HIGHLIGHT of the week for Tavistock Sir Francis Drake Bowling Club was Saturday's match against rivals Liskeard.

The Tavistock rink, skipped by Marion Allen, broke for tea 16-0 in the lead thanks to fine bowling from the rink's two front players, Roy Meneer and Anne Doidge.

The old adage that things 'get better after tea' did not work for Liskeard and Marion's team went on to win their rink 39-3.

Skip John Smith's rink won 25-10, while the other four Tavistock rinks went down, but nonetheless Tavistock won the overall match 122-93.

The men's match against Plymouth Retired Civil Servants, ended in a decisive 137-92 victory for Tavistock, with wins for skips Tam Sharp (24-12), Eric Stevens (25-15), Mike Allen (21-14), John Smith (25-19), Colin Tremain (19-13) and Roy Northam, who picked up six shots on the last end to take his rink to a 22-19 win.

The men's section lost all three league and county matches during the week, the first defeat coming in the County Trophy match against Plymouth's Sir Walter Raleigh playing at Tavistock.

Each team won two rinks, but Tavistock's wins by skips Mike Allen (24-18) and Eric Stevens (20-9) were not enough to counter those of the opposition who took the match 83-65.

In the second match Tavistock faced top of the table, Olympic, at home and lost the match 65-83, despite Mike Allen's (22-17) and Eric Stevens' (20-16) teams winning two of the four rinks played.

Friday's away match against New Plymouth in Central Park, resulted in a 84-69 win for the Plymouth team. Tavistock again won two of the four rinks.

Eric Stevens' rink fought a hard battle and came back from being 14-3 down halfway, to emerge the eventual winners 19-18.

Skip Mike Allen's rink won 22-17 thanks to one of Rob Bowhay's precision bowls which picked up the jack and carried it through to waiting Tavistock woods, giving Tavistock six shots and turning the rink's score from 16-17 down into a 22-17 victory.

The ladies' section played two matches during the week. The first was against a Civil Service Reds team where Tavistock skip Iris McEwen's rink won 33-16, while the other Tavistock rink went down 13-29.

Tavistock emerged the overall winner of the match by one shot.

Thursday's ladies' match with Okehampton resulted in a 38-34 victory for Tavistock thanks to skip Joan North rinks 24-18 win.

Tavistock's second rink, skipped by Marion Allen, lost by two shots on the last end.

Club members were delighted to hear that club captain Mike Allen and Rob Bowhay had won their way through to represent the Section Seven league in the County Pairs Finals.

At a local level, the outcome of Sunday's last knockout stage of the club pairs competition means that the final will see Derek Bradford and Richard Curtis facing Charlie Cummings and Eric Stevens.