Win away at rivals Charnwood clinches Fox Summer Inter-Club League title for Melton

By Sue Fleckney

Published 8th Oct 2024, 13:11 BST

Melton Indoor Bowls Club clinched the inaugural Fox Summer Inter-Club League title with victory in their final away crunch showdown against rivals Charnwood.

Melton went into the match eight points ahead of Charnwood, so they needed just four points to win the league and, in the end, won by 57-37 shots and 12-0 points.

Although evenly matched over the first five ends on rink five, Charnwood scored four shots in the sixth end, pulling ahead of Tyler King, Laura Hickin, Matt Smith and John Robinson.

Melton dug their heels in to fight back, drawing level with their opponents at 8-8 in the 11th end.

Melton IBC bowlers at their final title-winning match.

placeholder image — Melton IBC bowlers at their final title-winning match.

Charnwood won three of the final seven ends, but with just single shots, whereas Melton put in a three and two fours as well as a single to win by 20-11.

Nick Stubbs, Alan Hickin, Pauline Wells and Peter White had a similar start, with the score at 4-3 to Melton after five ends, who then scored four shots in the sixth end, establishing a lead which Charnwood never managed to close.

A second four in the 14th end sealed victory for Melton, with the final score being 19-10.

On rink seven, David Pick, Martin Cooke, Jenny McConnell and Jordan Butcher faced an uphill task, with Charnwood being 12-3 ahead after 10 ends.

But the Melton team staged a remarkable recovery, scoring five shots in the 11th end, followed by three twos and then a four in the final end, bringing the score to 18-16 to Melton.

Melton lost only one of their eight matches in this competition, gaining a total of 76 points.

Charnwood were runners-up with 56 points, closely followed by Barwell on 55 points.

The winter season starts this week with the first Men’s Inter-Club League match away against Barwell on Saturday and the first Ladies’ match away against Leicester on Saturday, 19th October.

Both teams will be defending their titles.

Charnwood Melton

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