Houghton up for cup after victories over Gateshead
This season’s Denny Cup got under way last weekend, with both our local teams in action.
Houghton produced a stirring performance to beat Gateshead 84-63.
At Houghton in cold conditions, which club members have suffered from day one of theseason,itwasagameoftwo halves for Jimmy McAdoo's quartet as they went from 8-7 downathalfwaytofinish24-11 down against Lee Pope.
That loss, however, was covered by the other home squad, who put in a five-star performance as Mal Baker, Ian Whorlton, Peter Brickle and Frankie Froud beat Maurice Dunlop 29-12 to leave the home squad four shots to the good.
At Gateshead, both Houghton squads won. Dale Oram steered Joe Sutherland, Stevie Tindale and Dan Todner to a 23-12 win over Alan Jobling while Peter Thomson turned round a 15-8 deficit to beat Kevin King 21-15.
In the next round, Houghton face the most successful Denny team, Cumbria, who beat Durham 97-70.
South Shields Vipers totally dominated the Parks as they rattled up a ton in a 11545 win, and in the next round they will face West Denton, who beat Stanley 76-43.
A strong Hartlepool outfit eased past Darlington 84-31. They face Great Aycliffe next.
In the women’s Yetton Trophy, both our local sides went out. South Shields Vipers put in a spirited performance against Great Aycliffe but eventually lost 80-73, but Houghton went out without bowling a bowl as they had to concede the tie due to a lack of nominations. Elsewhere, Redcar beat Hartlepool 87-79 and Durham beat West Denton 96-66.
There has been more action in the local section of this season’s national competitions. In an all-Vipers singles clash, Stewart Hubbard beat Jaxon McKenna 21-8 and will faceclubmateMalPeachnext.
In the southern section, Hartlepool’s Gary R Smith beat Darlington’s Andrew Henderson 21-13. There was
better news for Henderson in the pairs as he beat Ferryhill’s Steven Stayman 19-13.
Houghton’s Frankie Froud lost a thriller at West Denton 15-14 against Arron Robson and will host Vipers’ Paul Hartley next after he ended another West Denton hope Kevin Blaylock 19-8.
Vipers’ Dave Paterson eased past Gateshead’s Lee Pope 25-6 while clubmate James Sneller had a cracking 20-11 win at Stanley over Brett Arkley.
Houghton’s Dale Oram ground out an 18-14 win at Gateshead against Brian Orrell and will head to the Jack Clark to face Gary Farquhar, who beat West Denton’s Keith Miller 25-11.
In the triples, Houghton’s Frankie Froud beat West Denton’s Gareth Heard 1713 and will host Gateshead’s Alex Bryden next.
Inthesouthsection,anallHartlepool affair saw Mark Higgins beat Gary Vaughan 25-3. In the south section of the fours, Hartlepool’s Paul Mosley beat Redcar’s Vinnie O’Neill 18-10 to set up a clash against clubmate Gary R Smith. Houghton’s Frankie Froud had a smashing 1612 win at Gateshead against Malcolm Johnston.
In the first round of the over-60s’ double fours, Vipers lost 52-29 to Durham B.
After their opening whitewash
at the hands of Gateshead, the Houghton women’s inter-club squad bounced back and handed out their own whitewash as they beat Great Aycliffe 10-0 (77¾-49).
At Houghton, Val Bambrough's rink of Joan Watt, Jennie Smith and Brenda Robson beat A Ritchie 2310 and Joan Rodgerson beat Tracy Fairless 22-14 to leave the home squad 21 shots up.
AtAycliffe,bothHoughton squads ground out victories. Norma Stephenson beat E Hewgill 17-11 and, despite playing short, Joan Baker got home 15¾-14, which saw the away leg finish 32¾-25.
The men’s county interclub set-up suffered three late withdrawals in the second
division as Dunelm, Gateshead A and the Vipers all dropped out. That just leaves Durham and Ferryhill, who will now just play a one-off game to decide the league winner. Next season it is likely that there will only be a combined single league.
There was some local success in the delayed 2019-20 county seniors’ champion of champions. In the triples, Houghton’s Peter Thomson, Mal Baker and Frankie Froud defeated Hugh Murray 23-13. In the fours, the Shields quartet of Michael Bryne, Bobby Graham, Ebby Dent and Billy Ferry won a thriller against Stanley’s David Webb 17-16.
The only local loss came in the singles as Shields’ Fred
Knubley lost 21-14 to Hartlepool’s John Ainger.
TheDurhamcountyyoung gunsgettheirunder-25double fours title defence under way todayastheyfaceLincolnshire at York. With a couple now overage, there are new faces added to the line-up – E Fordy, N Thompson (both Hartlepool), C Morrison (Durham), B Henderson (Hartlepool), J Harston (Aycliffe), T Cairns (Darlington), M Gleeson (Aycliffe), J Halcrow (Shields).
The next round of the Egham Trophy takes place tomorrow as Houghton face South Shields Vipers at 10am.
Houghton team: E Bakres, V Bambrough, P Brickle, F Froud, J Sutherland, M Baker, S Forster, J Rodgerson, E Morris, J Baker, F Fletcher, P Thomson, M Hall, B Robson, S Tindale, D Oram.
Shields team: JSTallack, M Charles, J Mckenna, P Hartley, P Browne, P Byrne, P Dixon, G Farquhar, M Paton, A Upsall, S Hubbard, J.Sneller, K Paterson, J Chapman, D Paterson, D Bolt.
The Bowls Durham AGM takesplaceatHoughtonDairy Lane on Tuesday at 7pm.
There was some sad news for the local bowls scene as former Barley Mow and Barnes West End member George Riddell sadly passed away. His funeral is on Thursday at 10.30am at Sunderland Crematorium.