Gunton VI - December 2017

FOURS
On Friday and Saturday evenings those playing in the Fours would get a couple of games with the team on top after their four games being the overall winners.

The was only one team who were able to win twice on Friday, that was Goodrich-Game-Tilbrook. Two other teams were undefeated with a win and a draw, Griffiths-Karcha-Hensey (who would play the leaders on Saturday) and Clark-Daniels-Cooke (soon to be Clark-Daniels-Harris).

Saturday's first game saw the Goodrich-Game-Tilbrook come out on top against the team directly behind them. But in the final game they suffered a heavy defeat.

Meanwhile Clark-Daniels-Harris had won their first and went on to get the best of a close second game to leave them undefeated on 7 points and in first place and Debattista-Sutton, having only won once on Friday won both, including a win over Goodrich-Game-Tilbrook in the final game to take second place.

PAIRS
There were a total of 34 teams competing in the Pairs and 16 teams qualifying for the Knockouts it was just a matter of finishing in the top half. But it's important to finish as high as possible because the top qualifiers play those who just scraped in, so in theory the higher you finish the easier the opposition when it comes to Sunday afternoon. Although it rarely works out quite so simple.

Game 1
There were 15 winners in the first round of games with Stuart McNeil & Lisa Edmond (12 shots) and Sam & Trish Agnew and Keith & Gillian Waters (both 10 shots) leading the way early on.

Game 2
A mere 8 teams won for the second time with David & Margaret Long (24 shots) heading the way, Tony & Lin Cooke were a couple of shots behind and Barrie Hayman & Dianne Curran were third on 19 shots.

Paul & Jackie Harris, Marilyn Stark & Chris Tilbrook, Richard & Linda Cornell, Syd & Dot Tanner and David Woods & Liz Lines were the others on 4 points.

Game 3
With 3 games played there were now only two teams who had won all their games, they were David & Margaret Long and Tony & Lin Cooke.

However there were another 3 teams who were still undefeated and were now on 5 points, Gerald & Phyllis Sutton, Richard & Linda Cornell and James Jordan & Jan Richardson.

Game 4
The same two teams won again but all of the teams who had been on 5 points stayed that way as they all lost.

This meant that the leaders were now 2 points clear of a trio of teams who had won three and lost one. They were Barrie Hayman & Dianne Curran, Paul & Sue Cousins and Keith & Gillian Waters.

Game 5 (End of Saturday play)
With there being 5 games on Saturday and only 2 on Sunday there was a good chance that anyone who won all their games on Day 1 would already have qualified for Sunday afternoon. But that was not to be.

Both the leaders picked up unexpected losses and ended the day on 8 points, but even then only one of their nearest rivals got a win, that was Paul & Sue Cousins who made it three teams at the top.

Behind them there were 5 teams all on 7 points, Gerald & Phyllis Sutton, Stuart McNeil & Lisa Edmead, David Clemmet & Angela Newling, Paul & Jackie Harris and James Jordan & Jan Richardson.

So with all those and a bevy of teams on 6 points there were a total of 17 teams covered by just 2 points and still plenty to play for on Sunday morning.

Game 6
The first qualifiers emerged with the teams who reached 9 points or better.

Paul & Sue Cousins and David & Margaret Long took their 5th wins to go to 10 points and top the standings.

Behind them on 9 points were Stuart McNeil & Lisa Edmead, David Clemmet & Angela Newling, Tony & Lin Cooke and Paul & Jackie Harris.

That left 10 more spaces to fill but 18 teams who could make it to 8 points or better.

Game 7
The final round of games saw the available spaces fill in slowly with Shirley Coote & Mike Daniels moving on to 9 points, as did Jane & Joe Debattista.

Chris & Joan Clark finished on 10 points while Ken Drane & Val Game finished on 9.

