Silksworth Pumas clinch national double fours title
A national title will be heading north after the Silksworth Pumas won the Bowls England double fours title at Leamington Spa this week.
Prior to qualifying for the latter stages they suffered a blow when talisman David Bolt broke his foot and had to miss the latter stages of the season. At Leamington in the quarter-finals the Silksworth lads beat Wiltshirebased Royal Wootton Bassett 36-35, that one shot margin was to be replicated in the semi-final and final.
Against Isle of Wight’s Shankiln, the Pumas got through in another thriller 34-33 to set up a final against Huntingdonshire’s Brampton, in which Scott Baker, Ian Riches, Jaxon McKenna and James Sneller landed England internationalist and recent Commonwealth Games gold medallist Nicky Brett.
The Silksworth lads were not fazed by it and put in a near perfect performance with their only lapse being a last end dropped three to leave them 16-15 up.
The other rink of David Sykes, Neal Ridley, Josh Halcrow and Gary Farquhar picked up a massive five on the 14th end, which put them 14-9 up, and more importantly, moved the Pumas into a 10-shot lead overall.
The Brampton lads, however, responded and got it down to needing a five on the last end to force an extra end.
On a tense last end they could only manage a four to leave the Farquhar quartet level at 16-16 and the cue for the celebrations to start as the Pumas got over the line 32-31. It was fitting that club stalwart Vic Avery was presented with the trophy and also a great gesture by the club to name youngster Layton Sykes in the 10-man squad to collect a winner’s medal.
In the women’s pairs, the Houghton Dairy Lane duo of Maureen Hall and Norma Stephenson lost their opener 26-8 against Isle of Wight’s Anne Bernard.
Jarrow’s Maurice Dunlop lost his quarter-final in the senior singles 21-9 against the eventual winner, Hert
fordshire’s Jerry Rumball.
The Darlington South Park young guns Kimberley Robinson and Sophie Wood both lost their openers in the U25 singles. Earlier they joined forces in the U25 pairs but were beaten by the eventual winners, Worcestershire’s Maddie Burgess.
In the men’s U25 pairs, South Park’s Alex Wood and the Pumas' Josh Halcrow were beaten 19-15 in the last 32. Next it's the turn of the fours, two bowl singles, senior fours and the four bowl singles to take centre stage at Leamington. Local hopes are with Seaham Town’s Mark Higgins, who tackles Hertfordshire’s Shaun Jones in the singles on Thursday.
As the domestic outdoor season comes to an end the Sunderland & District seniors champion of champion’s title was decided at South Hylton.
In the final, Roker Marine’s Alan Middleton faced North Biddick’s Robert Johnson.
Played out in front of a
decent crowd, the final was locked at 20-20, the ending was unfortunate to say the least, with three bowls played the marker indicated a fancy for Johnson’s bowl, as the end progressed and nothing changed, Middleton shook hands, but on arriving at the head immediately asked for the measures and much to Johnson’s dismay the Marine lad was shot to take the title 21-20. The rule of thumb for markers if it's close then always indicate a measure which puts the onus back on to the players, in this case at 20-20 a visit to the head by either player would have been the norm.
The latter stages of the main champion of champions were played at Pemberton, past winner Usworth’s Steven Copeland booked a place in the final with a 21-8 win over New Herrington’s Colin Watson.
Pemberton’s Michael Noble will provide the opposition after a 21-11 win over Hetton’s John Wilson. The final was due to be played last night at South Hylton.
The popular Houghton Dairy Lane Open pairs was won by John Webster and Malcolm Robinson, in the final they beat Wood and Henderson Snr.
The Barnes Park duo of Frankie Froud and Bryan Sanderson landed the Richmond Open Pairs.
On Sunday the Dairy Lane club will host a last 16 Bowls England top club tie between Cumbria’s Aspatria and Nottingham’s Newark Northern, the action gets under way at 11am and will be streamed live via the Wrongbias Podcast platforms.
The indoor season at Houghton gets under way on September 10, there are several vacancies across the leagues, anyone interested in adding a team can contact club secretary Margaret Nicholson.
The draws for the various EIBA national team events have been made.
In the Denny Cup first round, two of the fancied runners have been drawn against each other as Shields take on Cumbria, the winners will face Houghton or The Parks, Stanley face Durham, Gateshead play West Denton and Hartlepool face Aycliffe. In the women’s Yetton Trophy, Houghton play Durham and Shields play West Denton.
Hartlepool will start their Egham defence against Durham while last year’s beaten finalist in the Top Club Shield’s will face Gateshead.
The Durham County women will open their Atherley Trophy title defence against Yorkshire. In the men’s Liberty Trophy, Durham have a rare home draw against Cumbria.
The Durham County inter-club league has a change of format and is split into north/south sections with the group winners coming together in a one-off game to decide the title.
After last year’s terrific vets inter-club title success, Houghton Sancroft open their campaign with a trip to Shields.