Play-off holders Houghton bow out in quarter-finals
There was disappointment for the Inter-club Senior Play-off holders Houghton Sancroft after they were beaten in the quarter-finals 4½-½ (40-31) by Great Aycliffe.
After finishing runnersup in their group, the Sancroft lads were handed a tough quarter-final trip to unbeaten Aycliffe.
The latter only dropped a single rink point during their campaign plus it was a chance for them to avenge last season’s Play-off final loss to Sancroft.
Joe Sutherland, Freddie Fletcher, Peter Brickle and Dale Oram led Fred Edwards 9-6 at the half way stage, but a dropped five on end nine saw the game turn on its head, and Oram eventually slumped to a 17-11 loss.
Frankie Froud’s rink of Michael Wright, Chris Young and David Wright were left to rue three dropped trebles - the last of which saw an 11-8 lead wiped out against Barry Attwood.
The Aycliffe quartet won the last three ends, albeit three singles, to seal a 14-11 win.
The only Sancroft bright spot came in a low-scoring affair, Ian Whorlton’s rink of Stephen Hanlon, Brian Race and David Sim grabbed a last end double to draw 9-9 with Hugh Murray.
Three sets of ends across the green proved fatal for the Sancroft lads, ends 4, 9 and 13 saw them drop 21 shots across the green without picking up a shot themselves.
In the other quarter-finals, Stanley beat Darlington B 3-2, Hartlepool A beat Hartlepool B 5-0 and Durham B beat Darlington A 5-0.
The semi-final draw will see Stanley play Durham B and Aycliffe tackle Hartlepool A. Both ties are at Darlington on Thursday, with the final on Friday.
There was a Hartlepool double in the County Champion of Champions finals.
In the Singles, Paul MosleybeatAycliffe’sDaveQuickmire 21-15 and in the Pairs, Mark Jones and Marc Squirrell beat Durham’s Michael Barkess.
In the Senior County Champion of Champions finals at Darlington, it was a mixed day for Houghton hopes.
In the Pairs final, Joe Sutherland and Dale Oram beat Aycliffe’s Ken Hutchinson, but in the Triples final, defending champions Pete Thomson, Mal Baker and Frankie Froud lost out to Hartlepool’s Paul Stephenson.
The Singles title went to Aycliffe’s Dave Quickmire, who over powered Gateshead’s Alex Bryden 21-5.
Next weekend, Houghton will head to Ferryhill to face Hartlepool in the Inter-Club Play-off final (1pm start). Houghton have never won the title, but will have their work cut out against the holders.
The Houghton line up is: M.Baker, C.Young, D.Todner, F.Froud, J.Sutherland, R.Jobling, P.Brickle, D.Oram, M.Wright, C.Brown, D.Armstrong, J.McAdoo, S.Hanlon, F.Fletcher, S.Tindale, G.McPheators.
Scotland ended a 23 year wait for a home international series win on home soil as they secured their 29th series win at Abbeyview.
The hosts beat Ireland 125-102 and crushed Wales 167-94 to set up a series decider against England.
In their two openers, England who were looking for an eighth consecutive series win, beat Wales 146-91 and Ireland 126-100.
In the series decider after the five-end mark, the hosts were always ahead with England trying to play catch up, on the 11th end across the green Scotland collected 12 shots to open up a 17-shot lead which England struggled to claw back.
England did get it back briefly to around seven, but Scotland pulled away for a 119-104 win.
Locally, the Vipers’ David Bolt led in for Jamie Chestney and won both openers, but lost 24-15 in the Scotland clash.
Hartlepool’s Jonny Forcer made his England debut leading for Mark Dawes.
Two good wins before Forcer had to withdraw from the Scotland game due to a back injury.
That opened the door for Cumbria’s Steve Irwin to make his debut in the cauldron of an old enemy clash.
The EIBA National Championships got underway on Thursday in Nottingham.
The first national title saw Norfolk beat Surrey in the final of the Over-60s Liberty final.
The Two Bowls Singles also got underway, and in the men’s event, Hartlepool’s Jonny Forcer went out in his opener losing 21-15 to the host club’s Chris Rawson.
However, the Vipers’ Pat Browne won her opener against Solihull’s England internationalist 21-16 and will face Egham’s Kylie Jenkins next.
The Four Bowl Singles gets underway on Monday.
The Vipers’ Paul Hartley last year lost in the last eight, and in his last 16 tie he will face the winner of Falaise’s Michael Stone and Doncaster’s Andrew Walker tie.
In the women’s last 16, Hartlepool youngster Amica Fordy is flying the region’s flag and she faces Cumbria’s Lesley Metcalfe.
As the outdoor season starts to appear on the horizon, there is some good news for the Bowls Durham County competitors.
The last two years, Bowls England has restricted the counties to one qualification place at the national championships.
This year, the top 27 counties with the most entries will get two places and Bowls Durham meet the criteria in all the competitions, so both the county finalists will head to Leamington Spa.