The City of Ely bowls club put the disappointment of a first-round National Indoor Bowls Championships exit behind them to secure the well-respected Denny Plate.
Ely are no strangers to national inter-club competition, having won the Denny Cup five times, including back-to-back victories in 2011 and 2012, and were hoping to add a sixth success at this year’s tournament in Nottingham.
A first-round exit shocked many, but the Ely stars bounced back by taking victory over Portsmouth club and bitter rivals, Victory on Sunday April 2.
Ely entered the tournament without world-ranked Greg Harlow, but the former world champion travelled with the club to cheer them on in the final, which they reached thanks to a 77-76 success over Boston in the last four.
There was little to choose between the two teams in the first half of the final - with Ely scoring 32 shots to Victory’s 27 to set up a nail-biting finale.
A strong second half performance saw Ely stamp their authority on the final, and although there were no runaway wins, Ely’s returned four winning cards of 22-14, 22-16, 20-14 and 25-14 to complete a convincing 89-58 victory.
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