The first of the World Bowls Tour events the Scottish International Open is taking place at West Lothian this week. Locally the Vipers duo of Paul Hartley and David Bolt were flying the flag for the region. Hartley was given a late call up due to the Israel entry withdrawing and as per rules the highest PBA ranked player is given the invite. Hartley therefore was drawn against England’s Nicky Brett the number nine ranked player, sadly it was not to be for Hartley and the 10-1, 9-1 sets score doesn’t tell the story of the game. The Vipers star played very well but Brett by his own admission produced his best bowls of the season and the final score was very harsh on Hartley.
Bolt having won the Hartlepool qualifier was drawn against the three times winner Scotland’s Stewart Anderson who had only lost one game on this carpet in the last four years and that was last year’s semi final. Bolt dominated the opening set and took it 9-4, a change in length by Anderson plus a drop in the temperature saw a change in the pace saw Anderson grind out a 13-3 second set. In the three end tie break Bolt gave the jack away and Anderson put up his preferred length and took the opening end. Bolt then reverted back to his more successful shorter length to take the second end and take it into a third and final end. Bolt had the option of taking keeping the jack but decided to take final bowl which allowed Anderson to go long. The opening bowl from Anderson finished within inches of the jack and stayed that way until Bolts third bowl which just fell short. With the final bowl Bolt went a touch wider and held off to leave Anderson a very relieved winner. At this level it is fine margins and the top sixteen ranked players produce a high standard however the Viper duo keep knocking at the door and there time will come. Four of the top sixteen seeds have gone out, England’s Jamie Walker, Wayne Willgress, Robert Paxton and Mervyn King.
It was a tough weekend for Houghton as they made first rounds exits in both the Denny Cup and Yetton Trophy. In the Denny it was always going to be tough as they were drawn against the South Shields Vipers who are expected to go far in the competition. At the half way stage a surprise looked on the cards as Houghton led by 10 shots overall however the Vipers stepped up a gear and eventually ran out 98-67 winners. At Shields Fred Fletcher, Sam Patterson, Peter Brickle and Frankie Froud were outstanding and at one stage led Ian McIntosh 18-1, it still finished 30-15 to Froud and not many rinks have hit thirty at Shields. It was however a tough morning for Michael Wright, Neil Reid, Peter Thomson and David Wright who were beaten 39-6 by David Bolt. That left Houghton 18 shots adrift from the away leg.
At Houghton both home rinks battled away but both lost. Mal Baker, Ian Whorlton, John Webster and Dan Todner lost 20-14 against Gary Farquhar while Colin Milburn, Chris Blake, Gary McPheators and Colin Watson lost 24-17 to Paul Hartley. Shield’s will play West Denton next while Houghton drop down into the Plate and will play The Parks.
In the ladies Yetton Trophy Houghton took on Great Aycliffe. At Houghton Linda Watson steered Pam Bainbridge, Pam Ramshaw and Jane Hore had a cracking 22-10 win over Tracy Fairless. Sadly the other rink skipped by Joan Rodgerson went down 23-7 to Julie Robinson to leave Aylciffe 33-29 up. At Aylciffe Joan Baker’s rink of Margaret Godfrey, Jan Todd and Brenda Robson did well and only lost 20-16 to Ann Ritchie. It was a tough morning for Norma Stephenson’s quartet as they went down 27-6 against S Weatherstone to leave the away leg 47-22 in Aycliffe’s favour. Those scores left Houghton on the wrong end of a 80-51 score line but considering it was a new look inexperienced Houghton line up it was a good effort. Houghton now drop into the Yetton Plate and will play Hartlepool while Great Aycliffe will play Redcar next.
There was good news for the Durham County Seniors as they beat Yorkshire 117-76 in the first round of the national Over 60 Inter County competition. The home leg was played at Stanley and despite Durham losing two of the three rinks they still had a one shot advantage thanks to Alan Hind (Hartlepool) Mal Peach, John Leeman and Dale Oram (all Vipers) running out 20-9 winners.
The away leg was played at Selby and Durham racked up wins on all three rinks by a combined total of forty three shots. The highlight was the Steve Slaughter (Hartlepool) rink of Steve Hanlon (Hartlepool), Dave Paterson, John Bennett (both Vipers) who cruised to a 31-5 win to seal a 117-74 win overall. Durham will play Nottinghamshire next on Tuesday 18 November.
The indoor nationals are progressing along, in the Area 1 singles the Vipers young gun Layton Sykes beat West Denton’s Graeme Robinson 21-13, clubmates Josh Minto beat Luke Jameson (West Denton) 21-5 and Ryan Henson beat The Park’s Stephen Miller 21-13. Houghton’s Patrick Thomson ground out a 21-18 win at home against The Park’s Stephen McIntosh and the Vipers Jaxon McKenna eased past Gateshead’s Mark Wilson, it was not all sailing for the Vipers as Alan Lawton, Paul Elliott and Paul Timney all lost.
In the pairs the Vipers duo of Stewart Hubbard and Josh Minto had a good 21-6 win at West Denton against John Heron however Joe Sutherland & Dale Oram lost at home 20-14 to the father and son West Denton combo Luke and Karl Jameson.
Following the England U18 trials there was great news for the Vipers young gun Layton Sykes as he has been picked for the England squad day at St Neot’s on 9 November.