Bexhill father and son retain county title

A father and son from Egerton Park Indoor Bowls Club were crowned county champions for the second year running.
County indoor pairs champions Rob and Ajay Morphett with county president Barry Baillie.County indoor pairs champions Rob and Ajay Morphett with county president Barry Baillie.
County indoor pairs champions Rob and Ajay Morphett with county president Barry Baillie.

Rob and Ajay Morphett successfully defended their Sussex County pairs title on Saturday with a gripping 19-18 extra end victory over Simon Davey and Richard Dray (Worthing Pavilion).

In a match of superb quality at Horsham & District IBC on Saturday morning, the lead swung one way and then the other with both sides playing spectacular draws end after end.

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On the last end the Pavilion pair held two shots and game, but with his last wood, Rob Morphett took one shot to tie the match. The Morphetts went on to win it on the extra end when Rob drew the shot with his last wood.

Straight afterwards the Morphetts headed north to Church Gresley Indoor Bowls Club in Derbyshire so that Ajay could compete in the under-18 singles at The National Championships on Sunday.

The 16-year-old narrowly missed out on reaching the semi-finals of a competition in which the 16 finalists were initially split into four groups of four.

In a tough group containing three players who are or have been England under-18 internationals, the leading three players were separated by just one point.

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Ajay amassed seven points - the same as Liam Harris (Beccles) - and they both finished one behind Jamie Tindall (Wey Valley), who progressed to the last four.

The matches were all played over two sets and had Ajay won just one more set, he would have gone through to the semi-finals instead.

With Rob taking Ajay up to the midlands, Rob’s county singles final against Mark Strong (Worthing Pavilion) was rearranged for tonight (Thursday), again in Horsham.

Rob has won the singles title for the past two years and is bidding to complete a momentous hat-trick.

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At the end of last week, the Morphetts played very well to achieve a convincing win in the area final of the family pairs competition.

They beat Worthing Pavilion father and son Hayden and Andy Clarke 19-7 to earn a place in the National Finals at Nottingham IBC on April 15, when they will play the Jacksons from Essex.

Egerton Park IBC was also represented in the triples at the County Championship Finals.

In another tight contest, Carl Dyer, Steve Boswell and Seb Morley were edged out 18-17 by the Horsham team of Matt Ives, Graham Ives and David Miller.

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