County teams exit trophy competitions at the double
It was a disappointing weekend for Durham County’s men and women’s teams as they both suffered defeats.
In the Middleton Cup, the men travelled to Gosforth to face Cumbria.
The last time the two went head to head, Durham suffered one of their heaviest defeats to date. This time they were left wondering what might have been as they were left ruing a slow start.
An early 20-shot deficit proved too much, and despite getting it back down to the 11-shot mark the ends just ran out.
Across the green, Durham had two winning rinks, the pick of them being Seaham Town’s Mark Higgins, who steered his quartet to a 24-13 win. The other Durham win came from Houghton Dairy Lane’s Dale Oram with a sixshot win. After a nightmare start, Seaham’s Bryan H enders onJnr, making his skip ping de but, did well to get back to within a couple, Durham’s team manager David Bolt, of Silksworth, lost by five and Elm Tree’s David Fenwick also lost by a couple. The tie was ultimately decided on the remaining rink, where Cumbria’s S tu Irwin was too hot for the remaining Durham quartet as he ran out a 29-9 winner to seal a 125-113 win. Cumbria will face Derbyshire in the quarter finals.
In the women’s John’s Trophy, it was always going to be a big ask for Durham’ s women to get past a strong Lincolnshire outfit and so it proved. The onlybright spot came from Dairy Lane’s Joan Rodgerson, who managed a draw. Clubmate Norma Stephen son lost by six, as did Newton Hall’ s Fay S linn. The remaining three Durham squads were all beaten by double figures, sealing a 42- shot loss overall. Lincolnshire will face Cumbria in the last eight.
The remaining county fours semi-final was held at DairyLane.Three-timescounty champions Silksworth Pumas Phil Dixon, Neal Ridley, Ian Riches and David Bolt secured another final spot with a comfortable 19-6 win over Blackhall’s Paul Hartley. The county finals take place next weekend at Dairy Lane.
The planned women’s county fours final stages were cancelled due to concerns over the Dairy Lane surface following a downpour.
Silksworth Pumas retained the Sunderland and District 3-2-1 knockout triples with an eight-shot win over Seaham Town at Roker Park. Unfortunately no rink scores were provided.
The latter stages of the Burkett Shield take place this week. The quarter-finals are at Barnes Park on Tuesday and semi-finals at Pemberton on Thursday, with the final at Rok er Park the following evening. No details of the quarter final line-up have yet been forthcoming.
Names for the champion of champions need to be submitted to the competition secretary by August 10.
It has been a funny old week at the top of the Earl Cup 4x4, with the top two both losing their unbeaten records. Leaders Dairy Lane lost a thriller atRok er Marine on the final end 4-3, and Barnes Park ended the Pumas’ unbeaten start with a 5½-1½ away win. Despite Dairy Lane’ s loss, they extend their lead over the Pumas to three points. The two teams, however, still have to play each other twice. The other result saw Us worth land their first win of the season 6-1 over Whitburn.
In the Earl 3x4 league, New Herrington’s dreams of lifting the title were dented as they lost 5-1 at holders Seaham Town. That result left the door open for North Biddick to go top after a 5½-½ win at Thompson Park. There were 6-0 wins for both Houghton Town and South Hylton and Hylton Colliery beat Ryhope 5-1.
In the Swan Cup4x 4, Dairy Lane extended their lead at the top to 6½ points following a 7-0 home win over Us worth. Silks worth Pumas snatched defeat from the jaws of victory with a last-end 5-2 loss a th older sRok er Marine.
Seaham Town made it seven out of seven in the 3x3 Swanwitha5-1homewinover Houghton Town.
In the Storey Bowl, the result of the day saw Thompson Park finally break their duck with a cracking 4½-2½ win at New Herrington. Roker Park beat Hylton Colliery 6-1. Holders Seaham Town’s dominance continues as a ninth straight win, 5-2 at Houghton Town, edges them closer to another Storey title.
Harold Howey defending champions Barnes Park B’s title hopes suffered a setback after a 3-1 loss at Washington B. Dairy Lane A returned to winning ways 4-0 over neighbours Houghton Town A. Hylton Colliery kept their slim hopes alive with a 3½-½ win over North Biddick A.
Division two leaders Seaham Town beat Chester-leStreet 4-0 to extend their lead at the top. Second-placed South Hylton were beaten 3-1 by a Barnes Park A outfit with only one win in nine. There were 4-0 wins for North Biddick B and Pemberton B, and Roker Marine B beat thirdplaced Hylton Colliery A 3-1.
Usworth are the new leaders of the Grindon league after a 4½-½ win over previous leaders Dairy Lane. Silksworth’s 4-1 win at Hylton Colliery moves them up to third with a game in hand on the top two. The other game saw South Hylton beat Whitburn 4½-½.
In the Bowls England over-55 pairs, Dairy Lane’s Mal Peach secured an area final spot with a comfortable 21-5 win over RA’s David Newman. In the area final, Peach will face Jarrow West End’s Maurice Dunlop. Usworth’s Brian Poulter had a cracking win in the champion of champions. An area final 21-11 win over West End’s Alan Lawton has set up a clash against Gosforth’s Phil Harvey.
Dairy Lane pair Glynis Morgan and Joan Rodgerson as they lost the senior pairs area final 15-9 against Durham City’s Pauline Char let on. Silk sw or th’ sJaxonMc Ken na’ s run in the mixed pairs also came to anendwitha17-12lossagainst Go s forth’ s Chris Yeom ans, and Hunden’s sprung a surprise 32-29 win over Dairy Lane in the over-60s double mixed fours.