The remaining qualifiers were all the teams who reached 8 points. They were Barrie Hayman & Dianne Curran, Sheila Mann & Paul Daniels, Jim & Sally Goodrich, Sam & Trish Agnew, Marilyn Stark & Chris Tilbrook and finally Syd & Dot Tanner.

The final standings saw two teams finish on 12 points, having lost just once, Paul & Sue Cousins and David & Margaret Long.

Knockout Games

Round 1
There was never much in it between Paul & Sue Cousins and Syd & Dot Tanner but Paul & Sue won 5 of the ends to take the game 6-2.

It was the same with Tony & Lin Cooke and Sheila Mann & Paul Daniels, again Tony & Lin won more ends with a final result of 7-2.

After Shirley Coote & Mike Daniels won the first end the game turned against them and into a rout as Jane & Joe Debattista won 19-2.

Jim & Sally Goodrich won the last couple of ends against Stuart McNeil & Lisa Edmead to win 6-3 having been all square after 5 ends.

Marilyn Stark & Chris Tilbrook got the better start against David & Margaret Long and made the most of it for a 7-2 win.

Three shots on the 4th end for Barrie Hayman & Dianne Curran was the difference between them and Paul & Jackie Harris as they won 6-4.

Chris & Joan Clark had built up a 6-1 lead against Ken Drane & Val Game by end 5 but they only just hung on. Ken & Val needed 4 on the last end for a draw but could only get 3.

Sam & Trish Agnew had built up a 4-1 lead against David Clemmet & Angela Newling but let the game go in the last 2 ends, dropping 5 shots to lose 6-4.

Quarter Finals
Tony & Lin got off to a good start and didn't let Jim & Sally get anywhere close to them after that, running out 11-3 winners.

Jane & Joe similarly got their noses in front early on, against Paul & Sue, who had made the final for the last 3 years, and didn't let it go, winning 6-3.

David & Angela were 5-0 up against Barrie & Dianne after 4 ends but let that slip. At the end of 7 ends it was all square, but having got back into the game David then snatched it away, with two perfect woods to win 7-5.

A good run in the middle of the game for Marilyn & Chris saw them come back from 4-0 down to 8-4 up against Chris & Joan who couldn't quite get back, losing 8-7.

Semi-Finals
Marilyn & Chris just edged their way ahead of David & Angela in the early part of the game and did enough to hold on through the rest, winning 6-2.

Jane & Joe were off to a fast start against Tony & Lin. 6-0 up after 3 ends was a lot to chase down and it did indeed prove to be too much. Jane & Joe kept control of the game and cruised to an 11-2 win.

Final
Jane & Joe Debattista v Marilyn Stark & Chris Tilbrook
End 1 – Jane was in early on and although Chris got close all he could do was limit his opposition to one shot. 1-0.
End 2 – Again Marilyn can't match Jane but this time Chris' hard work pays off, Joe can't block him and Chris takes shot. 1-1.
End 3 – Marilyn snatches the jack away from Jane's early woods and Chris makes the most of it, outdrawing Joe to take a 3. 4-1.
End 4 – Marilyn has found the weight but this time Jane snatches the jack away, to the very back of the carpet. Chris is already 2 down when he taps the jack off the carpet. 4-3.
End 5 – The two leads are playing very well now and again Jane moves the jack to the back but Chris muscles his way through and then draws a second. 6-3.
End 6 – Down a shot Joe draws his first 2 in with all the other woods behind. Chris is heavy again and Joe draws a third to square the game 6-6.
End 7 – Jane drops her final wood tantalisingly onto the front of the jack. Chris only needs to tap it back. His first two are narrow misses and it won't be easy to cover the movement on the jack with the way the woods lie so he does for the blocker which forces Chris onto the other hand, hitting the middle. Joe & Jane win 7-6.

Many thanks to everyone for another great weekend and for helping us to raise another £210 for East Anglia Air Ambulance.

The weekend's full set of results can be found here.

tanddcarpetbowls@gmail.com
4th December 2017

Our next event will be Lakeside, June 2018