We were back on the Isle of Wight once again for the week of 1st to 5th October 2018.

FOURS
All the teams would play two games per evening on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Monday Night
There was a pretty even spread of results although 3 of the 14 teams managed to win both of their games.

Top of pile were Orrin-Bennet who scored 25 shots and dropped just one. Dunett-Huxtable-Davey-Tilbrook were on 16 shots and Evans-Marsh-Spriggs-Alston had 10.

Tuesday Night
By the end of Tuesday every one of the teams had won at least once and as a result there was now only one team who were undefeated.

Orrin-Bennet retained their top spot with another pair of wins, lifting them to 8 points and the same two teams as the previous night retained their same positions, although Dunett-Huxtable-Davey-Tilbrook and Evans-Marsh-Spriggs-Alston were on 6 points while behind them 7 teams were lined up on 4 points.

Wednesday Night
Having made an impeccable start it was now only a matter of the Orrin-Bennet crew cruising to an inevitable victory on the final night. Only it didn't start out that way.

They struggled in their first game, failing to get a foothold and fell to their first loss. However by the time they came to their final match, with the way things stood they were only going to need to draw. That said it took them until the 4th end to get themselves together, but they eventually took the win, finishing on 10 points, one ahead of runners-up Dunett-Huxtable-Davey-Tilbrook.

PAIRS
Everyone would get 6 games with the top 4 going straight into the Quarter Finals and the teams that finished 5th to 12th playing off to decide who would join them.

Round 1
Thirteen teams were off to a winning start with the top 2 being particular standouts. Peter Dunnett & Shirley Mansfield won 19-0 and Graham Evans & Terry Marsh weren't all that far behind with a 17-3. Trevor & Sheila Plaistow and Alistair & Lynne Kermath were on 11 shots and Joan Clark & Don Poulter had scored a 9.

Round 2
Peter & Shirley won again, although not quite so emphatically, allowing Trevor & Sheila Plaistow to equal them on 26 shots.

Six other teams also won for a second time, George & Susan Savage and Marilyn & Martin Bennet were on 18 shots, Peter & Diane Orrin and Alistair & Lynne Kermath were one shot back, Joan Clark & Don Poulter were on 15 shots and on 14 were John Ballinger & Maureen Darvill.

Round 3
Once again Peter & Shirley had a big win, this time racking up 20 shots and taking them on to a total of 46.

That was quite a way ahead of Marilyn & Martin Bennet (30 shots), Peter & Diane Orrin (27) and Joan Clark & Don Poulter (26), the other teams on maximum points.

Graham Evans & Terry Marsh also remained unbeaten with 2 wins and a draw.

Round 4
The long time leaders were finally knocked off their perch, as were the team in second.

So now it was Peter & Diane Orrin and Joan Clark & Don Poulter who led the way, both on 8 points and with 37 and 34 shots respectively.

Still unbeaten and now on 7 points were Graham Evans & Terry Marsh which now lifted them to third.

Seven teams were now on 6 points, Peter Dunnett & Shirley Mansfield, Nick Wood & Don Allum, Marilyn & Martin Bennet, Annette Iskett & Sylvia Ballinger, George & Susan Savage and Patricia & Harold Ball.

So at the end of Day 2 that top 9 were best placed and with the next best 9 teams all on 4 points it was going to be an interesting scramble for the play-off spots.

Round 5
Joan Clark & Don Poulter and Peter & Diane Orrin won again (although swapped places on shots). Graham Evans & Terry Marsh also won again, moving on to 9 points.

These top three teams were all qualified, as were any teams which had now reached 8 points, who were Peter Dunnett & Shirley Mansfield, Marilyn & Martin Bennet, and Patricia & Harold Ball.

Five other teams would make it through if they could win their final games, which meant that at least one team would be through on 7 points.

Round 6
Peter & Diane Orrin and Joan Clark & Don Poulter duly picked up their 6th wins (finishing on 54 and 53 shots respectively) and were joined in the Quarter Finals by Graham Evans & Terry Marsh and Marilyn & Martin Bennet who finished 3rd and 4th on 10 points.

Just missing out on the top 4 were Patricia & Harold Ball (10 points), followed by Peter Dunnett & Shirley Mansfield, George & Susan Savage and Mike Walker & Dorothy Chambers (all 8 points), Peter & Doris Frost and Maxine Poulter & Chris Clark (7 points) and finally Nick Wood & Don Allum and Trevor & Sheila Plaistow who made it though as the best of a batch of 9 teams who finished on 6 points.

Those 8 teams would play off in the First Round.

Knockout Rounds
First Round
Mike Walker & Dorothy Chambers won the first and last ends against Peter & Doris Frost, but that wasn't enough as they lost 8-3. Patricia & Harold Ball led from the start against Trevor & Sheila Plaistow, grabbing 4 on the 6th end to pull away and finally winning 9-5. Maxine Poulter & Chris Clark were off to a good start against George & Susan Savage but it was all square with an end to go, with Chris and Max taking one to win 5-4. Nick Wood & Don Allum were never in front of Peter Dunnett & Shirley Mansfield until they grabbed 2 on the last end to win 7-6.

Quarter Finals
The all Poulter-Clark match was very one-sided affair with Joan & Don beating Max & Chris 10-1. Much the same could be said of Peter & Diane Orrin's 13-3 win over Peter & Doris Frost. Marilyn & Martin Bennet pulled away from Patricia & Harold Ball with a 4 on the 4th end and went on to win 8-5. Nick Wood & Don Allum led from the start and took a reasonably comfortable 8-2 win over Graham Evans & Terry Marsh.

Semi-Finals
Joan Clark & Don Poulter were already 7-0 up after 3 ends against Nick Wood & Don Allum, by which time the writing was on the wall, it ended 11-2 in favour of Joan & Don.

And something was going to have to give in the internicine battle between the all (well nearly all) conquering Fours winners, Marilyn & Martin Bennet and Peter & Diane Orrin. And it was predictably close right up to the last end as the game looked to be heading for extra time until Diane (once again) came to Peter's rescue to snatch the victory.

Final
Peter & Diane Orrin v Joan Clark & Don Poulter
Surprisingly it doesn't often happen this way but for once the two teams who had qualified in the top two spots made it to the final, both with perfect records up to this point.

What was surprising though was that the game turned out to be rather one-sided, at least on paper. Key to the outcome of the game were the leads and getting those early woods in, and in this case Joan came out on top as she and Don took two on each of the first 2 ends. By end 4 it was 7-0 and the situation was all but irretrievable, Diane was doing her best but by this stage of the proceedings her back must have been playing her up after having carried Peter all week.

They did manage to get one shot back, but Joan & Don got that back on the next and at 8-1 with an end to go the game was over.

Many thanks to everyone who joined us and we hope you'll be back again next year.

You can find a full copy of the week's results here.

tanddcarpetbowls@gmail.com
5th October 2018

Our next event will be Gunton Hall December 2018