CITY of Ely continued their defence of The Egham Trophy on Sunday with a sizeable win over Peterborough.

Bowls

Egham Trophy

CITY of Ely continued their defence of The Egham Trophy on Sunday with a sizeable win over Peterborough.

The day did not start well for the holders due to the late withdrawal of Sarah Seymour and her partner Matt Marsden through illness. The selection emergency saw the swift introduction of Greg and Kay Harlow into the home rink as replacements.

The rink had therefore been almost completely re-shuffled and it seemed that the changes had affected the team as the fell 7-0 behind after only four ends. Meanwhile the other home rink skipped by Andy Easy with daughter Chloe at lead, ladies captain Sue Alexander at two and Ian Brown at three, was making steady progress.

The away rinks skipped respectively by Jamie Reynolds and Nicky Brett had made a positive start, Reynolds a shot up and Brett seven up after five ends.

The trend continued for Brett, supported by Sarah Gove at lead, Ellen Falkner at two and Chris Falkner at three and after 10 ends he led by 17. Reynolds however was not finding things so easy and with wife Kerry, Carolyn Day and Ian McWhinney, he found himself trailing by eight shots after 10 ends.

At home Ware’s rink was enjoying a remarkable turnaround, scoring 13 unanswered shots to lead 13-7 after five ends and Easy continued to dominate his opposite number leading by four at the same stage. After 10 ends Ely held a 20-shot lead and by the conclusion of the 15th end the match was virtually over with Ely holding a 37 shot advantage overall with Reynolds recovering to be only five shots adrift.

The remainder of the match was plain sailing for the holders who eventually ran out winners by 57 shots. Ely’s next opponents will be Wellingborough on Sunday.