The EIBA National Summer finals took place at Melton Mowbray at the weekend with two of five titles returning north. In the Open Triples the South Shield’s Vipers trio of Paul Hartley, Gary Farquhar and David Bolt were favourites for the title and so it proved. In their opening last eight clash they beat Bromsgrove’s John Cracknell 17-10, in the semi final they then eased past Dolphin’s Gary Fountain 25-10 with four ends not played. It was the same in the final as they beat Boston’s Ian Clark again with four ends left un-played.
Hartley was looking for a double as he had qualified for the latter stages of the singles however it was not to be, in his opening last eight clash Riverain’s Alex Walton ended Hartley’s hopes 21-18. It will be little consolation that Walton went onto to take the title beating Spalding’s Dominic McVittie 21-18.
The Pairs title nearly came north however the Hartlepool pair of Conrad Morrison and Marc Squirrell were beaten 20-11 by Boston’s Scott Whyers and Jonathon West in the final.
The second title to head north came in the Fantastic 5’s where Hartlepool finished top of the group to take the title, an opening 8-0 win over Colchester was followed by a 8-0 win over Egham. Despite a 6-2 loss in their final game against Bristol those two earlier 8-0 wins were sufficient to get them over the line.
Final standings were – 1.Hartlepool, 2.Bristol, 3.Egham, 4.Colchester
Barwell’s Sally Ann Lewis took the women’s title beating Palmerston’s Tracy Farrington 21-17 in the final and Northampton’s Kieran Rollings took the Para Open Pairs.
The final two places in the World Bowls Tour Scottish Open were decided at the weekend as two PBA qualifying events took place at Arbroath and West Lothian. It was a first crack at hosting a qualifier for the Arbroath club whose general manager is former World Champion Darren Burnett. In a belting final which went to the third tie break end Blantyre’s Iain Mclean beat West of Scotland’s Sam O’Donnell 9-2,2-7,2-1, at the main event Mclean will ironically face Darren Burnett. The other in house qualifier at West Lothian saw Richard Marks come out on top and he will face Canada’s Neil Montgomery. The Open takes place at West Lothian starting Monday 26October to Thursday 29 October. The Vipers Paul Hartley will face holder Nicky Brett in the first round, Hartley qualified way back in April at Hartlepool. The tie is a repeat of the UK Open clash where Brett came out on top.
The World Bowls Tour (WBT) have reintroduced the Under 25 singles, a qualifier also took place at Arbroath with Scotland’s Lee Trotter securing the fourth UK qualifying spot. Locally the Vipers Layton Sykes made the trip north but lost to Trotter in the opening session 10-4,7-3.
There are more PBA qualifiers this weekend as Abbeyview hosts a World Singles and Pairs double header. There are plenty of local lads making the trip north, David Bolt, Brett Arkley, Paul Hartley, Mark Higgins, Alex Bryden and Gary Farquhar. Both days will be live streamed via the Wrong Bias Podcast Facebook & Youtube platforms starting at 8am on Saturday.
Although the indoor season is still finding its feet the delayed Houghton men’s singles title was finally decided this week as Peter Thomson beat Colin Watson 21-18.
The only outdoor league to be decided was the remaining promotion place in the Swan Cup Division 2, Hetton Workmen needed to beat Whitburn 6-0 to nick the spot off Usworth, however they could only manage a 5-1 win so they missed out by half a point.
Final League Standings
Earl Cup D1 – Houghton DL A 73, Barnes Park 68, Silksworth Pumas 66½, Roker Marine 48, Pemberton 47½, Houghton DL B 44½, New Herrington 44, Sunderland 22, North Biddick 18½
Earl Cup D2 – Hetton Workmen 95, Seaham Town 71½, Usworth 65, Houghton Town 60, Thompson Park 53½, Whitburn 50½, Hylton CW 47½, Ryhope 38, Washington 34½, South Hylton 24½
Swan Cup D1 – Houghton DL 65, Barnes Park 49½, Silksworth Pumas 47½, New Herrington 47½, Roker Marine 38½, Seaham Town 35, Hylton CW 32, North Biddick 21
Swan Cup D2 – Simonside 77, Usworth 65½, Hetton Workmen 65, Whitburn 57½, Pemberton 57, Thompson Park 45, Houghton Town 24, South Hylton 20, Washington 15
Harold Howey D1 – Hetton Workmen 38, Barnes Park 34½, North Biddick A 33½, New Herrington B 33, Houghton DL A 31, Whitburn B 25½, Roker Marine A 22, Washington B 21, Pemberton A 20, Seaham Town 18, Houghton DL B 17½, Hlyton CW A 9, New Herrington A 9
Harold Howey D2 – Silksworth Pumas 38 (+144), Thompson Park 38 (+124¾), Pemberton B 37½, Sunderland B 32½, Usworth 31½, Ryhope 28, Roker Park 26, Sunderland A 23, North Biddick B 19½, Houghton Town 19, Washington A 17½, Hylton CW B 17, South Hylton 14½, Roker Marine B 10
Storey Bowl – Seaham Town 83½, Thompson Park 74, Hylton CW 50, Jarrow WE 41, Houghton Town 34½, New Herrington 32
SWBA D1 – New Herrington 33, Sunderland 19, Whitburn 19, Barnes Park 18½, Roker Marine 16½, Washington Glebe 14
Grindon League – Pemberton 25, Houghton DL 21, Usworth 19, Silksworth Pumas 17½, Hylton CW 13½, South Hylton 12, New Herrington 10, North Biddick 7
The Sunderland & District AGM will take place on Saturday 14 November at Houghton Dairy Lane (10am). All club secretaries should have received the proposed Notice of Motions, if not then contact the Association Secretary.
(photo credit -EIBA)