The curtain came down on the indoor season with the remaining World Bowls Tour (WBT) Scottish International Open qualifiers taking place at Hartlepool and Erewash. At Hartlepool a reduced field of thirty two battled it out for the place in the main event at West Lothian. After missing out on a WBT top sixteen berth the South Shield’s Vipers Paul Hartley bounced back to beat fellow club mate Ryan Henson 6-4,5-4 in the final to secure a place in the main event. Hartley to be fare after an early scare eased through four rounds on a surface he is quite accustomed to. An opening 6-7,12-3,2-0 win over Rhys Vaughan was followed by a 8-3,10-2 win over Mark Wilson. In the Quarter finals Hartley beat Stewart Douglas 8-3,7-3 before beating Trevor Taylor 8-2,9-4 en-route to the final. Three local fancies all went out in the last sixteen, the Vipers David Bolt lost 2-1 on a tie break to Ross Kinnell. The host clubs Gary R Smith lost 6-0,8-3 to Trevor Taylor and club mate Russell Bewick lost 2-1 on a tie break to Conrad Morrison.
Meanwhile Erewash had a field of forty eight, after dropping out of the WBT top sixteen Norfolk’s England international Wayne Wilgress made a successful trip west and came out on top. Enroute to the final Wilgress had to grind out four tie break wins notably over Chris Rodgers, Graeme Howard, Tom Holmes and Owen Kent. In the final against Westlecot’s Scott Edwards the Norfolk star produced some big bowls to secure a hard fought 6-2,5-5 win. Both Hartley and Wilgress will head to West Lothian in late October and both will provide stern tests for the current top sixteen.
The following day Erewash hosted another WBT Under 25 qualifier; a field of thirty two young guns were battling for a place at the main event in October also at West Lothian. Locally the Vipers Layton Sykes narrowly lost his opener 2-1 on a tie break against Oliver Jownally, Darlington’s Alex Wood also missed out on a tie break 2-1 to Harry Duffield. The eventual winner was England star Isaac Jenner who beat Mack May 9-3, 3-12, 2-1 to book his place at West Lothian.
Glasgow hosted a Four Nation’s Commonwealth Games warm up event. Scotland, Ireland, Malaysia and Australia were looking to fine tune their games preparations with the latter two countires yet to name their Games squad. It was a successful four days for Team Ireland as Gary Kelly took the men’s singles, young Shauna O’Neill the women’s singles and Kelly alongside Adam McKeown took the men’s pairs. Despite a disappointing warm up for the host country in the main events they did get some joy in the women’s Para Pairs and VI Mixed Pairs where they won both finals. The bowls at the Commonwealth Games will take place in the SEC (Scottish Exhibition Centre) in Glasgow on pre-built portable rinks.
The first round of Earl Cup fixtures have taken place, with holders Silksworth Pumas on a bye it allowed Barnes Park to go top after a 6-0 win at Sunderland. Last seasons runners up Houghton Dairy Lane A ground out a 4-2 home win over New Herrington. Newly promoted Pemberton opened up their campaign with a 4½-1½ win over Dairy Lane B. The other promoted team North Biddick lost at home 4-2 to Roker Marine.
In Division Two it was a mixed night for the two relegated teams, Seaham Town opened up with a 4-2 win at Washington while Usworth lost 5-1 at Houghton Town albeit by a couple of shots.
Earl Cup Division 1 – Houghton DL A 4-2 New Herrington, North Biddick 2-4 Roker Marine, Pemberton 4½- 1½ Houghton DL B, Sunderland 0-6 Barnes Park
Earl Cup Division 2 – Hylton CW 1½ v 4½ Ryhope, Houghton Town 5-1 Usworth, South Hylton 1 -5 Whitburn, Thompson Park 1-5 Hetton Workmen, Washington 2-4 Seaham Town
Barnes Park went through the Harold Howey Vet’s league unbeaten last season, they open there title defence away at Roker Marine A. Newly promoted Pemberton A and Washington B go head to head on the opening afternoon.
The Sunderland Women’s league doesn’t start until 19 May and the men’s Grindon League starts on 22 May.
In the Bowls England mixed pairs Dairy Lanes Kirsty Milne narrowly lost at home 14-13 to Darlington Woodland’s Steven Graham. There was another narrow loss this time for New Herrington’s Garry Wallace (snr) 15-13 at Elm Tree against Lindon Wilson. Wallace also suffered an early loss at the same venue this time in the family pairs 18-11 against Graeme Parkinson.
The early round of the national doubles fours takes place on 17 May, locally Dairy Lane B host Pelton Fell.
After losing out in the semi final at Leamington the Durham Mixed O60’s squad will open there bid to go one step better at Dunnington as they face Lancashire.
The County ladies are in Northern Trophy action as they take on Northumberland at Hexham. Locally Charlotte Williams (Silksworth Pumas), Lorraine Breheny, Jane Hore, Sue Almond (all Sunderland), Glynis Morgan, Maureen Hall, Norma Stephenson (all Dairy Lane) all feature in the season opener.
The Durham County Alsop team are in early action on Saturday as they tackle Lancashire at Blackhall (12 noon). After a disappointing campaign last season the Durham lads will be looking to get the season off to a winning start. Locally there a ten players in the squad – Peter Thomson (Marine), Joe Sutherland, Stevie Tindale, David Armstrong, Jimmy McAdoo, Dan Todner (all Diary Lane), Chris Blake, Garry Wallace, Colin Watson (all New Herrington), Brian Poulter (Usworth)