Bannisters shine but Halifax lose
Halifax and District were beaten 19-13 by long-standing rivals South Derbyshire in their opening Division One match in the Federation’s National League on Sunday.
Halifax wonseven of the 12 individual games on their first trip to at Asa Briggs at Clayton Heights and four of the 12 at Littleover BC in Derby, losing the overall four aggregate points by 430-401.
The sides matched each other over the first six games at each venue with six winners each at the halfway stage.
The home side contributed five of the wins with Gareth Nicholson (Mytholmroyd BC) dominating with a 21-8 result.
At Littleover captain David Stansfield (Mytholmroyd BC) beat Derbyshire county player Calvin Jackson 21- 20. Gordon Bradford( Greetland) came close to a second win leading all the way, only to concede a pair to his own lead at the last end and go down 20- 21.
The away captain had a 6.30am scare when one of his players pulled out leaving him a man short. He filled the gap by inviting the son of one of the travelling team to step in at the shortest possible notice.
Kieran Bannister (Mytholmroyd BC) was the late replacement. He first marked the winning card of father Tony (21-16) and then went on the green to bowl a confident and skilful game and beat homester Steve Gibson 21-11 to be the best away winner of the day.
The second half of the away leg brought further success for Halifax with Mark Regan (Brighouse Sports)recovering from all-but 14 down to win with six consecutive winning ends.
Anchor- man Gareth Swaine (Luddenden Foot) almost pulled off another sensational win against Derbyshire county player Darren Smith. After trailing10-2 Swaine won seven of the last nine ends
He even measured, unsuccessfully, at the penultimate end for a second chalk and game, only to lose that and the game at the next end 21-20.
Meanwhile, at Asa Briggs, Halifax’s last six failed to emulate the performance of the first six. They had just two more winners - Robert Hitchen (Elland WM) by 21-7 and Stuart King (Asa Briggs) by 21-12.
Halifax & District must redeem themselves against Fylde on Sunday, May 31.