May Festival of Bowls Junior Challenge
Mike Preston reports:
On Sunday 6th May the 9th Junior Challenge commenced Scarborough's annual May Festival.
Scarborough had ten juniors taking part. Teams came from all over the region.
There were three matches to be played in the day, with each match lasting 1hr 15mins.
Our "C" team was Alisdair Rhodes,Joe Usher & David Sessions. Their first game was against Darlington "D" After 5 ends the lads were behind 3-4 but Darlington pulled away & we lost 5-9.
Our other two teams were drawn against each other. Scarborough "B" were Lauren Pacey, Joseph Mann & Matthew Bell. Scarborough "A" were Jack Bird, James Brown & John Hall (in his last competition as he is going to be 18 later this month.)
The "B" team started really well leading 5-3 after 5 ends but on the 6th end they dropped 8 shots. Then the "B" team came back & won the last 2 ends with 4 shots to lose by a narrow margin 11-9.
In the 2nd match our "A" team continued to improve beating Darlington "C" convincingly 22-1.
Again the other two Scarborough teams were drawn against each other. In the "B" team we gave Lauren Pacey a rest & had George Brown in with Joseph Mann & Matthew Bell. After 5 ends the "B" team were leading 5-3 and continued to pull away winning 11-4.
Going into the final matches both our "B" & "C" teams were up against Darlington "A" & Darlington "C" respectively. Our players started to tire & both did not do themselves justice both losing 19-2 & 14-1.
This meant that both teams would not be in the final top three places.However Darlington "B" were on 3 points having one one & drawn one. Our "A" team were up against Darlington "D" both of these teams were unbeaten on 4 points. Bird, Brown & Hall just got better & won easily 24-4.
This finished the competition with three teams on 4 points so it went down to shots difference. Darlington "D" had minus 14 shots, Hornsea had plus 10. Darlington "A" finished in 3rd place with 4 points & plus14 shots. On 5 points & in second place was Darlington "B" but winners & the only team on a maximum 6 points was Scarborough "A". This meant that Bird & Hall have won the Festival for the last three years running!!!
Sadly though as I said earlier it is John Hall's last year.
I thanked Thomas Taylor for their sponsorship, SIBC, all the players for a fantastic days bowling & supporters for their support. Derek & Leanne & staff in catering. Also Sue, Dot & George Preston & Brenda Foster for running the tombola raising £101.
County School Of Excellence at York IBC
Latest News from Junior Section - Mike Preston (Under 18s Coach) reports:
The latest round of the County School of Excellence was held at York IBC on Sunday 1st April. This included U18 players from Yorkshire, Durham, Lancs & Cumbria.
The players are in two groups "juniors" 8 years to 15 years & "seniors" 15 years to 18 years.
The singles are a round robin format, each match is 7 ends using 3 bowls.
Scoring 10 points for a win & 5 points for a draw.
Scarborough had all five players that played at Scarborough in January.
James Brown won 13-2 against a player from Sunderland. Then won 11-2 against a Ferryhill player. He also went on to win his last game 11 - 4 against a Darlington player.
Matthew Bell lost his first game 10 - 2 to a player from Ferryhill. Drew 4 -4 against a player from South Shields. Then won his last match against a player from Ferryhill 6 - 5.
Joe Usher won his three matches 8-5 , 8-5 & 6-3 against players from Harrogate, Durham & Darlington.
David Sessions lost 4-5 against a player from Sunderland on the last end. Won his second match 9-2 v a player from Hartlepool. Drew his last match 5 all v a player from Harrogate.
In the afternoon all the players completed different exercises scoring points to add to the singles scores already achieved.
The top player in the juniors played 4th and 2nd played against 3rd in the semi finals. Again they played 7 ends singles with 3 bowls. The same happened in the seniors.
James Brown finished in 3rd place & played Lydia Cutmore from Hornsea who finished 2nd.
Unfortunately Lydia was playing really well & won her match against James.
She also went on to win the "junior" section 6-5 needing an extra end as they drew 5 -5 against a player from Ferryhill after 7 ends.
Jack Bird finished 2nd after the singles & exercises. He played York's U18 England player Laura Clarke. Jack started well but Laura came back. Jack held his nerve & won 7-4.
