Ilford Indoor Bowls Club’s Colin Green and Steve Klein recorded a superb victory in the English Indoor Bowls Association National Pairs after a thriller against Russell Hughes and Toby LeSurf of Barking at Perrymans Farm Road.
The early ends were close, with Green and Klein trailing by a single shot after four ends, before the Barking pair put together a strong five-end run to build a 12-3 lead by the halfway mark.
But the Ilford pair were not to be denied, taking five of the next six ends, including a superb four-shot 12th, to level the scores at 13-13 with five ends to play.
The teams then swapped single-shot ends before Green and Klein struck with two successive two-shot ends to take a defendable advantage into the last.
Hughes and LeSurf won the final end but were restricted to two shots, allowing the Ilford pair to progress by the narrowest of margins.
In the same competition, Ilford’s Les Mercer and Mark Banning made the short trip to Barking to take on Tommy Brooks and Robbie Carter.
Mercer and Banning made a dream start, winning the first three ends to take a 6-0 lead.
The Barking pair scored three on the next, before the Ilford duo responded with two shots to lead 8-3 after five ends.
The game then turned on its head as Brooks and Carter found their rhythm, winning the next four ends convincingly to move 11-8 ahead.
Ilford levelled at 11-11 on the next end, but it proved to be their final score.
Brooks and Carter took control with eight unanswered shots over the next four ends to lead 19-11.
With few ends remaining, Mercer and Banning conceded, sending the Barking pair into the next round.
Teams have also been announced for the upcoming Essex County League campaign, with Ilford’s ‘A’ team beginning their Division One season in the first week of November and the ‘B’ team starting their Division Three fixtures a week later.
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