Melton bowlers see off main rivals Church Gresley to stay top of the table

Melton beat Gresley by 70–33 shots, winning all three rinks and gaining the maximum 12 points.

Peter Kipling, Alan Hicking, Tricia Harris and Pauline Wells stormed ahead on rink six, scoring six shots to put them 12–2 ahead after five ends.

They continued to frustrate the opposition, allowing them little opportunity to score and, by the halfway point, were 17-5 ahead.

The final score was 30-10 to Melton, reflecting a consistent all-round performance from the whole team.

On rink five, Laura Hickin, Vanessa Watling, David Pick and Keith Abbott faced a much tighter match.

The Gresley team pulled ahead at first, and Melton did not catch them until the seventh end.

Church Gresley had fielded a junior on their team, but Melton soon learned not to underestimate this youngster with his accurate draw shots.

The game was very close throughout, with Melton finally pulling ahead with a three in the 14th end, then holding on to this lead to win 18-14.

Nick Stubbs, Sue Burgess, Jenny McConnell and Steve Burgess also had a slow start on rink eight, with Gresley pulling ahead and then being caught in the seventh end with the score at 6-6.

After that, Melton allowed Gresley to win only two more ends, and the final score was 22-9 in Melton’s favour.

This result puts Melton 20 points ahead of nearest rivals, Church Gresley, in the league table and, although the other three teams have matches in hand, this is a promising start in this new summer indoor bowls competition.

Melton’s next match is at home against Charnwood on Saturday, 6th July.