Norfolk Over 60’s held out to record a 38-34 points win away to Kent Invicta in an entertaining challenge match at Snodland. Norfolk took a narrow 7-5 first session lead with Gillian Amos, Russell Davidson & Robin Amos leading the way with a 10-2 win. The visitors then maintained their two point lead in a drawn second session where Norfolk’s best result was a 12-4 win for David Neal, Janet Pinchen & John Jarvis. The third session saw Norfolk stretch their lead to 22-14 with the Robin Amos triple winning 16-5 and Melly Woodhouse, Sue Fox & Mike Boswell winning 10-4. After the lunch break Kent reduced the deficit to 26-22 with John Jarvis and John Poynter skipping Norfolk’s only winning triples. A tight fifth session followed that was drawn with Kerry Greenacre, Mike Greenacre & Selwyn Goldsmith winning 8-1, Nigel James, Tony Oram & Peter Fox winning 10-5 and the Robin Amos and Jane James skipped triples both drawing 7-7. In the last session Kent launched a fierce offensive in an attempt to snatch victory. Gill Coleman, Trish Taylor & Lesley Crowe’s 17-1 kept Norfolk’s spirit upbeat with a 17-1 win but the last match still in play looked like costing Norfolk a win. Anne Bidulph, Mick Harris & Keith Thomas went into their last end level at 5-5 but when Keith Thomas stepped up to play his final bowl the Kent triple were holding shot which would have levelled the match at 36-36. Thomas though produced a peach of a backhand draw to take shot and pile the pressure on the Kent skip who had one bowl left to play. To the relief of the Norfolk team, and the disappointment of Kent, the Kent Invicta skip played his final bowl too tight and Norfolk had held on to win.
