Mixed fortunes for Vipers in battle of the Champions
Three county Champion of Champions finals were played last weekend and it was mixed news for the Shields Vipers.
In the senior fours final at Ferryhill, the Vipers quartet of Mal Peach, Fred Knubley, Dave Paterson and Billy Ferry overpowered Stanley’s Dave Webb 19-3.
In the main fours final also at Ferryhill, the Vipers quartet of James Sneller, Paul Hart, Stewart Hubbard and Josh Minto led 14-12 going into the final end against Darlington’s Mark Ralphs, Tony Porter, Dave Newman and Tony Macey. In a scrappy final end the Shields lads dropped a three to leave Macey a 15-14 winner.
With the Vipers' David Bolt on England duty this weekend, the triples final was brought forward and took place at Hartlepool. The Vipers' Mal Peach, Gary Farquhar and Bolt beat the Hartlepool trio of Colin Boston, Mark Jones and Paul Mosley 20-6.
There are two more finals today at Hartlepool; the singles final will feature Hartlepool’s Paul Mosley and Great Aycliffe’s Dave Quickmire. The pairs final will see another Hartlepool hope Marc Squirrell face Durham’s Michael Barkess.
The three remaining seniors finals will take place at Darlington on Thursday. Gateshead’s Alex Bryden takes on Aycliffe’s Dave Quickmire in the singles, while Houghton’s Dale Oram plays Aycliffe’s Ken Hutchinson in the pairs.
In the triples final Houghton’s Peter Thomson (snr), Mal Baker and Frankie Froud will look to retain their title as they take on Hartlepool’s Dave KiIner - all three ties start at 1.30pm.
In the latest round of the Top Ten, Houghton narrowly lost out to bottom-of-the-table Stanley. In the singles, Gary McPheators dropped back-to-back trebles to go down 21-18 against Brian Houghton. Dan Todner beat Phil Stoker 20-12 in the pairs.
The triples went to Stanley as well, as Frankie Froud lost 20-8, but Peter Thomson got home in the fours 159; overall it was a 62-61 win for the visitors. It was also a tough day for the Vipers as they were whitewashed 10-0 at Aycliffe (68-29).
In the seniors inter-club, the Houghton Sancroft lads head to Aycliffe on Tuesday in the quarter-final of the seniors play-offs. It will be a tough game for the holders as the Aycliffe lads went through their group unbeaten and will be looking to avenge last year’s play-off final loss to Sancroft.
Houghton squad – J.Sutherland, F.Fletcher, P.Brickle, D.Oram, M.Wright, C.Young, D.Wright, F.Froud, S.Hanlon, B.Race, D.Sim, I.Whorlton (10.30am start).
Houghton host the Durham County HVPs tomorrow in a six-rink mixed fixture (1pm start).
The 71st women’s home international series took place at Abbeyview this week.
Host country Scotland’s wait for a home series success now extends to 30 years as England secured a 40th series win. In their opener against Wales, the England women looked in trouble trailing by 23 shots at one stage. However, they stormed back to level it off at the 16end mark. Even at the 20end mark, England trailed by three, but a final-end push saw them pick up 11-2 to get over the line 124-118.
In the next game against Ireland there was no sign of a slow start as England raced into a halfway-mark 32-shot lead, and in the end they cruised to a 59-shot win.
Host country Scotland had earlier beaten Ireland by 55 shots and then dispatched Wales by 67 shots to set up a series decider against England. As expected, Scotland raced out of the blocks and led by 20 shots after only two ends across the green, but the Scottish lead was whittled down to eight shots before a 20-shot swing in England’s favour turned the match on its head.
With England leading by four shots, another Scottish wave saw them whip up the home crowd into a frenzy as they went 18 shots up. The hosts were still 10 up after 19 ends and looked set to end their home series barren run but England produced some tremendous bowls as the hosts buckled, a 15-2 English return sealing a dramatic 117114 win to snatch the series from the hosts. In the wooden spoon battle, Wales beat Ireland 117-94.
In the British Isles Championships, England men landed the singles, pairs, fours and U25 singles, and were runners-up in the triples. The women landed the singles, pairs and triples and runners-up in the senior fours. Overall those seven titles secured the Gedling team trophy.
The national championships get underway at Nottingham this week. The two bowl singles gets things underway; in the men’s, Hartlepool’s Jonny Forcer has a last-16 tie against the host club's Calvin Rawson. In the women’s, the area is represented by the Vipers' Pat Browne, who faces England star Emily Kerrick in the last 16.
As the outdoor season starts to appear on the horizon, the Bowls Durham county competition draws have been made. The men’s singles champion Seaham Town’s Mark Higgins will open his campaign at home against clubmate M.White. The defending Silksworth Pumas triple skipped by David Bolt have a home tie against Dairy Lanes John Inch.
During the close season the local council greens have all had sprinkler systems installed. Private club Houghton Dairy Lane are regarded to have the best green in the north; the green is currently having some improvements to it with £10k being spent on levelling off the end of the green. The project has been a bigger job than expected as a two-metre area has been lifted around the playing area, but despite the cold weather the green is expected to be in tip-top condition come the start of the season.