Loddon Vale beat touring team (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Loddon Vale beat touring team

2:00pm Sunday 10th March 2013 in Sport By Norman Figg

LODDON Vale played host to a Jersey Touring team, possibly for the first time, with the home side coming out 112-88 winners, writes Norman Figg.

The winning rinks were skipped by John Hilton (21-14), Terry Jones (18-15), Ian Laming (20-16), Steve Sallows (21-12) and Peter Grant (22-12). The only losing rink was Steve Foyle (18-10).

Saturday’s friendly against West Berks started well but in the end the Vale took a mauling, going down 138-105.

The shining lights were Terry Jones, who won 27-11, and Sallows, who claimed a 26-13 win. The flickering candles were Don Lee (19-14), John Holmes (23-13), Ray Harris (30-11) and Mick Jones (42-14).

Sunday’s friendly against Basingstoke Town redressed the situation with the Vale winning 134-113. Winning skips were Peter Grant (27-13), Tina Rogers (12-9), Steve Shaw (21-15), Ray Harris (20-19) and Sallows (22-15). The losers were Holmes (21-16) and Ian Laming (21-16).

On Monday the club had a second friendly of the season against a select Isle of Wight team.

A very close contest resulted in the Vale winning 149-146. With everybody watching, Pat Hilton drew two superb woods to hold by two on the last end, only for the opposing skip to fire the jack into the ditch.

The winning skips were Holmes (21-15), Harris (20-15), Sheila Girle (25-20) and Tony Miller (23-9). Vale’s losing skips were Foyle (19-17), Grant (24-21), Alan Smith (18-17) and Sallows (26-5).

City and County of Oxford won their last fixture in the Wessex League, pushing Vale into fifth place.