|
The week of 13th to 17th June 2011 saw us return
to Hayling Island for the fifth time.
FOURS
This year we decided to expand the Fours from 2 to 3 evenings
worth of play.
Each of the 20 teams would
be playing 2 games of Monday and Tuesday evenings, with the top
4 teams then playing down to find the winners on Wednesday evening.
After Monday night's play the
Hume/Staines team led the way with 23 shots from their
2 wins. Second place was a tie between the Evans/Adolph/Daniels
and Ball/Bond/Walker teams, both of whom had 19 shots
for and 7 shots against, from their 2 wins.
Fourth place was held by MADJAC
on 15 shots and with 14 shots the Ridgeon/Bol and Johnson/Bunch/Brown
teams were in 5th and 6th placed respectively.
Although the second evening's
games brought several changes, not the least of which was that
only 2 teams were able to carry though with their perfect records,
the top 4, if not their actual order, remained the same.
The pair of teams with 4 wins
out of four were MADJAC and the Evans/Adolph/Daniels
teams. Behind them the Hume/Staines team finished 3rd,
having dropped just a single point.
Meanwhile fourth place, and
the final qualifying spot, went to the Ball/Bond/Walker
team, although only by the narrowest of margins. The finished
a single shot ahead of the Johnson/Bunch/Brown team who
must merit an honourable mention for finishing so closely behind.
Semi-Finals
There was not much to tell between MADJAC and the Ball/Bond/Walker
teams through the first half of their semi-final, although with
4 ends played MADJAC had edged out to a 4-2 lead. However the
5th end was the telling one as MADJAC took a massive 6 shots,
effectively ending the game there and then. They went on to win
12-3.
Having taken 2 shots on the
first end of their game the Evans/Adolph/Daniels team
then proceeded to throw it all away with a disastrous second
end on which their opponents, the Hume/Staines team took
all of 5 shots. The next couple of ends saw an exchange of shots
so with 3 ends to go Hume/Staines were 6-3 up. However one shot
on each of the next 2 ends saw Evans/Adolph/Daniels bring it
back to just a one shot deficit with the final end to play. And
with 2 shots on that final end Evans/Adolph/Daniels regained
the lead that had not held since that first end, to sneak into
the final.
Final
Again Evans/Adolph/Daniels took the first end only to
lose their lead on the next. MADJAC were 3-1 up with 2
ends played and with the next 2 ends shared were still 4-3 up
with 4 ends down. However some decisive woods played with a little
weight and some fortunate finishes saw Evans/Adolph/Daniels take
the lead on the next end, extend it to 8-4 with one end to go
and finish 9-4 winners.
Winners – Jane Evans, Roberta Adolph
and Mike & Rita Daniels
Runners-Up – Maxine & Don Poulter and Chris &
Joan Clark
Semi-Finalists – Keith & Prim Hume and Tony &
Pat Staines
Semi-Finalists – Harold & Patricia Ball, Mike
Walker and Adrian Bond
PAIRS
As usual the Pairs was the main event. This part of the week
would see everyone having 2 games on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday
mornings, with the top 16 teams going forward to play the Knockout
Stages which would be held on Thursday afternoon, to round off
the week's bowling.
Game 1
18 teams got off to winning starts for the week. Top amongst
those were Bob Jones & Derek Hudson who scored 13
shots in their first game. They were being closely followed by
Tony & Pat Staines who were a single shot being the
leaders.
One further shot back were
Dot & Syd Tanner, on 11 shots, while Colin &
Jean Love had 10 shots and Brian & Grace Crump rounded
out the top 5 having scored 9 shots in their win.
Game 2
10 teams were able to follow-up their initial wins with victory
in their second games.
The front runners were now
Maxine Poulter & Chris Clark who had scored 20 shots
in their 2 wins, while Robin & Heather Brown were
sitting in second place, just 1 shot adrift.
Marion & Peter Hayde and Keith & Maureen Batson
were tied for 3rd place with 17 shots and Brian &
Grace Crump and Syd & Dot Tanner were in 5th,
one shot further back.
Game 3
At the halfway point of the Round Robin stage there were now
only 5 teams left with perfect records.
Maxine Poulter & Chris
Clark were still at
the head of the field, now with 33 shots to their name from their
3 wins. Syd & Dot Tanner were now up to second place,
4 shots off the leaders.
Third place was now held by
Keith & Prim Hume, just one shot behind the second
placed team, while Robin & Heather Brown had slipped
slightly to 4th, a couple of shots further back. The last of
the leading pack were Colin & Jean Love who had 6
points and 22 shots.
Meanwhile there were 6 teams
who were on 5 points, all of whom were ready and waiting to move
up should any of the top tier of teams make a slip.
Game 4
Tuesday's final game, and anyone who made it this far without
dropping a point could reasonably expect to be going through
to the Knockout Stages, even with 2 games still to go.
And indeed there were no slip-ups
from any of the leaders. All of them duly won their games and
retained the same positions they had held after 3 games.
Where the changes were happening
was behind the leading group. The pack of 6 teams who had dropped
just 1 point had thinned to only 2 and with only a further 2
teams who were on 6 points it meant that the possibility of qualification
was opening up for a whole host of teams who were currently on
5 points.
Game 5
In contrast to Wednesday's results, it was all change on Thursday.
Whereas there had been 7 unbeaten
teams overnight their ranks were severely reduced to a mere 3
after Thursday's first round of games, and only 2 of those had
won all of their games.
