the final score being 18-13.

Finally, on rink eight, Fred Thorpe, Gez Moore and John Robinson dominated their opposition throughout the game, finishing with a score of 25-9.

Melton Ladies’ team had a very tight match against Carlton, with the final score being Melton 48, Carlton 47. Melton gained eight points to Carlton’s two.

Yvonne Kent, Kate Toon, Tricia Harris and Pauline Wells lost 19-8, but their shot gained in the last end proved critical to the overall result.

Joan Casey, Hazel Armstrong, Evelyn Underwood and Sue Lemon won 20-14, as did Laura Hickin, Janet Evans, Rita Jackson and Erica Warrington.

Melton have now won six out of their seven matches this season and, with just three matches left, they now have everything to play for.