Houghton clinch county seniors title in a thriller against Aycliffe
Houghton Sancroft beat Great Aycliffe 3½-1½ (38-36) in a thrilling final to win the county seniors play-off final at Darlington.
Joe Sutherland, Colin Young, Peter Brickle and Dale Oram beat David McDonald 14-11. Jimmy Swinney, Trevor Joicey, Freddie Fletcher and Ian Whorlton battled back from 13-7 to seal a 13-13 draw against Barry Attwood. Then Michael Wright, Richie Jobling, David Wright and Frankie Froud rode their luck against Fred Edwards, tied at 11-11 with one end to play.
However, as the last end neared its conclusion, a scoreboard error left the Aycliffe rink of the belief that the game was level overall, requiring of themjustashottotakethetitle.
Theyactuallyneededafour, so when Froud’s final bowl only finished second, Aycliffe thought they had won; in fact Sancroft had won 38-36.
The EBF national championships at Newark have been dominated by the Durham qualifiers.
Having already landed two titles, Durham went on to land another three plus the top county performance trophy.
In the men’s pairs Josh Halcrow and James Sneller beat Derbyshire’sG.Shepperson227 in the final. The Durham duo enjoyed wins over Hunts 18-13, Suffolk 19-5 and Lincolnshire 16-12 en route to the title.
Durham’s fourth success came in the ladies senior singles when Pat Browne whitewashedHunts'J.Baldwininthe final, after beating Norfolk 2113,Derbyshire21-18andNorthants 21-8.
The fifth title came in the team event as Durham beat Lincolnshire 93-89 to cap off a fabulous week for the county.
South Shield’s David Bolt made his return to the indoor international scene as part of afour-playerEnglandsquadin thenewly-brandedWorldCup of Bowls at Bristol.
Sixty-four players from 29 countriescompetedinamixed pairs and a singles event.
Partnered with Isle Of Man’s Janice Pilling in the mixed pairs, Bolt tied the first set against Canada before losing the second 9-6 and 1½ -½ overall.
Intheirsecondgroupgame Bolt took the first set 13-3 againstSpainonlytothendrop the second set 8-3 and miss out on a one-end tie-break.
With qualification gone, in their final group game Bolt again landed the first set 9-4 againstSouthAfricaonlytoendure another 'groundhog day' moment losing the second 122 and, then the tie-breaker, to leave him bottom of the group.
In the singles, Bolt got off to aflieragainstNambiarunning out a 16-1, 8-4 winner.
He made it two wins out of two with another comfortable 8-3, 10-2 win over Spain, which guaranteedalast-16spotasthe toptwoineachgroupqualified.
Bolt secured top spot in the groupwhenheavengedhisPotters loss by beating Scotland’s
Michael Stepney 4-4, 8-4.
In the last eight Bolt faced Malaysia’s Mohammed Fairus Abdul Jabal, survived a late scare to take the first set 8-7 and then ground out the second set 7-3 to move into the last eight. The quarter-final draw saw Bolt pitted against fellow EnglandhopeAndrewWalters.
The pair met in the national singles final in 2019 when Walters ran out the victor and, sadly for Bolt, history repeated itself. The first set saw Bolt turnarounda7-3deficittotake it 10-7, but he was left to rue a slow start in the second which saw him trailing 6-0. Walters runners got him out of jail on several occasions as he took the second set 7-4 and then secured a semi-final place by takingtheone-endtie-breaker.
Thefinalclubleaguestandings at South Shields: Monday: 10.30am Mens Triples – M.Pippet 21 (+99), A.Hunter 21 (+76), B.Cragg 20, T.Nichol 17, T.Kerrison 16, I.Hopper 13, P.Mountford 12, G.Brown 11, A.Todd 7, B.Edwards 2. 1.30pm Ladies Pairs – A.Upsall 22, P.Carlin 18, I.Kirkley 12, P.Murrell 12, M.Clennell 10, C.Ross 8. 6.30pm Mens Fours Div A – S.Hubbard 28, D.Morgan 24, D.Robson 16, D.Elliott 14, L.Carrick 12, B.Cragg 11, G.Allison 10, D.McCain 3. Div B – F.Knubley 25, K.Taylor 18, S.Wilson 14, S.Oram 12, P.Locke 12, J.Phillips 9.
Tuesday: 10.30am Mens Pairs – J.Smith 23, D.Stidolph 19, P.Unwin 16, D.Wilson 16, L.Carrick 14, T.Kerrison 11, A.Butler 8, I.Wardlaw 8, M.Murrell 7, G.Eddon 7, L.Watt 3. 6.30pm Open Fours – M.Charles 26, K.Paterson 21, P.Carlin 16, I.Kirkley 14, Joan Craig 12, P.Mountford 5.
Wednesday: 6.30pm Mens Fours – J.McKenna 22, F.Knubley 19, R.Forster 18, D.Robson 17, D.Wilson 12, J.Phillips 11, K.Taylor 10, J.Tiernan 8, L.Carrick 6, P.McGuniness 5, S.Wilson 4.
Thursday: 10am Mens Triples – F.Knubley 18, B.Cragg 16, B.Huntley 11, A.Hunter 3. 6.30pm Mens Fours – D.Morgan 24, D.Robson 22, S.Simpson 14, B.Carcary 14, A.Hitcham 10, D.Elliott 8, S.Wilson 8, J.Tiernan 6, A.Bulter 0. 2pm Mixed Triples – I.Kirkley 24, C.Bennett 22, R.Chapman 19, M.Charles 15, D.Sproates 8, M.Elliott 6, C.Barnsley 6, P.Murell 4.
Friday: 10am Mens Triples – J.Tieran 21, D.Elliott 20, M.Pippet 20, F.Knubley 14, I.McFarlane 13, J.Douthwaite 13, I.Wardlaw 9, G.Brown 8, B.Sparks 6, P.Mountford 4, S.Oram 4.
TheHoughtonindoorAGM takes place this morning at 10am.
As the outdoor season gets underway,therewasaveryearly county singles tie played as NewHerrington’sGaryHassan had a cracking 21-17 home win against Seaham Town’s Bryan Henderson (snr).
There was, however, some sad news for the now-defunct Barley Mow club as former member Kevin Boyle sadly passed away.