Lakeside XI - June 2017

The week of 12-16 June saw us back on Hayling Island for the 11th time.

As in previous years the Pairs was played over Tuesday and Wednesday Mornings and all of Thursday, while Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings was set aside for the Fours.

FOURS
Each team would play half a dozen games over the course of 3 evening's play with the winners being the team at the top of the standings at that stage.

Monday
Six teams won their opening pair of games. Leading the way were Swan-Masters on 22 shots, Goodrich-Isles had 18 shots, Ballinger-Darvill-Iskett were on 17, Clark-Poulter 16, Cornell-Parrish-Edney 15 and Wellington-Longman-Stone-Martin had fought out two close games and managed to win them with a total of only 12 shots.

Tuesday
Many of the top teams were drawn against one another which mean that none of the leaders won both their games.

Goodrich-Isles were now top with a win and a draw on Tuesday, taking them to 7 points, one clear of the field.

Stewart-Spriggs-Alston did win both games and moved up from 10th to second with 6 points and 29 shots. Cornell-Parrish-Edney lost once but still managed to move up to 3rd (27 shots).

Clark-Poulter probably had the hardest games but they didn't lose, drawing both games to stay in 4th on 6 points and 26 shots, the same as Ballinger-Darvill-Iskett.

Wednesday
After the first games another win for Goodrich-Isles took them on to 9 points while their closest rivals lost. That gave them a 2 point lead over Swan-Masters, Ball-Playle-Sainsbury and Easy-Daniels.

A draw would be good enough for the leaders but nothing less because they would be playing against Swan-Masters in the final game. Meanwhile the other two teams would be hoping for a win and lots of shots.

Unfortunately for the Ball-Playle-Sainsbury they lost and although Easy-Daniels won their shots tally was never going to be sufficient for them to challenge so it all came down to one game.

Having picked up a shot on the first end the Goodrich-Isles team then dropped a 4 on the next and in the end that settled the game. Swan-Masters added a couple more over the next 2 ends and kept it close enough to take the win 7-2.

In the end the final standings were extremely close with the top 6 teams covered by just a point and 3 teams finishing on 9 points.

Easy-Daniels finished with 38 shots, Goodrich-Isles on 45 shots but just pipping them at the post with 47 shots were Swan-Masters.

PAIRS
Each team would play twice on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings. The top 16 teams would then go on to play in Thursday afternoon's knockout stages.

Tuesday
Round 1
Of the 21 teams who won their first games 5 of them had managed to reach double figure shot scores.

Leading the way were Annette Iskett & Maureen Darvell on 15 shots, followed by Jim Spriggs & Dennis Collins on 12. Three more scored 10 shots, Jackie & Roy Harden, Graham & Marilyn Stark and Don Poulter & Joan Clark.

Round 2
Only 12 teams won for a second time and 2 more were still undefeated. All any of them needed to do from now on was win their remaining games and they would qualify.

Annette & Maureen still led the way, on 24 shots, followed by John & Sylvia Ballinger on 22. Harold & Patricia Ball moved on to 20 shots, Jim & Dennis had 18 and Richard & Linda Cornell and Colin Spiggs & Peggy Alston had 17.

Wednesday
Round 3
As we reached the halfway point of the round robin games there were now just 7 teams with maximum points.

Having beaten the erstwhile leaders Harold & Patricia Ball now led the way with 6 points and 29 shots but there were barely anything in it between them and their closest rivals.

Colin & Peggy were now second (27 shots), Jim & Sally Goodrich and Don Poulter & Joan Clark were both on 26 shots, Jim & Dennis had 24, Graham Parrish & Barbara Edney 23 and Margaret & Jim Forrest 20.

Behind them there were another couple of pairs who were still undefeated but had drawn once.

Round 4
By the end of the second day there were only 3 teams left who had won all their games.

Harold & Patricia were still leading the way, on 8 points and 36 shots, Don and Joan were one shot behind and Jim & Sally were another couple of shots back.

Three other teams had dropped just one point, Valerie Game & Ken Drane, John & Sylvia Ballinger and Margaret & Jim Forrest.

All of those teams and all of the ones who had so far lost only once would finish in the top 16 if they won Thursday morning's games.

Thursday
Round 5
The top three from the previous day, Jim & Sally, Harold & Patricia and Don & Joan all won again to move on to 10 points and guarantee a top 16 finish.

It was the same for the two other teams who remained undefeated having drawn one of their games while winning all the others, Valerie & Ken and Jim & Margaret.

