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Our 6th visit to Hayling
Island was over the week of 25th to 29th June 2012.
This year saw 41 pairs joining
us, a little lower than anticipated as a result of illness late
in the day which cause a couple of pairs to call off.
FOURS
As usual we opened proceedings with our Fours tournament. The
teams had 2 games each on Monday and Tuesday nights.
And with the top 4 going through
it would be reasonable to expect that the only 4 teams who managed
to win both of their games on Tuesday night would happily sail
through Wednesday's games and on to qualifiaction.
But that turned out not to
be the case.
Two teams who had only managed
one win on Tuesday came through with two wins to take the third
and fourth spots. They were the Iskett/Easey/Game/Drane and
Coe/Head/Jones/Pryke teams.
However two blocks were able
to maintain their top 4 spots and indeed finished first and second,
they were the Bennet/Orrin and MADJAC teams. Although
only MADJAC managed 4 wins out of 4.
As the top team MADJAC
would take on the fourth placed Coe/Head/Jones/Pryke team.
It had been a great effort
on the part of the Coe/Head/Jones/Pryke team to get this
far and they would certainly start the game as underdogs. But
they did not disappoint, although it required some heroic efforts
on the part of skip Bob Jones. MADJAC had the early advantage,
winning the first 2 ends, but only by a shot each, but it was
all level 2 ends later as the game ran much closer than anticipated.
However eventually MADJAC
began to stretch their legs, taking 3 shots on the 5th end to
take a decisive lead, following that up with another shot on
the 6th end and a further 2 on the last, peppering the jack all
the way as they went along, giving the opposition no chance to
get back into the game and winning 8-3 in the process.
The second semi-final also
looked like a foregone conclusion with the ever strong Orrin/Bennet
team taking on the Iskett/Easey/Game/Drane team.
But it was the Iskett/Easey/Game/Drane
team that held the early advantage, taking the first 2 ends to
lead 3-0, but the opposition came back with a shot on the next
end and a what looked to be decisive 4 on the next to lead 5-3.
It looked as if the Orrin/Bennet
team had the momentum to carry on to victory, but the opposition
refused to crumble, they were back level on the next end and
went on to take a shot each on the last 2 ends, to take a surprise
7-5 win.
Despite an impressive win from
the Iskett/Easey/Game/Drane team, MADJAC seemed
to be the clear favourites for the final, but it didn't all go
there way and in actual fact the game hinged on 2 ends.
The second end saw the Iskett/Easey/Game/Drane
team take 3 shots and move into a 3-1 lead. MADJAC clawed
back to regain their lead, 4-3 ahead after 4 ends. But another
big end for Iskett team swung them back into a 7-4 lead with
2 ends to go.
MADJAC managed to get one shot back on the penultimate
end, to reduce the defecit to 2 shots, but the Iskett
team were able to defend and with MADJAC needing 2 shots
for force an extra end, they missed out all together, and finished
with a surprise 8-5 loss, a great team effort on the part of
the Iskett/Easey/Game/Drane team to take a memorable win.
Winners - Annette Iskett,
Bill Easey, Valerie Game and Ken Drane
Runners-up - Chris & Joan Clark and Don & Maxine Poulter
PAIRS
Tuesday
There were not many surprises once everyone had their first games
under their belts.
Indeed the usual suspects were
mostly there or there abouts, Ken Drane & Val Game along
with Martin & Marilyn Bennet were leading the way
having got 15 shots in their respective first games.
While Margaret & Jim
Southgate, Peter & Diane Orrin, Eva Rolfe &
Marjorie Bilton and Brian Archer & Patricia Phillips
had all reached 10 shots in their first games.
But sneaking into 3rd place
with 11 shots, themselves as much surprised as anyone else, were
Colin & Janet Burrows. They had no expectations of
being able to maintain that lofty position, but only time would
tell.
The second and final games
of Tuesday's play gave us just 9 teams finishing with 2 wins.
Eva Rolfe & Marjorie
Bilton and Ken Drane
& Val Game were level pegging on 23 shots and just one
behind were Martin & Marilyn Bennet.
The top 5 were rounded out
by Peter & Diane Orrin and Harold & Patricia
Ball.
Wednesday
Plenty of surprises first thing on Wednesday as the number of
teams with perfect records was reduced to just 5.
Those teams were headed by
Mike Walker & Rita Daniels, who were 4 shots better
off than Eva Rolfe & Marjorie Bilton, who themselves
were a shot better than Ken Drane & Val Game.
The top 5 was rounded out by
Peter & Diane Orrin and Rob & Jean Cook,
again on maximum points.
And by the time Wednesday's
games were completed the ranks of those with perfect records
were further depleted.
Only 2 teams had made it this
far with 8 points to their names, Eva Rolfe & Marjorie
Bilton and Peter & Diane Orrin were the ones leading
the way.
Behind them were 3 teams who
had dropped just a single point, Peter & Kay Masters,
Ken Drane & Val Game and Joan Clark & Don Poulter.
A half dozen teams were a further
point back and another 5 teams were on 5 points.
All of these made up the top
16 and if they stayed there they would make it through to the
Knockout Stages if they didn't slip up, but with 11 teams sitting
on 4 points any mistake could see them fall out of the running.
Thursday
Everyone's final pair of round robin games were played out on
Thursday morning. Unusually the playing order was somewhat muddled
as a result of having to accomodated a odd number of teams.
This meant that some teams
would have their games completed before others had played any
of their Thursday games. This was going to leave some with a
nervous wait while others would have the pressure of knowing
exactly what they had to aim for.
What everyone did know was
that 9 points was the target to ensure qualification.
