Ian Crowe of Vines Park cruised through his first round match against Mike Jackson (Arthur's brother) of Wiltshire. Ian dominated the game by playing predominately long jacks, whilst Mike brought the mat up the green on the occasions that he got shot. Ian went through to the second round 21-6. In the second round Ian came up against Nick Cammack from Nottinghamshire, who has had a brilliant time at Worthing winning the Triples and reaching the semi-finals of the Pairs. Ian gave Nick a very good game before going down 21-16. Earlier in the day Arthur Jackson was involved in a ding dong battle with Mark Foster from Cornwall. The lead changed hands a number of times in the early stages, and Arthur lead 14-11 at one stage. Mark then moved ahead as the weather got worse and won 21-16. Arthur's father had a busy time during the first round trying to share his time between his two son's, who could not have been playing further apart, with Arthur on green 'A' and Mike on the outside green 'E'. With the Worcestershire supporters making the same dash on a number of occasions, the security guards were kept extremely busy checking all the security passes.
Dean Hemming and Rob Stanley failed in their bid to reach the Yoplait pairs final when they lost 26-11 to Ray Ottley and Mark Overington from Cranleigh RBL in Surrey. The Worcester duo started slowly and dropped a five on the 4th end to trail 8-1. They scored on the next two ends to reduce the defecit to 8-4, but some brilliant drawing shots from the Surrey skip left the Surrey pair leading 15-4 after nine ends. The closest the Worcester pair came to getting back into the game was on the eleventh end when they held three shots with a chance to make more, but Mark Overington having missed twice with firing shots drew a front toucher on a full length jack to tie the end. Worcester did score a two on the next end to trail 15-8, but seven shots over the next four end effectively ended their challenge. Despite sharing the last four ends their great run had come to an end 26-11. The Surrey pair were themselves beaten in the final, 18-17 after an extra end, by Maurice Miller and Tony Merrell from March Conservatives.
Dean Hemming and Rob Stanley were involved in a titanic battle with the holders of the Pairs title, Paul Barlow and Stephen Farish from Wigton in Cumbria, in the quarter finals.
The Worcester pair struggled early on, despite winning the first two ends and trailed 11-3 after eight ends. However, they then went on a scoring spree of their own scoring 4-1-1-2-3 to lead 14-11 after 13 ends. They then had a bad end with most of their bowls falling about two feet short and Wigton took advantage to score a five.
Wigton brought the mat up the green and bowled a short jack. Early in the end Wigton built up a good position, but Dean trailed the jack to about two feet from the edge of the ditch to hold two shots. Steve Farish played at the jack with weight, connected perfectly only to see it be stopped by his own back bowl. After some close misses Rob Stanley managed to turn the Wigton bowl out for a count of three to regain the lead 17-16 at fifteen ends.
More good ends of bowls saw the score stand at 21-19 to Wigton after nineteen ends. The penultimate end saw Dean and Rob score three shots with three closely drawn shots. On the last end Dean trailed the Jack with his third bowl and despite it being touched and moved on four occasions it remained shot and Worcester were through 23-21.
Earlier in the day Worcester were always in command against Derek Stevens and David Reed from Plessey in the Isle of Wight. They scored a five, four fours and two threes in a comfortable 32-17 win.
In the semi finals Worcester will play Ray Ottley and Mark Overington from Cranleigh RBL in Surrey. The other semi final will be between Maurice Miller and Tony Merrell from March Conservatives in Cambridgeshire and Nick Cammack and Michael Owen of Siemen's in Nottinghamshire.
Worcester B.C. duo Dean Hemming and Rob Stanley have progressed through to the last sixteen after two victories.
In the first round they faced Michael Bowley and David Baird of Cavalier's, Nottinghamshire and despite bowling well were 7-2 down after eight tight ends. On the next two ends the
Worcester pair scored two threes and, despite dropping four more singles later in the game ran out comfortable 20-11 winners.
In the second round they were involved in a very tight match against Lincolnshire duo Frazer Ely and Garry Morris from Skegness Foreshore. The Worcester pair could have been out of the game as early as the fourth end when trailing 5-1 they were five shots down with one bowl left to play. Rob Stanley fired at the jack and hit it only to see it bounce up in the air. Fortunately there was enough momentum to carry it backwards to three Worcester bowls.
Worcester then gained the momentum and forged into a 16-8 lead after 12 ends and 19-13 after 17. The next three ends followed a similar pattern, Worcester building up a good head and holding shots only to see the Lincolnshire skip ditch the jack with an accurate heavy bowl. The result was counts of 3, 2 and a single to leave the score at 19-19 after 20 ends.
The last end saw Lincolnshire build up a two shot position with a side toucher and a bowl about an inch behind the jack. With his first bowl, Rob Stanley fired, hit the jack and moved it out to the side of the rink, and then with his next drew shot about 10 inches directly behind the jack. The Lincolnshire skip was heavy with his two attempts to beat the Worcester bowl, and they were through to the third round.
Normal service was resumed on the social front with Ian Jenkins getting a note from his landlady, allowing him to stay out for an extra hour.
