Isle of Wight Pairs VI - October 2015

FOURS
The evening Fours games would take place over Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, with everyone playing twice each night and the winners being decided bythe results of those 6 games.

Monday's games produced a set of results which could hardly have been closer. Of the 14 teams, 10 won one and lost one, two managed only one draw and the other two won one and drew one.

So already no one had a perfect record and the whole field was covered by just two points.

The early leaders were the teams of Sainsbury/Lane and Johnson/Wilson/Savage. But it was very much all to play for.

Unsurprisingly things weren't quite so close following Tuesday's play, surprisingly things were not mixed up as much as might have been expected. Without being rude, the overnight leaders were not perhaps the ones you would expect to be up top, but Tuesday saw them still there.

The Sainsbury/Lane and Johnson/Wilson/Savage teams won both of their games to move on to 7 points each. And those were results which would have been particularly encouraging to the latter of the teams who, in the Pairs on Tuesday had managed to accumulate between them the grand total of zero points.

Third place was now firmly in the hands of Clark/Poulter who also won both games to move on to 6 points. The only other team with any kind of chance, albeit an outside one, of taking the overall win was the Pullar/Swan team who picked up 3 points to move on to 5 and sat in a clear fourth place.

Come Wednesday and the final set of games and sadly it was not to be for the Johnson/Wilson/Savage team, who had a tougher time of it and were only able to garner one extra point, to finish on 8, along with the Forrest/Moore/Harris and Bennet/Orrin teams.

That left the way clear for the Clark/Poulter team to come through, with a win and a draw to finish in second place on 9 points.

However the clear win went to the team who had started top and stayed there. Two more wins, taking them on to 11 points, 2 clear of their nearest rivals, saw the team of Eric & Carol Sainsbury and Robin & Brenda Lane come home in first place.

PAIRS
Tuesday
Seven teams made it through their first two games of the week with a pair of wins.

Top of the heap were Peter & Diane Orrin who had managed 24 shots from their two victories. Greg & Glenyce King were on 19 shots and in third were Sylvia Cox & Annette Iskett with 17 shots.

The remaining teams not to have dropped a point were Val Game & Sylvia Vaughan, Mike Walker & Jane Evans, Laurence & Sarah Pullar and Colin Spriggs & Peggy Alston.

Of course there was still plenty to play for at this early stage and with a few surprises already, even those teams who had begun with 2 loses would still have every chance of qualifying if they won all their remaining games.

Quote of the Day:
From Margaret & Jim Forrest
Margaret “I want to cover that brown.”
Jim “Why?”
Margaret “I don't know.”

Wednesday
Much as expected things evened themselves out with the first set of games on Tuesday.

Only three teams remained unbeaten as we reached the halfway point of the Round Robin stage.
Mike Walker & Jane Evans were leading the way with 6 points and 27 shots, only one shot behind were Laurence and Sarah Pullar and on 20 shots were Val Game & Sylvia Vaughan.

Just one more win for each of them was likely to see them through into the Knockout Rounds, but it was more of a struggle for some than for others.

As Tuesday ended, there was only one team left undefeated. Fours wins out of four, eight points secured and qualification all but guaranteed and that team was Mike Walker & Jane Evans, sitting at the top, two points clear of the rest.

But behind them it was oh so much closer. Eight teams were on 6 points and nicely poised to make it through into the last 12. Those teams were Bernard Moore & Paul Daniels, Peter & Diane Orrin, Laurence & Sarah Pullar, Harold & Patricia Ball, Robin & Brenda Lane, Maxine Poulter & Joan Clark, Val Game & Sylvia Vaughan and Colin Spriggs & Peggy Alston.

Thursday
Finally it was the turn of Mike and Jane to take a loss like everyone else.

That meant that, with 5 games played, there were now 6 teams on 8 points sitting at the top. They were Bernard Moore & Paul Daniels, Peter & Diane Orrin, Mike Walker & Jane Evans, Robin & Brenda Lane, Laurence & Sarah Pullar and Harold & Patricia Ball. All that separated them was 9 shots.

And although all those teams had in all probability done enough to qualify, it wasn't yet absolutely certain, because behind them there were 8 teams on 6 points and a further 2 on 5, with an outside chance of making the cut.

