In the latest round of Alsop Trophy fixtures Durham had a smashing 16-6 win at Benfield against Northumberland. Across the green it was an even 3-3 split, the pick of Durham winning rinks was Brian Poulter (Usworth), Simon Brodie (Darlington South Park), Neil Hodgson (Darlington RA) and New Herrington’s Garry Wallace who beat Steven Harvey 27-16. The all Dairy Lane quartet of Joe Sutherland, Steve Tindale, David Armstrong and Jimmy McAdoo had a tough afternoon losing 29-17 to Alan Johnson. The win however puts Durham top of the table and will face Yorkshire next Saturday at Northallerton.
Latest Table – Durham 36, Northumberland 20, Yorkshire 18, Cumbria 8, Lancashire 6
In the women’s Stella Logan there was disappointment for Durham as they were beaten 7-3 by Cumbria at Penrith Friars.
In the County Senior Fours Barnes Park’s Frankie Froud ground out a 15-13 win at Consett Park against J Rogan, Froud will host either Silksworth Pumas or Hartlepool Old Boys next.
In the Bowls England mixed pairs Silksworth Pumas Jaxon McKenna beat Jarrow’s Mal Johnston 18-12 and will face a trip to New Herrington next after Garry Wallace beat Lyndhurst’s Frank Close 16-10. Dairy Lane’s Dale Oram beat Darlington RA’s Peter Coulson 20-9 and will host Spennymoor’s Bob Fairhurst next. In the mixed fours New Herrington’s Colin Watson lost 20-14 at home to Jarrow’s Jean Clift. There was better news for club mate Garry Wallace who had a cracking 19-12 win over Spennymoor’s Barry Attwood.
The remaining Sunderland & District leagues got underway this week although the Harold Howey was hit by the weather. The defending Howey champions Barnes Park produced a late charge to get home 4-0 win at Roker Marine A. In the New Herrington local derby the B team got the better of the A team 4-0 (34-15), the early Division 1 leaders are Whitburn B who beat Hylton Colliery A 4-0. The only other game completed saw Dairy Lane A win 4-0 at Seaham Town, the other two games at Dairy Lane A and Washington B started but lost out to the weather.
In Division 2 Ryhope are the early leaders after a 4-0 home win over North Biddick B. Silksworth Pumas made a winning return to the league with a 4-0 win over Hylton Colliery B, Pemberton B beat Washington B 3-1 and South Hylton won a thriller at Sunderland A 3-1 albeit by a single shot overall.
Swan Cup defending champions Houghton Dairy Lane made a winning start with a 5-1 win at North Biddick. Barnes also enjoyed an away win 5-1 at Hylton Colliery. Seaham Town beat Roker Marine 4½-1½ but it’s Silksworth Pumas who lead the table after a 6-0 home win over last years runners up New Herrington.
After round two in the second division its Hetton Workmen who lead the pack after a second 6-0 win this time at South Hylton. Making their debut in the league Simonside enjoyed a 6-0 win at Washington Glebe while Pemberton ground out a 4½-1½ win at Usworth. The match however was played in the back drop of a fire damaged Usworth clubhouse after it suffered an arson attack. The club are celebrating its centenary year and other clubs have offered help if needed. The Usworth club have also started a Go Fund Me page which has raised just under £3,000 as they look to practically start from scratch. Sadly over the years this isn’t the first time a local bowls club has suffered vandalism and again it feels like the horse has bolted after a build up of council cut backs on security around several local parks, hopefully the perpetrators will be found; named and shamed.
Storey Bowl holders Seaham Town made a winning start to their title defence with a 7-0 away win at Houghton Town, Hylton Colliery beat New Herrington 6-1 and Thompson Park had a cracking 6-1 win at debutee’s Jarrow West End.
Last years Silver Jack’s runners up Hetton’s Peter Harding & John Purdy made a first round exit losing 20-9 at home to Barnes Park’s Des Hill, there were also wins for Neal Ridley (Silksworth Pumas), Michael Wright (Barnes Park), Richie Mckie (Roker Marine) and Steve Hanlon (Dairy Lane). In the Champion Of Champions New Herrington’s Colin Watson beat Pemberton’s Keith Doyle 21-9 and Barnes Park’s Michael Wright beat Seaham Towns Kevin Guy 21-14.
The newly introduced Jim Huntingdon Super 5’s gets underway on Friday with thirty teams in action. The new competition has a different format with a fifteen end three bowl pairs and a fifteen end two bowl triple competing for the overall score.
The World Bowls Champion Of Champions has been completed at the Ocean Grove club in Australia. After the disappointing showing in the recent Four Nations event at Glasgow Team Scotland bounced back in style. There was good news in the men’s singles as Scotland’s Iain McLean took the title beating Australia’s Corey Wedlock 8-1,2-11,5-0 in the final. Mclean becomes Scotland’s tenth success in the singles, however despite a cracking last couple of years he will be feeling aggrieved at missing out on one of the three Scottish places at the Commonwealth Games at Glasgow. England’s Tom Holmes took the bronze medal after losing to Wedlock in the semi finals. In the women’s final another Scot Julie Forrest missed out on the Scottish double losing to Guernsey’s Alison Merrien MBE 6-7,2-6 in the final.
The England pair of Sian Honnor and Tom Holmes missed out on the mixed pairs title, in the final the host countries Kelsey Cottrell and Corey Wedlock proved to good in a 9-3, 8-3 English defeat. (main photo credit World Bowls)