INDOOR BOWLS: The busy bowlers of Ipswich & District IBC have played two National inter-club competitions recently.The men took on Towerland in the second round of the Denny Cup, and on the following day the mixed team played Risbygate in the preliminary round of the Egham Trophy.

INDOOR BOWLS

THE busy bowlers of Ipswich & District IBC have played two National inter-club competitions recently.

The men took on Towerland in the second round of the Denny Cup, and on the following day the mixed team played Risbygate in the preliminary round of the Egham Trophy.

Two well-fought matches ended in a double success for Ipswich.

In the Denny Cup, Ipswich made a slow start but by the tenth end had gained a two shot lead.

From that point they moved steadily ahead to win by 87 shots to 64. Both home rinks had good victories, notably Kelvyn Earthroll, who led throughout.

At Towerland, John Rednall's rink had a close battle until the 19th end, when they scored seven shots for an eight shot lead. Andrew Friend's team had a disastrous start and were 12-1 down after only five ends. They fought their way back to be six shots adrift at 15 ends and conceded only one shot in the last six ends while scoring seven to level the game.

SCORES

At Ipswich (46 shots-27): C Love, A Catchpole, A Brown, M Royal 23, J Hicks 17; G Ward, B Andrews, C Rumsby, K Earthroll 23, G Easterbrook 10.

At Towerland (41 shots-37): C Clarke, P Last, A Wyatt, J Rednall 20, D Medlock 16; G Coles, P Page, A Sale, A Friend 21, R Marshall 21. Score at five ends 11-19, ten ends 34-32, 15 ends 52-44, 18 ends 66-54.

Ipswich will now meet in the third round on Saturday, November 9.

The Egham Trophy match was a much closer affair. Ipswich held a nine shot lead at 10 ends, but Risbygate had reduced this to three with the last three ends to play.

With the Ipswich games completed and with one end each to be played at Risbygate there was just one shot in it. These yielded three shots to give Ipswich an 86-82 victory.

Scores:

At Ipswich (45 shots-34): D Cousins, N Wright, S Utteridge, J Rednall 25, D Southgate 12; R Gage, A Gibson, M Insley, C Rumsby 20, R Thompson 22.

At Risbygate (41 shots-48): B Burch, R Utteridge, I Morey, P Last 20, B Wood 25; M Coles, A Cable, D Cooke, G Coles 21, J Mayhew 23. Score at five ends 17-21, ten ends 50-41, 15 ends 66-61, 18 ends 76-73.

At Ipswich John Rednall's team were soon in control and gained an impressive win, but Colin Rumsby's rink, having taken the lead after seven ends, were pegged back and conceded seven shots in the last three ends.

At Risbygate the home rinks were always ahead, but the Ipswich teams battled well to hold them and Phil Last's five shots in the last three ends were vital for the Ipswich success.

Ipswich now face Felixstowe in the first round proper on Sunday, November 24.