He played a player from South Shields in the final after 4 ends Jack led 4-2. He dropped 2 shots on the next end so it was 4 all.
Jack took 2 more shots over the last 2 ends to win the "Senior" section 6-4.
All four of the finalists will go forward to the finals at Melton Mowbray on 28th October.
We wish Jack well when he goes.
U21 Aussie Pairs On Saturday 17th March the second U21 Aussie Pairs competition was held at South Shields.
Twelve teams took part with 4 teams into 3 groups.
The winner of each group & best runner up would go into the main competition. With the final eight going into the plate.
Each match was 45 mins.
We sent three teams John Hall with Jack Bird, Jonny Stanger with James Brown and Jamie Broadbent with Chris Archer.
Jamie & Chris had a very close match to start off against Ferryhill after 5 ends it was level at 5 each but dropped 2 shots on the sixth end only to score one shot themselves on the final end. Losing 6-7.
The wheels came off against Darlington & home team South Shields in their next 2 matches losing 1-13 & 1-28 but they kept trying.
Jonny & James won a very close first match against Houghton 5-4 started to get the feel of the green in the second match against Darlington & won that convincingly 20-1.
In their third match they played against a home team of South Shields & started slowly losing 7-11.
Jack & John played a combined team from South Shields & Sunderland. The lads started well & won 14-3.
In their second match they really turned on a great performance winning 20-0 which included a full eight shots on the last end!
In their third match against Darlington again played some great bowls to win 11-3.
This meant that Jack, John & Jonny & James went into the main comp & Jamie & Chris in the plate.
Jamie & Chris were drawn against Ferryhill and found it tough going losing 1-10. That meant they were now knocked out but a good learning experience for the two young lads up against some very much older & more experienced players.
In the cup this was played in around robin format.
Jack & John were against South Shields & lost 2-8.
Jonny & James lost against another South Shields team 3-6.
Jack & John did a lot better in the second game against Ferryhill winning 18-1.
Jonny & James played another South Shields team & won 12-3.
In the last games Jack & John had a real battle v South Shields & were winning 4-3 with the last end to play. We were laying shot and South Shields trailed the jack with the last bowl to pick up 4 shots for us to loose 4-7.
South Shields who lost against Jack & John the round earlier got their revenge against Jonny & James beating us 9-4.
This now meant that all the matches were finished.
1st place won £200, runner up £120, 3rd £80 & 4th £60. The plate winning team won £40
Jonny & James came 4th and won £60.
John & Jack came 3rd and won £80.
A very long & enjoyable day.
16th Annual January Junior Tournament
On Sunday 8th January we held our 16th annual January Junior Tournament.
All the prize winners. Back L-R: Darlington "A" & "B", South Shields "A", and Hartlepool. Front L-R: Scarborough "A" & "B". Centre: Melanie Padgham and Mike Preston.
Mike Preston writes:
"We had 10 teams from Yorkshire & Durham taking part.
The format is a two wood triples, each match is 9 ends or 50 mins in a round robin, two points for a win & one point for a draw. If an end is "killed" then two shots are given to the opposite team. The top 4 teams go into the main competition & the remaining 6 teams go into the plate competition. We have won the main competition for the last three years!! The first time this has been done and we did not want to let it go this year.
We entered 3 teams, our "A" team was Joseph Mann, John Hall & Jack Bird. Their first match was against South Shields "B". After the 9 ends we won convincingly 15-1.
Our "B" team was David Sessions, Benjamin Grahamslaw & James Brown. They were playing against Darlington "B" after 5 ends we led 4-3 then we pulled away to win 13-5.
Our "C" team was Matthew Bell, Joe Usher, Steven Broadbent & Lauren Pacey.
Their first game was Matthew, Steven & Lauren against Hornsea. Hornsea started well leading 7-0 after 5 ends. Credit to our team as they never gave up & scored 4 shots to 13 for Hornsea.
In the second round this time we had our "C" team of Matthew, Steven & Joe against a strong South Shields "A" team, after 4 ends we were behind 5-2 unfortunately South Shields played some brilliant bowls to win 11-2.
Our "B" team were agianst Hartlepool and as our "C" team were trailing 5-2 after 4 ends. Hartlepool played very well to win 19-4.