Maxine Poulter & Chris
Clark and Syd &
Dot Tanner were the two teams with 5 wins out of five, while
Keith & Maureen Batson, having only dropped one point
were now in third place. All of these teams were now guaranteed
their places in the last 16.
Next up were 4 teams on 8 points,
Keith & Prim Hume, Robin & Heather Brown,
Colin & Jean Love and Peter & Doris Frost,
all of whom were on the cusp of qualification. Those teams had
probably done enough already, but one further point from their
last games would see them safely through.
And behind all those teams
were 8 pairs, all on 7 points and all of whom would be scrapping
for the last qualifying spots.
Game 6
Maxine Poulter & Chris Clark
and Syd & Dot Tanner finished off with wins to keep
their perfect records intact.
Robin & Heather Brown and Peter & Doris Frost
were next best, finishing 3rd and 4th respectively, both on 10
points.
A further 5 teams finished
with 9 points, another 5 teams managed 8 points and 2 teams sneaked
in as the final qualifiers with 7 points from their 6 games.
Knockout Rounds
First Round
Kay & Peter Masters
swept past Peter & Doris Frost, taking 4 shots on
the first end they were never behind, finishing 13-3 winners.
Don Poulter & Joan Clark started badly against June Harrison
& Eva Penfold, dropping 3 shots on the first end, but
that was the only end they lost, pulling back to win 10-3.
Bob Jones & Derek Hudson were another pair to start slowly,
but finish well. They were 3-0 down after 3 ends of their game
against Marion & Peter Hayde, but the next end saw
them take the lead with 4 shots. By the final end they had enough
of a lead that they could afford to lose it and still win 8-5.
Colin & Jean Love's opponents were clubmates Robin
& Heather Brown. The Browns took the first couple of
ends, but the next 4 went to the Loves. Although the final end
went the way of the Browns the Loves still took the game 7-5.
The game between Jim &
Margaret Southgate and Keith & Prim Hume was nip
and tuck at only 4-3 after 5 ends, in favour of the Southgates.
But the 6th end was decisive as Jim & Margaret took 4 shots,
finally winning 8-4.
The game between the top and
bottom qualifiers saw the apparent underdogs come out on top
as Sue Gilder & Shirley Watkins came back from being
3-1 down to previously undefeated Maxine Poulter & Chris
Clark, to win 6-3.
And the also previously undefeated
Syd & Dot Tanner also fell to opposition who had only
just crept into the last 16, in the form of Jane Evans &
Roberta Adolph. This one was another close one, with only
one shot in it going into the last end, in Jane & Roberta's
favour. The 4 shots they then took on the last end cemented an
8-4 win.
Closest of all was the game
between Keith & Maureen Batson and Tony & Pat
Staines. The Staines' were 6-0 ahead after 3 ends, but the
Batsons clawed their way back in, needed 3 shots to take the
game to a extra end, which the Batsons then won to round off
a great comeback.
Quarter Finals
With the top 4 qualifiers from the Round Robin stages having
fallen by the wayside the tournament was now wide open.
Having beaten the other half
of the Poulter/Clark couple, Sue Gilder & Shirley Watkins
now came up against Don Poulter & Joan Clark. This
time, however, it was a different story. Don & Joan led from
the start and Sue & Shirley never got a look-in as they finally
went down 11-0.
Jane Evans & Roberta
Adolph, having only
just scrapped through into the Knockout Rounds were up against
tough opposition again, in the form of Jim & Margaret
Southgate. But once again they rose to the occasion, taking
the lead from the first and although they were pegged back slightly
at 4-2 ahead after 5 ends, they finished 7-2 up to make it into
the Semis.
Colin & Jean Love's game against Keith & Maureen
Batson hinged on 2 decisive ends, each of which went for
3 shots and each of which went the way of the Loves. They finished
9-6 winners.
The game between Bob Jones
& Derek Hudson and Peter & Kay Masters was
going the way of Peter & Kay for most of the game, but Bob
& Derek worked their way back in to it, drawing level on
the last end and taking the match on the extra end.
Semi-Finals
Bob Jones & Derek Hudson
continued with their good run of form as they came through from
dropping a shot on the first end against Don Poulter &
Joan Clark, to win all the successive ends. In fact by by
the time the 6th end was over their 8-1 lead was enough that
the final end did not need to be played.
Colin & Jean Love finally ended Jane Evans &
Roberta Adolph's giant-killing run. The Loves won the first
end and although their opponents drew level after 2 ends, they
had a good, solid 6-2 lead with 3 ends to go and were able to
do enough to finish 7-4 winners.
Final
The early advantage went to Bob Jones & Derek Hudson
as they took the first 2 ends to go into a 3-0 lead over Colin
& Jean Love. However the Loves mirrored their opponents
start and 2 ends later it was 3-3.
Bob & Derek took one shot
on the 5th end to regain the lead, but 2 shots to the Loves on
the penultimate end gave them the lead for the first time. However
in a tremendously close game Bob & Derek took a single shot
on the last end to level the game and take it to an extra end.
And that extra end went to Colin & Jean.
Having lost their 2 round robin
games earlier in the day and only just scraping in as the 14th
of 16 qualifiers, they had a tremendous afternoon's play to come
through to win and take their third win in one of our events.
You can find all the results
here.
Once again we would like to
thank everyone who joined us for another great week and for helping
us to raise £212 for the East Anglia Air Ambulance.
tanddcarpetbowls@gmail.com
17th
June 2011 |
