Hartley beats Higgins to book a spot in the national singles finals
The area final of the area two national singles took place at Great Aycliffe this week.
The final featured the Vipers' Paul Hartley against Hartlepool’ s Mark Higgins, and it was one way traffic as Hartley put in a solid performance to get home 21-4 and book a place in the latter stages at Nottingham in March.
Higgins will, however, be looking to bounce back in the pairs area final against the Vipers' Ian and Shaun McIntosh, and he has a third chance to qualify in the trip les against the Vipers' Jaxon Mckenna.
The fours area final will be another Vipers-Hartlepool affair as Gary Farquhar tackles Jonny Forcer. The triples and fours finals will take place on 19 February at Ferry hill (12 pm ).
In the over-60s fours, Ayc li ffe’ s Hugh Murray booked an area final place after beating Redcar’s Alan Jones 16-12.
Hough ton' s Sam Patterson' s run in the family pairs came to an abrupt end as the Vipers' McIntosh brothers eased to a 23-3 win to book a place in the area final.
In the women's triples, the Vipers' Maureen Charles booked an area final place after a 29-7 win over Durham's Eileen Horan; in the area final, Charles will face Aycliffe's Susan Young.
There was more good news for the Vipers as Pam Carlin moved into the fours area final with a 16-11 win over Durham's Arlene Stafford.
Hopes of a national Champion of Champions title returning north were dashed last weekend. In men’s event, Hartlepool’s Paul Mosley went down in his opener 21-12 against Cotswold’ s Tom Ogden Barker; the eventual winner was Risbygate’s Mark Royal.
In the women’s event, the Vipers' Maureen Charles beat Bounds Green’s Rhoda Young 21-11, but then lost 21-15 to St Andrews' Rebecca McMillan. The title went to Norfolk’s Katherine Rednall, who beat Eastbourne’s Lorraine Kuhler 21-19 in the final.
Gateshead are into the last eight in the over-60s interclub double rink after thumping New Earswick 54-13 and will face Grantham, who won a thriller 33-32 against Lincoln.
The Vipers' run in the under-30 double triples came to anend with a 35-8 loss to Spalding Lightning; a slow start for both rinks saw the Vipers trailing 20-1 and they never landed a blow. Spalding will face Exonia in the next round.
The Durham County under-25s made their exit from the double rinks; a 43-29 loss against Leicestershire sealed their fate.
In the women' s countyHough ton won a thriller against Durham 68-67(7-3). At Hough ton, Joan Rodger son' s quartet got off to a flier leading 9-1 against Arlene Stafford but were pegged back to 9-9 and never recovered as Rodgerson finished 21-17 down. That four shot loss, however, was covered by Val Bambrough's rink of
Joan Smith, Margaret Eggleston and Ellen Faith, who beat Christine Budd 18-13 to secure the home overall points 35-34.
Down at Durham it finished 33-33, Norma Stephenson steering Maureen Hall, Liz Morris and Karen Sinclair to a vital 16-15 win over A.Stirrat, while the other Houghton squad also put in a cracking performance but fell the other side of a one-shot scoreline as Joan Baker lost 18-17 to P.Miller.
So overall it was a one-shot win for Houghton, collecting seven of the ten points on offer.
In the men's interclub, Houghton's hopes of topping the group and making the endare still alive. With leaders Durham having already completed their fixtures, Hough ton were 16 points behind the leaders; however, that has been halved with this win over The Parks. At North Tyneside, Jimmy McAdoo's rink were always playing catch up after as low start; trailing 9-1 they found themselves 17-7 down with three ends to play but a 6-1 return saw McAdoo finish 18-13 down. Dale Oram's rink of Joe Sutherland, Stevie Tindale and Peter Brickle cancelled out that loss with a 20-13 win over J.Davies to secure the away leg 33-31. At Houghton, Gary McPheators had to battle for a 13-13 draw against B.Rotham, the home overall secured by Dan Todner's rink of Mal Baker, Richie Jobling and David Wright who cruisedtoa23-5winoverSteve Miller - that win also secured the match overall 69-49 and 8½ points. Following that win over The Parks, the Houghton lads will need to collect eight points from tomorrow’s final game against Gates head to finish top of the group and secure a place in the end-of-season league final.
At Houghton (1pm) M.Baker, R.Jobling, D.Wright, F.Froud, A.Grimes, C.Young, S.Patterson, D.Todner. At Gateshead (10am) - M.Wright, D.Robson, D.Armstrong, J.McAdoo, C.Blake, F.Fletcher, S.Tindale, D.Oram. Latest Table - Durham 4-29, Houghton 3-21½, Gateshead 2-13, The Parks 3-3½, Stanley 2-3.
Hartlepool are back in DennyCup action today as they face Rivera in in these mi-finals; the other semi feat ur esEgh am and Falcon. Cumbria tackle Bee cl es in the Plate semi-final while MidGlos face Isle of Wight in the other semi.
On Friday (11 am ), Hough ton women tackle Cumbria in the last 32 of the Mason Trophy double fours, with the winners set to face York or Great Aycliffe next.
At Houghton - M,Godfrey, E.Barkes, V.Bambrough, J.Rodgerson. At Cumbria M.Hall, L.Morris, J.Baker, N.Stephenson.
Turning to the outdoor scene, club secretaries should have all received the 2023 Sunderland & District fixtures plus the 3-2-1 draw; if not then please contact the new district secretary.
Club secretaries in the Grindon League should have received the 2023 fixtures.