There was heartache for the Durham County seniors as they went down 108-107 against Yorkshire in the first round of the EIBA Over 60’s inter county competition. Having already played Yorkshire twice this season and beat them hopes were high. Durham used the Stanley club as its home base and actually won on all three rinks by 10 shots overall. Gateshead’s Alan Theobold won 17-14 and both Stanley skips also recorded wins, Keith Minnis 19-17 and Brian Houghton 21-16. In the away leg at York Houghton’s Dale Oram won 20-18 while Aycliffe’s Barry Attwood narrowly lost 15-14. The tie was ultimately decided on the remaining rink as Houghton’s Joe Sutherland and the Vipers trio of Dave Paterson, Mal Peach and Billy Ferry went down 28-16, a week earlier the same rink won 45-6. Yorkshire will play Notts in the quarter finals.
There was disappointment for the Vipers in the Egham Trophy, despite registering narrow wins on three of the four rinks they were beaten 78-71 by past winners Hartlepool, in the next round they will face Lincoln who beat Hornsea 79-62.
In the ladies Mason Trophy double fours there was better news for the Vipers as they won a thriller against the Parks 40-39, they will face either Houghton or Durham next.
There has been more action in the area one section of the national competitions. In the singles an all Vipers affair saw Josh Halcrow beat Paul Hart 21-3 and will face another club mate Mal Peach next. Gateshead’s Maurice Dunlop beat the Vipers Ian McIntosh 21-19 to set up a home tie against West Denton’s Kevin Blaylock, the latter beat Houghton’s Stephen Hanlon 21-4. Both Houghton’s Gary McPheators and Gateshead’s Brian Orrell got walkovers and will go head to head in the next round. West Denton’s Paul Timney beat Houghton’s Sam Patterson 21-8.
In the pairs the Vipers Stewart Hubbard beat West Denton’s Kevin Blaylock 24-13 and will face club mate Ian McIntosh next. Stanley’s Brett Arkley beat Gateshead’s Tommy Calder 24-14 and will host the Vipers Dave Paterson next, the latter had a good 17-11 win at West Denton against Keith Miller. A couple of Houghton pairs went out, Peter Brickle lost 20-9 at The Parks to Chris Yeomans and David Armstrong lost 23-12 at Shields against Richard Hopwood.
The Vipers James Sneller eased past West Denton’s Gareth Heard 28-7 in the triples to set up a clash with Stanley’s Brett Arkley, the Stanley lad had a good 18-9 win at Houghton against Frankie Froud.
There was better news for Houghton in the fours, Chris Blake, Dave Armstrong, Colin Watson and Peter Thomson over powered West Denton’s Mark Heron 27-1 in just 12 ends, in the next round they will face club mate Gary McPheators.
In the two bowl singles the Vipers Paul Hart beat Houghton’s Peter Thomson 21-16 and will face club mate Mal Peach next with the winner facing another Viper Josh Halcrow.
The Under 25’s area final line up has been confirmed, Cumbria’s current indoor under 25 world champion Daniel Pool who has yet to play a game will face Stanley’s Adam Rogan on a neutral green.
In the champion of champions Gateshead’s Lee Pope had a good 21-8 win over Penrith’s Martyn Page and will have home advantage against Durham’s Alan Bolan in the next round. The Vipers David Bolt beat The Parks Steven Welsh 21-16 and will make the trip to West Denton next to face Paul Timney, the West Denton lad ended Houghton’s Stephen Hanlon’s hopes 21-14.
In the latest round of Top Ten fixtures Houghton cruised to a 10-0 win over Aycliffe. In the pairs Joe Sutherland and Jimmy McAdoo recovered from 9-3 down to beat Hugh Murray 15-11. Mal Baker, David Robson and John Burglass came with a second half charge to beat B Stannard 17-6. The fours saw Chris Blake, Tony Grimes, Richard Thorpe and Peter Thomson trail 11-3 but a run of eleven shots without reply over the last four ends against Malcolm Robinson got the Houghton lads over the line 14-11. With Aycliffe a man light they had to concede the singles 6-0 which sealed the clean sweep.
Both Houghton over 60’s double fours squads are in action today as they face Durham A and Gateshead B respectively.
In the county vets league Houghton Sancroft’s long wait to return to action is over as they head to Gateshead. Since their last game back in early October the Houghton lads have seen Stanley go top after consecutive 5-0 wins over Gateshead and South Shields respectively.
The Grand Final of the Open Singles Circuit was held at Potter Resort, last year’s top 32 ranked players played a round robin and then from the quarter finals a straight knock out. Locally Hartlepool’s Paul Mosley had secured a place and safely navigated the round robin sectional play. In the quarter finals Mosley beat Alan Moore in straight sets before suffering the same fate in the semi finals against holder Norfolk’s Wayne Willgress. In the final the Norfolk star beat Barry Jenkins 2-1 on a tie break after losing the first set 5-6 and levelling the final up taking the second set 9-3.
Former England internationalist Ellen Falkner (MBE) is now living the dream down under and is High performance manager for the Aussie’s para bowls, alongside para bowler Serena Bonnell they wrote themselves into the Guinness World Records after completing the longest singles match thirty three hours and twelve minutes. They played 321 ends and killed six of them with Bonnell winning 259-256.