Corn and Cooper bow out early on the national stage

Lillington’s Georgina Cooper was part of the Warwickshire team which lost 43-35 to Hertfordshire in the preliminary round of the Amy Rose Bowl.

Jenny Corn, meanwhile, skipped Lillington clubmates Jacqui Cook and Margaret Grosvenor to an agonising 19-18 defeat at the hands of Cambridgeshire B in the first round of the triples.

There are still further chances of glory for the district, however, with Avenue’s Helen Slimm starting her singles campaign today (Friday) and Cooper again in action alongside Rugby Thornfield’s Jamie-Lea Winch in the junior pairs, which get under way tomorrow.

On the domestic scene, Royal Leamington Spa won 97-84 at Home Guard to retain the inter-club triples trophy for the 13th time.

Spa went into the match with a comfortable 15-point cushion, having won the home leg 110-95 and never looked in trouble after opening up a 19-point cushion by the close of the fifth end.

Dave Gardner was one of the main instigators of that early advantage, opening up a 8-1 lead by the close of the fifth on his way to a 21-9 success.

Dave Turner (13-10), Andrew Woodward (20-16) and Ron Walton (15-13) were also successful for the visitors.

John Henfrey skipped Ray Mace, Mike Hall and Mike Cox to a 31-6 win as Lillington’s men claimed a comprehensive 130-90 success at Highway in their latest friendly outing.

Nick Simmond (21-12) was also a comfortable winner, with Dennis Lee (22-15) and Dave Goodman (18-16) also tasting victory, while Malcolm Welch (24-23) and Geoff Ward (17-15) suffered narrow defeats.

There were two standout performances as WCC Staff claimed comfortable victories over both Oakfield and Snitterfield.

Staff beat Oakfield 102-76 at Myton in no small part to Hilary Hickman, whose triple enjoyed an emphatic 28-4 win.

Mike Higgins skipped a narrow 15-14 success, while Mike Birch was held 14-14, with the other two rinks going the way of the visitors.

Andy McKowen was in equally commanding form in the 81-46 victory at Snitterfield, skipping his triple to a 34-7 success.

He was backed up by Mike Higgins (19-12) and George Barber (14-13), with Bala Maniam narrowly failing to complete the whitewash after being held 14-14.

Warwick Vice-presidents Bowls Association won all five rinks on their way to an overwhelming 53-shot victory over Leicester City & Parks Bowls Association at Rugby BC.

Derek Wattison, Dave Phillips, Dave Owen and Mike Gilks claimed an emphatic 39-12 success for the highest winning rink.

Other rink wins: Peter Lewis, John Slater, Tony Mann, Brian Mace-Humphries 21-16; Peter Litchfield, Mick Foster, Bob Niblock, Alan Bister 19-11; Ted Simmons, Barry Lines, Graham F. Taylor, George Palmer 23-14; Dave Longdon, Brian Hunt, Mike Soloman, John Greves 18-14.