Sunderland seniors bow out in last eight in 2014
There was disappointment for the defending seniors inter-club play-off champions Sunderland A as they crashed out in the 2014 quarter-finals 63-50 (5-0) to Hartlepool A at Houghton.
The Sunderland squad were left ruing a slow start as they found themselves 17-0 down across the green, despite a gallant effort all three rinks went beaten.
Arthur Baker, Hendy Shields, Fred Knubley and Billy Ferry turned round an 11-4 deficit to lead 16-11 only to lose the last three ends to finish 19-16 down against former England internationalist Cliff Simpson.
Joe Flett, Ronnie Robson, Ray Robinson and Bobby Graham let slip a 1410 lead and finished 21-16 down to Albert Ward.
The remaining quartet of Pat Collins, Billy Hearne, John Jones and Tommy Jopling trailed 21-9 although a late recovery made the score more respectable but still went down 23-18 to Keith Wilford.
There was some good news for the Sunderland Inter County squad as it has been confirmed they have avoided relegation to Division two, the Sunderland lads fate was in the hands of the only remaining game as Aycliffe needed to collect five points against Hartlepool to jump above Sunderland.
In the end Hartlepool ran out 10½-1½ winners to send Aycliffe down alongside Gateshead, next season Sunderland will be joined by newly promoted Houghton in division one.
The County Champion of Champions finals were played Hartlepool with Stanley collecting three of the four titles on offer.
In the fours final the Houghton quartet of Bryan Henderson (jnr), Bryan Henderson (snr), Steve Kempster and Jimmy McAdoo’s hopes of clinching a first title for Houghton were dashed as the strong Stanley quartet which included former Sunderland player Phil Smithson took the honours 22-17.
In the triples final the Sunderland trio of Jim Lambert, Dave Morgan and David Bolt went down 24-12 to Darlington’s Noah Cummings, Mark Jones and Andrew Kirtland.
The pairs final was decided on an extra end as Stanley’s Brett Arkley defeated Hartlepool’s Carl Higgins and Paul Hartley 19-18.
The third Stanley title came in the singles as Brett Arkley replicated the pairs and fours success with a 219 win over Gateshead’s Mark Smith.
The senior finals took place at Darlington, in the singles Houghton’s Bill Piggott narrowly went down 21-17 to Gateshead’s Bob Graham while Darlington’s Graham Peacock and Stuart Clarke took the pairs title with a 22-17 win over Park View’s Alan Stewart and Colin Chapman.
The triples final only lasted nine ends as Aycliffe’s Ken Hutchinson, Fred Edwards and Dave Barron cruised to a 30-1 win over Durham’s Gerry Payne, Ray Johnson and John Stafford.
The fours title also went to Aycliffe as Phil Payne, Brian Hutchinson, Keith Dunning and Bill Duffy defeated Durham’s Brian Slinn, George Alderson, Paul Heath and Peter
Wilkinson 20-12.
The Stanley club once again successfully held the home international series, things ran to form as the final game between holders England and Scotland decided the outcome.
Prior to the game both countries had recorded consecutive victories, England defeated Ireland by 41 shots and followed that up with a 52 shot win over Wales, meanwhile Scotland defeated Wales by 28 shots and Ireland by 26 shots, in terms of the series a draw for England would be enough to retain the Hilton Trophy.
In an electric atmosphere England were never in the lead as Scotland dominated across the
green, by five ends Scotland led by twelve shots which increased to sixteen at the halfway mark, at the fifteenth end mark the writing was on the wall for England as Scotland raced to a 35 shot lead, in the end Scotland ran out jubilant forty three shots winners to avenge last year’s defeat.
The win brings Scotland to within two series wins of England, it was confirmed that the 2015 series will again to Stanley. Locally Stanley’s David Bolt and Gary Smith continued their back end international partnership but they had a mixed bag of results -: v Ireland W25-17, v Wales L12-19, v Scotland L22-23
Indoor bowls in the
North East bowls over recent years has seen around 600 bowlers left homeless and another north east indoor bowling venue’s future is in doubt, fears that after 37 years Concordia Indoor Bowling club based in Cramlington would close and be turned into a ten pin bowling alley.
This would be the third Northumberland venue to close following Tynedale and the planned Ashington closure, adding Sunderland to the list and doubts over the futures of Consett and Hebburn the once thriving region is starting to feel some pain as local councils see indoor bowls as an easy target.
Back to 2021 and the format changes to this seasons outdoor county championships have been confirmed, the pairs is now three bowls (18 ends), triples two bowls (18 ends), fours two bowls (15 ends), these changes affect both the men’s and women’s competitions.
With hopes of a return to the green in the next few weeks clubs are eagerly awaiting for the government to publish its guidelines for bowls, these are due on 29 March and then Bowls England will finalize them before distributing them to clubs.