Table-toppers Haywards Heath add competitive bite despite inexperience
Haywards Heath and Beech Hurst Bowls Club consolidated their growing competitive reputation with another impressive Mid Sussex League victory, a nail-biting defeat in a rare Sussex County outing and two fine results by debutants in the Champions of Champions tournament.
An inexperienced foursome, skipped superbly by Tony Jarvis, took Burgess Hill to the final wood in the Sussex County Senior Fours after giving their far more experienced opponents a scare, while earlier in the day, the club’s Ladies’ champion, Linda Huntley, defeated Southgate Park’s Caren Stoffberg in her first venture into the Mid Sussex Champion of Champions competition.
In-between, Mark Gooch – the reigning Men’s champion and a member of the senior fours who were to take Burgess Hill all the way later in the day – fought back admirably to give Paul Leare a scare before succumbing to the Pope’s Mead’s player’s vast experience.
Earlier in the week, Heath’s Mid Sussex League team went to the top of Division Three with their second win in succession, at home to Crawley Town.
Anne Bosman’s side took eight of the 10 points on offer after convincing wins on two of the three rinks but were denied a clean sweep by a heavy defeat on the other.
However, it was not such good news for their Australian Pairs team, who crashed to a heavy defeat the previous evening in their second Nicholas Soames Trophy match of the season.
Having drawn against Henfield in their opener, an inexperienced squad were soundly beaten at Felbridge, whose B team took a clean sweep of the rinks and all eight points available under the Australian Pairs format.
In their weekend friendlies, they exacted some revenge on Felbridge, winning 67-49 despite taking only two of the four rinks.
Bob Sutton, Kevin McGee, David Leach and Elsie Wilding were the Haywards Heath stars, cruising to a 25-6 victory, having led 19-1 at the halfway stage.
But they lost 42-62 at home to Lindfield, winning, losing and drawing a rink each.
Heath played their first internal competition of the season in scorching heat. The David Johns Trophy – now sponsored by Martlet Manor care home - was won by Graham Barton, Robin Parris and Elsie Wilding.
Results: Nicholas Soames Trophy: Felbridge B 63, Haywards Heath & Beech Hurst 35 (Fiona Burman and Paul Palmer lost 13-20; Sheila Fletcher and Bob Sutton lost 8-23; Annie McGee and Peter Burman lost 14-20). Mid Sussex League: HHBH 62, Crawley Town 43 (Anne Bosman, Bill Mann, Mark Gooch and Stephen Banks won 23-13; Tony Jarvis, Jill Hatfield, Rowland Morris and John Box won 30-9; Neville Dalton, Martin Gaskell, Graham Barton and Marge Breading lost 9-21). Champion of Champions 1st Round: Linda Huntley (HHBH) 21, Caren Stoffberg (Southgate Park) 15; Mark Gooch (HHBH) 14, Paul Leare (Pope’s Mead) 21. Sussex County Senior Fours 1st Round: HHBH (Tony Jarvis, Mark Gooch, John Box and Neville Dalton) 14, Burgess Hill (Chris Wilkins, Pete Dean, Mike Betsworth and Mick Barnes) 16. Friendlies: HHBH 67, Felbridge 49 (Basil Larkins, Jacquie Kelly, Jill Hatfield and Stephen Banks lost 12-15; Bob Sutton, Kevin McGee, David Leach and Elsie Wilding won 25-6; Nicola Coles, Ken Starnes, Mark Gooch and Rowland Morris won 16-12; Neville Dalton, Doug Cowell, Annie McGee and Tony Ashby lost 14-16). Lindfield 62, HHBH 42 (Nicola Coles, Wendy Alexander, Martin Gaskell and Rowland Morris drew 19-19; Basil Larkins, Mark Gooch, Doreen Penfold and Marge Breading lost 3-30; Bob Sutton, Jill Hatfield, Ted Prince and Stephen Banks won 20-13).