It has been a mixed week in the new County Seniors Knock out cup for our local teams. Houghton suffered a double knock out, Sancroft hosted Darlington B but never recovered from a slow start losing 4-1 (37-33). Gilpin then had a big ask away at Division One champions Stanley, it was a tough afternoon for the Gilpin lads losing 5-0 (81-20). The only local team that reached the semi finals was the South Shield’s Vipers who blew away Shildon 5-0 (69-22) to set up a semi final tie against Darlington B. The other tie will see Hartlepool A tackle Stanley, both ties take place at Shields on Thursday 9 April (1030am) with the final at the same venue the following morning (1030am).
The national finals are taking place down Nottingham with the fours taking centre stage. In the men’s competition the Viper’s quartet of Josh Minto, Gary Farquhar, Paul Hartley and David Bolt managed to negotiate there last sixteen tie against Church Gresley’s Martyn Allsopp 20-12. In the quarter finals against current indoor singles world champion Exonia’s Rob Paxton the Vipers trailed 12-5, they battled back to 15-14 down. On the last end Bolt lifted Exonia’s bowl out to hold a single and when Paxton dropped short with his last it left Bolt three feet to draw the match winner, sadly Bolt dropped it short as well to leave the game level at 15-15. On the extra end Exonia held shot but the Vipers fate was sealed when Bolt missed his final draw by inches. It will be of little consolation to the Shield’s lads that Paxton went on to win the final 16-15 against Adur’s David Hubbard.
It was the same for the Hartlepool quartet of Sam Richardson, Amica Fordy, Bev Lynch and Dani Martinson. An opening 15-12 win over Chawton Park’s Janet Williamson was then followed by a quarter final 17-5 loss to Spalding Lightning’s Chelsea Spencer. The title went to St Neot’s Michelle Coleman who beat Adur’s Lorraine Kuhler 22-10 in the final.
The Durham Seniors head to Nottingham this week for the County Over 60’s final against Essex. Durham will be looking to land the title for the first time after losing their only other final appearance.
Durham line up – A Hind (Hartlepool), M Peach, J Leeman, D Oram (all the Vipers), B Poulter (Gateshead), M Lusk (Stanley), A Jobling (Gateshead), B Houghton (Stanley), J Hutchinson (Stanley), A Bridgwater (Hartlepool), M Barkess, K Minnis (both Stanley), P Horsley (Hartlepool), G Reed (Aycliffe), A Macey, M Jones (Darlington), D Quickmire, R Fairhurst, M Robinson (all Aycliffe), J Ainger (Hartlepool), S Hanlon (Hartlepool), P Paterson (Vipers), J Lynch (Darlington), S Slaughter (Hartlepool)
The blue riband singles conclude the first week of the finals before a four day Easter break. In the men’s last sixteen Cumbria’s Kev Harrison has a tough opener against the new UK Open winner Huntingdon’s Nicky Brett. In the ladies event Cumbria’s Alison Hullock also has a tough opener against Ipswich’s Katherine Rednall.
The Scottish national finals were held at Auchinleck last weekend with the pairs, triples and fours taking place. The men’s pairs went to Arbroath’s Darren Burnett, the triples to Elgin’s Michael Stepney and the fours to Ardrossan’s Paul Foster MBE, the Two Bowl pairs went to Falkirk’s Martin McCalley.
The ladies winners were -: Pairs – Julie Forrest (Treviotdale), Triples – Natalie McWilliams (Glasgow), Fours – Elizabeth Fraser (Dundee), Two Bowl Pairs – Lorna Cameron (Glasgow)
England’s Commonwealth Games squad continued its preparations with a test match against Ireland at Desborough. Out of the forty seven matches England came out on top in thirty two of them, they avoided defeat in all of the various combinations. The two day event replicated the Commonwealth Games format of two sets with a tie break plus the thirty second shot clock was in place. One of the changes at the Commonwealth Games will see no jack casting, there will be three designated jack lengths 24,28,32 meters which the player can nominate. The change is for TV coverage however it takes away a key part of the game and hasn’t been welcomed among the majority of the sport purists.
On Friday Hartlepool host the Open Singles Circuit, sixty four players will battle it out for the £1,000 first prize. The Wrong Bias Podcast will be live streaming the action starting at 8.30am with the newly crowned WBT Masters Champion Hartlepool’s Russell Bewick taking on Melton Mowbray’s Jamie Deakin at 8.30am.
Easter weekend will see more action at the Hartlepool club as they host their popular Masters Pairs starting Saturday through to Monday. The quarter finals on Monday will be live streamed via the Wrongbias Podcast platforms.
As the indoor season is slowly coming to an end thoughts slowly switch to the outdoor scene, sadly there has already been a casualty in the Harold Howey Division 2 as Whitburn A have dropped out. All teams that were due to play them will now have a bye. The council based greens can open from 13 April with the first leagues getting underway on 4 May. Club secretaries should have received the annual invoice which was due to be paid by April 1.
The Bowls Durham Count championship draws are now on the county website, a notable change in the men’s as there is no north-south divide and it is now an open draw apart from the Two Bowl singles. There is one big rule change for the Durham championships, the home team will now pick the rink to play on and don’t have to offer two rinks to the visitors to pick from. This change doesn’t apply to any of the Bowls England competitions whereby the home team still have to offer up two rinks.