Our "A" team were up against Hornsea we led 7-0 after 3 ends and ran out easy winners 12-3.
In game three both our "B" & "C" teams were drawn to play each other, after 5 ends it was really close at 3 all. The "B" team pulled away to win 9-3.
Our "A" team were against Darlington "B" and after 6 ends we led 4-3. Darlington played a fantastic 7th end to score 3 shots to lead 6-4. We came back with a single which meant they went into the last end behind by one shot. Scarborough asked for 2 shots but after a measure the second bowl was the same distance away from the jack as Darlington's nearest bowl, therefore we only scored a single to tie the match and both teams scored one point.
After the finish of the round robin two teams were unbeaten on 6 points Hartlepool & South Shields "A" our "A" team were unbeaten but on 5 points. The fourth place in the main competition went to shot difference as both Hornsea & Scarborough "B" were on 4 points each. Hornsea went into the main competition as they had a better shot difference.
The other 5 teams went into the plate competition with Scarborough "B". As there were three matches being played in the plate, the top three places were determined by the teams scoring the highest number of shots. In one match Darlington "A" were against Darlington "B" with Darlington "B" winning 9-6 and as they scored the lowest of the three winning rinks ended 3rd in the plate competition. Darlington "C" were against South Shields "B". Darlington won well 13-2. Our "B" team were against our "C" team and it looked like the "B" team were going to get 2nd place as they were leading 10-4 with only one end to play. Fortunately the "B" team scored 4 shots on the last end to win 14-4 to pip Darlington "C" by one shot!!
In the main competition the first semi final was between Hornsea & Hartlepool. This was a really close match with both teams playing fantastic bowls with both teams taking the lead several times. After 5 ends it was all square at 8 all. Then Hornsea won two ends with a single shot on both ends to lead 10-8. Back came Hartlepool with 2 shots to again level it going into the last end. Hartlepool held on to win the last end with a single shot to win 11-10.
In the other semi final our "A" team were against South Shields "A" our lads started off very well going into a commanding lead and never looked in any trouble winning 14-4.
So the 3rd/4th play off was between South Shields "A" and Hornsea. After 6 ends it looked all over for Hornsea as they were behind 9-2 after 6 ends. Hornsea won the 7th end with a single shot and followed it up with 2 shots still trailing 9-5 going going into the last end. Hornsea were holding 5 shots and looked to win but South Shields last bowl just reached to save one shot. This meant Hornsea scored 4 to level the match 9-9 all. This made the match go into an extra end. South Shields managed to win with a single 10-9.
In the final, Hartlepool started well against our "A" team leading 5-1 after 5 ends and were holding 5 shots on the 6th end until John Hall played one of the best shots under pressure to trail the jack an dscored 2 shots, we now were behind 5-3 instead of what was looking like us going behind 10-1!!
This changed the game completely round and we scored another single to trail by one shot. We then followed it up with another 2 shots on the 8th end to lead for the first time 6-5 going into the last end. This was really nerve racking but our lads held theirs and won the last end with a single to win a great match 7-5.
This meant we had held onto the cup for a record 4th time in a row. It also meant that Jack Bird had also won it for the last 4 years. John Hall had also won it the last three years!!
So the 3rd place in the plate and winning £15 was Darlington "B" runner up winning £15 and trophies was Darlington "C" winners of the plate was Scarborough "B" winning £30 & trophies. This is the 4th time we have won the plate. 1998,1999 & 2006. In the 2006 team was a young Jack Bird!
The main 3rd place went to South Shields winning £30.
Runner up was Hartlepool winning £45 & trophies with Scarborough "A" team winning £90 & trophies.
Presenting te prizes, the manager of the tournament's sponsor Eastfield House Day Care Centre. Melanie Padgham said: "We are delighted to sponsor this Under -18 tournament and to be involved with the wonderful Scarborough Indoor Bowls Club. We believe there is a very real link between remaining physically & mentally active and are keen to promote this, particularly among young people. It is a pleasure to see so many involved in competitive sport in a warm & friendly atmosphere here today."
I thanked all the players for a brilliant display over several hours, the catering dept, all the family, friends & supporters."