Whereas in previous years it was a case of getting to 8 points and crossing your fingers if you were on 8, this year there was such a spread of results that some teams made it on only 6 points from their 6 games.

Of course the biggest prize was finishing in the top four. That guaranteed a place in the Quarter Finals, while the next 6 teams would play off in the First Round.

In the end there were 5 teams who finished on 10 points. They were Bernard Moore & Paul Daniels (51 shots), Mike Walker & Jane Evans (47 shots), Peter & Diane Orrin (46 shots), Harold & Patricia Ball (45 shots) and Robin & Brenda Lane (45 shots). Unfortunately the Lanes missed out on 4th spot as a result of having more shots against, but would still have the advantage of a First Round game against the final qualifiers.
Joining them in the First Round were Peter & Kay Masters, Laurence & Sarah Pullar and Paul & Jacqui Harris, who all finished on 8 points, Greg & Glenyce King and Eric & Carol Sainsbury, both on 7 points and finally Peter & Brenda Bol and Dee Whittaker & Chris Tilbrook, who both snuk in as the best 2 of the 9 teams to finish on 6 points.

First Round
Paul & Jacqui Harris (8) started well with 3 on the first end against Greg & Glenyce King (9) but it was all square on the next end, from then on the Kings were ahead all the way and finished 12-6 winners.

Laurence & Sarah Pullar (7) were 3-2 down to Eric & Carol Sainsbury (10) after 3 ends, but got their noses in front on the next end and slowly edged away to a 7-3 win.

Robin & Brenda Lane (5) began well against Dee Whittaker & Chris Tilbrook (12) but were three shots behind going into the last end. They came close, but in the end Dee & Chris took the game 6-5.

Peter & Brenda Bol (11) won the first end against Peter & Kay Masters (6), but that single shot was the sum total of their endeavours come the end of the game as the Masters romped away to a 14-1 win.

Quarter Finals
Bernard Moore & Paul Daniels (1) led from the start against Greg & Glenyce King (9), and although there was only a shot in it at 4 ends, the Kings only won the one end. Bernard & Paul took the win 8-3.

In a reversal of their First Round game Peter & Kay Masters (6) won the first end against Peter & Diane Orrin (3), but no more. The Orrins came home 10-2 winners.

Mike Walker & Jane Evans (2) and Laurence & Sarah Pullar (7) were never far apart in their game, just one shot per end for the first 6 meant that it was 4-2 to Mike & Jane going into the last. It could ave gone either way, but the Pullars couldn't quite make it as they went down 6-2.

Harold & Patricia Ball (4) against Dee Whittaker & Chris Tilbrook (12) was the one game in the round to go against the form. There was never much in it, but Dee & Chris always held the upper hand, winning 7-2.

Semi-Finals
Bernard Moore & Paul Daniels (1) didn't exactly run away with their game against Dee Whittaker & Chris Tilbrook (12), but they chipped away, winning the first 6 ends before an end was called to the game with the score at 8-0.

And the other game was not dissimilar, there was never much in it, but Peter & Diane Orrin (3) kept getting the better of close ends and edged away from Mike Walker & Jane Evans (2), in no small part thanks to (according to the notes on the scorecard) a brilliant blocker on the 5th end, to win 6-2.

Final
Bernard Moore & Paul Daniels (1) made the better start against Peter & Diane Orrin (3), edging a couple of shots on the first end and one on the second. But the Orrins were all square on the third.

Having squandered a good start Bernard & Paul re-established their lead with 4 shots, only for Peter & Diane to hit back again with another to make it 7-6 with two ends to go.

The 6th end was critical and all but decisive as Bernard & Paul took two more shots to extend their lead to 3 as they headed into the final end. Now it was about defending the lead which Bernard & Paul did, holding one, the woods fell badly for Diane & Peter, leaving Diane with very little chance, and Bernard & Paul with one more shot to take the win 10-6.

This has to have been one of the most closely fought events we have ever run. The mere fact that in the nearly 100 games played no one managed to get 6 on a single end, speaks volumes. It is something which we have never experienced.

And to top it all the weather was as good as we could possibly have hoped for, plenty of sunshine and not a drop of rain. Of course anyone looking forward to watching the surfers struggling with the waves was out of luck, but you can't have everything.

Click here for the Full Results

tanddcarpetbowls@gmail.com
16th October 2015