Egerton bowlers create club history

EGERTON Park created bowls history by claiming a place in the semi-finals of the Leonard Denny Memorial Trophy for the first time with a 43-22 victory over Carterton of Oxfordshire.

Team manager Norman Hooper and his assistants, Charles Wright and Frank Pullen, selected a strong side with no less than five current Liberty Trophy players in the eight-man line-up.

The home team of Wright, Steve Sands, Nigel Hooper and Robin Boswell started well and were 8-1 and 10-3 up against a strong Carterton quartet skipped by Andy Wise, EBA Singles runner-up in 2000. With Wright and Hooper in good form the lead was maintained for much of the game, but the visitors chipped away to run out 21-19 winners. Carterton had sent their team down the night before and were well rested before such an important match.

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The travelling team for Egerton were not afforded such luxury and had to start out at 5.45am to get to the venue on time. Despite the early drive the team of Steve Nevard, Steve Boswell, Kevin Carrie and Peter Gunston put on an outstanding performance to lead 21-8 at 15 ends. They finally won 24-12 against a team which included four Oxford Liberty Trophy players.

Wright said: "This was one of the best performances put on by the club throughout its history. Everyone played brilliantly. It's just such a shame that the bowls club committee couldn't sort out some overnight accommodation for the away team. At times like this you realise why competitive bowls is dying; the club committees only look to support the booked rinks and the competitive bowlers are treated like pariahs.

"We don't know who we'll meet in the semi-final but we must get our feet back on the ground and put in another solid performance. Remember, eagles may soar high but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines."

Much celebrating took place on Easter Monday and everyone should be fit to take to the green at Cambridge Park, Twickenham, on April 25 for an early morning start in the semi-final.

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