Round 6
Betty Johnson & Mike Daniels won for a 5th time to qualify as did Bob Wellington and Judith Longman.

And Annette Iskett & Maureen Darvill and Colin Spriggs & Peggy Alston picked up their 4th wins to make it on to 8 points which looked like it would be the cut-off point, although with the final set of games still to be played and 7 spots still up from grabs there was a chance that 7 points would be sufficient.

Also finishing on 8 points were Roy & Jean Tolhurst, Graham Parrish & Barbara Edney and Patricia & Tony Staines. And it turned out that 7 points was enough for Steve & Sue Isles, Chris Clark & Maxine Poulter, John & Sylvia Ballinger and Jane Evans & Mike Walker.

In the end there were 4 teams who remained unbeaten, they were Jim & Sally, Don & Joan and Harold & Patricia (all on 12 points) and Val & Ken who dropped just one point.

KNOCKOUT ROUNDS
ROUND 1
Jane Evans & Mike Walker and Jim & Sally Goodrich played out a game in which only one shot was scored per end, luckily for Jane & Mike they won 4 ends.

Annette Iskett & Maureen Darvill edged out to a small lead and held on to beat Colin Spriggs & Peggy Alston 5-3.

Patricia & Tony Staines got an early lead against Betty Johnson & Mike Daniels and took the win 6-4 despite dropping 3 on the last end.

Steve & Sue Isles won the last 2 ends against Val Game & Ken Drane to come from behind to win 5-3.

Roy & Jean Tolhurst were 7-1 ahead against Margaret & Jim Forrest but somehow let the game slip to allow the Forrests to win 8-7.

Bob Wellington & Judith Longman were never behind against Graham Parrish & Barbara Edney, winning 9-4

Chris Clark & Max Poulter led from the start to give Harold & Patricia Ball their first loss of the week, 7-2.

Don Poulter & Joan Clark beat John & Sylvia Ballinger* in a game which was close halfway through, but Don & Joan ran away at the end to win 11-3.

*Actually it was their stand-ins Rita & Shirley because John had to leave us early to go into hospital.

QUARTER FINALS
Steve & Sue Isles started slow against Patricia & Tony Staines, but a good middle to the game set them up for a 6-3 win.

Don Poulter & Joan Clark trailed slightly at the mid-way point, but a 3 on end 5 put them ahead and they came through to win 7-3 against Margaret & Jim Forrest.

Jane Evans & Mike Walker got their noses in front of Annette Iskett & Maureen Darvill from the starte and although it was only close came home to a 5-3 win.

In another game that was close at the mid-point Bob Wellington & Judith Longman ran away at the end to beat Chris Clark & Max Poulter 7-3.

SEMI-FINALS
Don & Joan put their stamp on the game between them and Bob & Judith right from the start. It was only 5-1 at 4 ends but they piled on the shots in the next 2 ends and a halt was called to the game at 11-1 with an end to go.

Jane & Mike started off in great style with a 4 against Steve & Sue, but if they thought it would be plain sailing they were wrong. The Isles' struck back with 3, drew level and then took another 3 to go 7-4 up. But Jane & Mike were undeterred, they brought it back to level over 2 ends and then snatched it on the last end to win 9-7.

FINAL
Don Poulter & Joan Clark v Jane Evans & Mike Walker
End 1 - Both leads struggle with the line, but Joan gets the weight right, Don consolidates and they take 3.
End 2 - A better start for Jane but Don gets in to take one. 4-0
End 3 - A bit scrappy again and it's up to Don to draw shot. 5-0
End 4 - Again Don drops on the jack, Mike comes close but his wood comes to rest millimetres away from holding. 6-0
End 5 - Now Jane finds the jack, one in front, one behind, Don can't move anything, Mike draws in two more and they're back in the game. 6-4
End 6 - Jane has one in behind and it's looking good but Mike knocks an opposition wood in. 7-4
Last End - Jane draws shot but Joan has 2nd, 3rd and 4th, it'll be hard to squeeze any more in. And that's what happens, it's just one and the final score is 7-5

And so for the second year on the trot it's congratultations to Don and Joan for their win.

Many thanks to everyone for another enjoyable week's bowling and for adding another £250 to all the money we have raised for East Anglia Air Ambulance.

Click here for the full results

We will be back on Hayling Island again next year for the week of 11th to 15th June.

tanddcarpetbowls@gmail.com
16th June 2017