Richards captures prestigious national singles crown - The Stratford Observer

Richards captures prestigious national singles crown

Stratford Editorial 15th Aug, 2017 Updated: 15th Aug, 2017   0

WARWICKSHIRE Women’s Bowling Association member Kirsty Richards is celebrating after becoming All England women’s singles champion following an exciting final against Natalie Chestney (Devon), which all came down to the last wood.

Slower to start in the prestigious Leamington event, Bournville member Richards kept her nerve and pulled back to level the game and started to pull ahead, but Chestney was having none of it and again stepped up the pace.

With Richards 20-16 up, Warwickshire’s hopes were high, but again Chestney came back and they went into the last end 20-20.

However, with Chestney holding game, Richards played the last wood to win the match 21-20.




A delighted Richards tweeted: “Amazing how things can change. A week ago I wanted to quit bowls, today I woke up a national champion. Perseverance is hard, but pays off.”

WANTAGE Bowling Club was the scene of yet another win for Warwickshire Ladies as they came home with a 114-106 victory over Berkshire with just two rinks winning and one scraping a draw.


Highest winning rink went to Elaine Taylor with Helen Harris (both Stoke) and Joy Cooke and Mo Yeomans (both Blossomfield) who set off strongly, scoring 12-2 by five ends and, despite their opponents’ best efforts, they were determined to dictate the pace, finishing with a resounding 30-18 win.

Maureen Edwards (Rugby Thornfield) with Pippa Mace (Lillington), June Millward (Stoke) and Jean Veart (Nuneaton) were fairly evenly matched for the first half of the game but then managed to pull away to win 19-11.

Pat Bax (Rugby Thornfield) with Ann Doherty (Lillington), Dawn Horne and Gloria Higgins (both RLS) were level pegging at seven ends and that is how the game progressed, finishing with an honourable 18-18 draw.

Chris Cooke (Southam) with Linda Linney (Stratford), Margaret Stephens and Jayne Henfrey (both Lillington) started confidently but their opponents started to pull back, leaving them trailing 10-8 at 11 ends, and it was only a determined effort that enabled them to hold on and lose 18-16.

Debbie Bloxham (Stratford) with Liz Westell (Welford), Hazel Goodman and Chris Ward (both Lillington) were in a similar situation and, despite a strong start, were unable to sustain it, eventually losing 18-15.

Jenny Corn (Lillington) with Ros Taylor (Avenue Coventry), Wendy Baxter and Terri Hitchcox (both Rugby Ladies) struggled to start but started to pick up nicely in the middle of the game, yet not enough to stop their opponents retaining their lead and winning 23-16.

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