The first to make the mark
were Peter & Diane Orrin who took their fifth win,
and Ken Drane & Val Game who had still dropped just
a single point.
They were followed in the next
round of games by Peter & Kay Masters and Joan
Clark & Don Poulter who had both reached 9 points with
a game still to go.
Ron & Lesley Melrose
were the first pair
to complete their games, winning for the fifth time, to move
on to 10 points and secure their place in the last 16.
Having already made it through
Peter & Diane Orrin duly completed their 6th win to
finish top as the only team not to have dropped a point. Ken
Drane & Val Game also had a win to secure second place,
having won five and drawn one they were one of only 2 undefeated
teams. Meanwhile Margaret & Jim Southgate completed
their games to finish on 9 points and go through.
The penultimate round saw 5
more teams do enough to make their way through to the next stage
of the proceedings. Joan Clark & Don Poulter and Mike
Walker & Rita Daniels were assured of top 16 places without
even playing. Eva Rolfe & Marjorie Bilton lost but
had already done enough on the previous 2 days. And finally Marjorie
Frost & Paul Daniels and Dot & Syd Tanner
won to move on to 8 points, which was now the cut-off point.
The final set of games saw
5 teams in a position to finish on 8 points or better and thereby
go through.
Marilyn & Martin Bennet
won to finish on 9
points, as did Peter & Doris Frost, but none of the
teams who only needed to win to get through could manage to do
so.
That left the final 3 qualifiers
as Dorothy Kent & June Harrison and Margaret &
Jim Forrest to go through on 7 points and finally, having
only won 3 and lost 3, were George & Joy Kitchen,
won qualified by virtue of their superior shots.
First Round
Sadly Dorothy Kent & June Harrison had no idea that
they had qualifed and so missed their game, allowing their opponents
a walkover.
Having just beaten them in
their last round robin game Max Poulter & Chris Clark
proceeded to lose to Eva Rolfe & Marjorie Bilton on
the last end of their game.
Peter & Kay Masters had drawn with Joan Clark &
Don Poulter earlier in the week, but this time they were
no match for Joan & Don who took an easy 13-2 win.
Much as expected, not having
lost a game so far, Ken Drane & Val Game continued
their winning ways, this time against Margaret & Jim Forrest.
First timers Ron & Lesley
Melrose continued their good form, beating Dot & Syd
Tanner, previous winners with us, quite comfortably, 9-3.
Martin & Marilyn Bennet
took an early 5-0 lead
in their game and although Marjorie Frost & Paul Daniels
clawed their way back to within a shot, the Bennets took the
last end to win 6-4.
Margaret & Jim Southgate were nicely ahead 5-3 going into the
last end of their game against Peter & Doris Frost,
but the Frosts came back with 3 on that last end to win the game.
The final shock, though, was
reserved for the game between the top and bottom qualifiers.
Peter & Diane Orrin had won every game so far, but
they finally met their match in George & Joy Kitchen
who took 6 shots over the last 3 ends to run out 9-3 winners
and upset the form book in a major way.
Quarter Finals
Ken Drane & Val Game
lost a 5-0 lead to Joan Clark & Don Poulter who took
6 ends to get into the lead and finally took the win 9-5.
Peter & Doris Frost were 7-0 up after only 2 ends of their
game against George & Joy Kitchen, after which they were
able to hang on, finishing 9-5 up.
Mike Walker & Rita Daniels
took the lead from
the first against Eva Rolfe & Marjorie Bilton, after
which they were able to control the game, finally winning 7-2.
Ron & Lesley Melrose looked to keep their good run going
against Martin & Marilyn Bennet and with 2 ends to
go led 5-3, but the Bennets made their greater experience pay,
taking 7 shots over the closing two ends to run out 10-5 winners.
Semi Finals
Having beaten them once already today Mike Walker & Rita
Daniels once again found themselves paired with Joan Clark
& Don Poulter. This time, though, they were no match
form them. Joan & Don even picked up a 6 on their way to
a 14-1 victory that was completed with an end still to go.
Peter & Doris Frost
moved into a very comfortable
lead over Martin & Marilyn Bennet. With a lead of
8-1 after 5 ends they looked to have the game in the bag. But
the Bennets staged a remarkable comback, taking 3 on the 6th
end and an unlikely looking 4 on the last end to draw level and
force an extra end.
Having been so far ahead one
might have thought that the Frosts would crumble, but they pulled
themselves together, put the opposition under pressure early
and in the end forced the Bennets into a running shot which took
the jack off and sent the Frosts through after a rollercoaster
ride.
Final
Joan Clark & Don Poulter
made the early running against Peter & Doris Frost.
They took the first two ends, taking a 3-0 lead. But the Frosts
drew level with 3 shots on the next end.
And it looked as if they were
going to continue that momentum, with the jack driven to the
back of the mat, the Frosts were holding 4 with just one opposition
wood still to come. It looked unlikely that Don would be able
to even reduce the shot count. But he came through onto the shot
wood and rescue the end, losing just a single shot. It was a
pivotal moment.
After that Joan & Don took
control, they took 4 shots on the next end to take a 3 shot lead,
another 2 on the penultimate end and forcing the Frosts into
a desperate, and ultimately fruitless, chase for shots, ended
up taking another 4 on the last end to finally run out 13-4 winners,
which made it look easier than it actually had been.
You can find all the week's
results here.
As usual we would like to thank
everyone for another excellent week of bowls and from the feedback
we received everyone enjoyed themselves (see below), whether
or not they won.
Finally many thanks to everyone
for supporting the draw which raised another £200 for the
East Anglia Air Ambulance and takes us past £5000 raised
in total.
tanddcarpetbowls@gmail.com
30th
June 2012 |
