|
Having established our regular
events in the Spring and Summer as well as Christmas, we decided
that it would be a good idead to fill in the gap between August
and December, ahead of next year's visit to the Isle
of Wight.
The venue for this inaugural
Autumn Break was Gunton Hall, near Lowestoft, and took place
on the weekend of 10th to 12th October 2008.
With this being a new venue,
we did not know exactly what kind of response we would get, but
we had hoped to around 30 pairs, as it was the final numbers
far exceeded our expectations. We finally ended up with an entry
of 48 pairs in what was a sell-out event, with every possible
place sold.
And as if that wasn't good
enough, we were treated to weather which, at least on Saturday,
was about as perfect as you could expect for October, warm and
sunny. And if Sunday was a little foggy, it was at least far
from cold and there was never a hint of rain.
And so to the bowls...
ROUND ROBIN STAGES
The first round of games gave
us 23 winners, 6 of whom were into double figures with their
shots. Val & Tony Candler lead the way with 12 shots,
a score which was matched by Jean Norwood & Paul Daniels
and Harold & Patricia Ball. Next were Eva
Rolfe & Margaret Moore on 11 shots, while Dot &
Colin Bird and Laurie Rooke & Marjorie Bilton,
both on 10 shots rounded out the top 6.
Game 2 for everyone reduced
those on maximum points to 13. Harold & Patricia Ball
were now leading the way, having accumulated 28 shots in their
2 wins. Jean Norwood & Paul Daniels remained in 2nd
place, now ith 26 shots, while Val & Tony Candler
had slipped to 3rd with their 23 shots. George Kitchen &
Rita Daniels were in 4th, with 19 shots while David &
Jennie Hambling and Colin & Jean Love were tied
for 5th, each with 18 shots.
Four more teams lost their
perfect records on their 3rd games, leaving only 9. George
Kitchen & Rita Daniels were now heading the pack, with
6 points and 36 shots. Close behind wereJean Norwood &
Paul Daniels on 34 shots, Colin & Jean Love on
33 shots and Colin & Jean Love with 30 shots. Rounding
out the top 5 were David & Jennie Hambling who had
accumulated 26 shots along with their 6 points.
The fourth and final round
of games on Saturday absolutely decimated the teams with 100%
records. By the end of the first day there were a mere 4 teams
remaining who had failed to drop a point. In the lead were Colin
& Jean Love, with 8 points and 47 shots. Secong place
was held by David & Jennie Hambling on 33 shots, a
single shot ahead of Peter & Margaret Jarvis who in
turn were a single shot ahead of Mike & Judy Easy.
Fifth place was now in the hands of Joyce & Peter Holbrow
who had dropped just a single point. Behind the undefeated teams
there was a pack of 8 teams and behind them teams who, although
they had already dropped 3 points, were now coming into contention
for the last 16 who would qualify for the knockout stages.
Sunday began with only 2 teams
retaining their perfect records. Colin & Jean Love
led the way with 10 points, still just ahead of David &
Jennie Hambling. Joyce & Peter Holbrow, on 9 points,
were now in 3rd place, followed by 7 teams on 8 points, who were
led by George Kitchen & Rita Daniels and Val &
Tony Candler. At this stage, with just 1 round of games still
to be played, it was looking as if, with the results spread around
as they were, that anyone finishing on 8 points was going to
qualify for the last 16.
The final set of games saw
very little change to the standings. Colin & Jean Love
finished on top, followed by David & Jennie Hambling,
both teams on a maximum 12 points. Joyce & Peter Holbrow
remained 3rd, having dropped just 1 point in their 6 games, while
3 teams finished on 10 points, George Kitchen & Rita Daniels,
Val & Tony Candler and Mike & Judy Easy.
The remaining qualifiers were on either 9 or 8 points, so anyone
who managed 4 wins over the weekend made it through to the knockout
stages.
KNOCKOUT STAGES
As usual the weekend was rounded
off on Sunday afternoon with a Knockout Stage for the top 16
teams.
The draw is arranged so that
the top qualifiers play the bottom qualifiers, 1st plays 16th,
2nd plays 15th, etc.
First Round
Colin & Jean Love were ahead by the 3rd end of their
game against John & Pam Whyman and cruised to a 9-4
victory. Aubrey & Sheila Mann kept close to David
& Jennie Hambling early on, but the Hamblings eventually
surged to a 10-3 win. Joyce & Peter Holbrow had Brenda
Reed & Sybil Baldwin beaten before the match had hardly
got underway, taking 6 shots on the first end and eventually
winning 20-1, the biggest victory of the weekend. George Kitchen
& Rita Daniels had a comfortable 9-2 win in their inter-T
& D match against Rosemary Coe & Chris Tilbrook.
The closest match of the round
was between Val & Tony Candler and Peter &
Margaret Jarvis that needed to go to an extra end in order
to seperate the two teams, with the Candlers eventually winning
5-4. Mike & Judy Easy edged their was to a 6-2 victory
over Owen Allcock & Daphne Leggett. Jean Norwood
& Paul Daniels needed 2 shots on their final end to overcome
Harold & Patricia Ball 7-6. And finally Roberta
Adolph & Mike Daniels ran out 8-2 winners over Ron
Dean & Margaret Horwood.
Quarter Finals
Colin & Jean Love had an 8-2 lead after just 3 ends
of their game against Roberta Adolph & Mike Daniels,
finally taking the match 12-6. David & Jennie Hambling
just held onto a 4 shot lead going into the last end of their
game against Jean Norwood & Paul Daniels, to finish
7-6 winners. Mike & Judy Easy took a comfortable 11-1
win over Joyce & Peter Holbrow who had won their previous
game so convincingly. And Val & Tony Candler once
again needed an extra end to progress as they came back from
5-0 down to defeat George Kitchen & Rita Daniels 8-7.
Semi Finals
Colin & Jean Love took another convincing win as they
strolled past Val & Tony Candler by a 10-1 margin,
all those extra ends perhaps finally taking their toll. And David
& Jennie Hambling had an equally comfortable win as they
defeated Mike & Judy Easy 12-2.
Final
Despite the way in which the
knockout rounds are structured, in all of our previous events
there have always seen more surprise results than we saw on this
occasion. Here things went very much to form and for the first
time the two top teams, the only ones not to have dropped so
much as a point in their weekend's previous 9 games, made it
all the way through to the final unscathed.
In the end Colin & Jean
Love took the lead over David & Jennie Hambling
from the first and never relinquished it. Even so the final score
of 6-2 looks a good deal more comfortable that it actually was
with truly excellent bowls from both sides, particularly the
skips, as the ends swung first one way and then the other.
And so Colin & Jean
Love became out 6th different winners in 6 events, denying
David & Jennie Hambling the opportunity to become
our first repeat winners and becoming only the second team at
one of our events to make it through the weekend with a perfect
record.
|
The full results of the week's
bowling can be found here. |
AND FINALLY
We would once again like to
thank everyone for joining us for making it all such an enjoyable
weekend and for helping us to raise £200 in aid of MacMillan Cancer
Support.
tanddcarpetbowls@gmail.com
14th
October 2008 |