It was a story of slow starts for Worcestershire's competitors on Sunday. In the Top Four Worcestershire's team of Dave Wilde, Steve Parker, Rob Stanley and Grant Burgess struggled to find the weight early on against Suffolk and trailed 12-4 after 11 ends. Worcestershire were starting to get back into the game having scored 1-2-1 to trail 8-12, when a thunderstorm set in which caused the stands to be closed due to the proximity of the lightening. The heavy rain that accompanied the thunder flooded the green and caused play to be suspended for an hour and three-quarters. When the game resumed Worcestershire continued their fight back with two singles before what turned out to be a decisive seventeenth end. Worcestershire lay two shots one a couple of inches in front and one about three inches behind. Mark Royal playing number three for Suffolk fired and took both bowls out without moving the jack to leave Suffolk holding one. Grant Burgess unfortunately turned another Suffolk bowl into the head, the Suffolk skip drew another to count three shots. The very next end Worcestershire held three shots and had a chance of a count of eight, but Grant Burgess just missed with his attempt to take out the Suffolk bowl. The last three ends were very tense but Worcestershire could not quite get the shots they needed and went out 17-14 in the semi final. In the preliminary round of the pairs it was a similar story with Ian Jenkins and Phil Moule. They trailed 12-2 after ten ends and despite holding shots on a number of occasions lost 19-9 after 19 ends. They lost to Bill Hilliard and Simon Pettingel from Pope's Mead in Sussex who played consistently throughout. In one of the strangest sights seen at Worthing for many years, Ian Jenkins was back at his Guest House very early due to his landlady insisting that everybody was back by 11.30.
Phil Moule's Droitwich Spa triple bowed out of the Yoplait National Triples Championship at the last 16 stage, losing 19-8 after 16 ends to Ian Ball's triple from Cornwall. In a tight start to the match they trailed 12-1 after nine ends but the score could have been very different if they had experienced a little bit better luck. In Saturday's semi final Nick Cammack, Duncan Robinson and Brett Morley of Siemens, Nottinghamshire will play Roy Kitto, Keith Masters and Barry Kitto from Eynesbury in Huntingdonshire who will be hoping to continue their good run having beaten Tony Allcock's Stroud triple in the quarter's. In the other semi final Matthew Lonie, David Clarke and Christopher Taylor of Folkestone Park, Kent will be up against Norman Wilcock, Brian Bennett and Ken Diaper from Melton, Suffolk, who beat Stenalees (Droitwich's conquerors) 22-16 in their quarter final. I was not at Worthing on Friday, so there are no photographs from Friday's play.
With one bowl left of the Triples second round, Worcestershire were facing the prospect of having no representation on the second day. Adrian Burbridge's triple had already lost to a
strong Cumbrian triple and Phil Moule was facing a horrible situation. Despite leading the game 16-15, he was four shots down in the head (all behind the jack, all within six inches, a back toucher, no draw shot available and a gap of about 12 inches to get through with a heavy bowl). Even if he hit the target the best possible result looked to be a dead end. But he hit the jack perfectly to see it rebound up the green to two of his own bowls, and Droitwich Spa were through to the third round. The shot was greeted by a cheer from the crowd, a punch of the air by Richard Hall, and a dance (best described as a cross between the Highland Fling and the Pogo from the 70's punk rock era) around the green from Ian Jenkins and Phil Moule.
Earlier in the day Adrian Burbridge's Vines Park triple had got off to a poor start against their Yorkshire opponents, dropping a six on the second end and trailing 11-2 after six ends. On the very next end Terry Duggan, Ian Crowe and Adrian all bowled well to score a six of their own and, from that point on, dominated the rest of the match. They went into the last end leading by six and despite dropping two shots ran out 23-19 winners.
In their first round match Phil Moule's triple were always in front, but could never get clear of their Essex opponents leading 7-3 after six ends, 10-8 after ten, 15-9 after fifteen and winning 16-11.
In their second round game Adrian Burbridge's triple found the experience of England manager John Bell, along with his Wigton team mates (Ron Gass and John Wills), too much and were never likely to record a win, trailing 8-2 after five ends and 22-3 after ten ends. They rallied a
little after this point, picking up a three on the 11th end and a four on the 15th, but they called it a day after 16 ends trailing 26-11.
Droitwich Spa lead in the early stages (7-3 after seven ends), but then failed to score on the next six ends to trail 14-7 after 13 ends. They then went on a scoring spree of their own (2-5-2) to lead 16-14 on sixteen ends. A one to the Hampshire team on the penultimate end, set up an enthralling final end which culminated in Phil Moule's brilliant last bowl.
Gilt Edge narrowly lost to Crediton of Devon in the last sixteen of the Yoplait National Fours. The early stages were very close with the scores being level at 3-3 after 4 ends, but Ian Bond's Crediton team then took control of the next four ends to storm into an 11-3 lead. Just as this run was looking decisive Grant Burgess' four hit back with nine shots in three ends to lead 12-11 after 11 ends. The two teams were then involved in a ding dong battle and the scores were all level at 15-15 after 17 ends. Then came the decisive two ends of the match. On the eighteenth end Crediton held one shot, but if Grant Burgess could remove that bowl Gilt Edge would have scored four shots, however he just missed. On the very next end Mark Bywater ditched the jack, but his toucher finished about six feet away from the jack, Simon Stevens and Ian Bond managed to draw three shots to the edge of the green and Crediton lead 19-15 with just two ends to play. Gilt Edge managed to score singles on the last two ends, but they went out 19-17. In the semi finals on Wednesday, David Holt's Acton Bridge four will play Stuart Thomas' South Derbyshire Miners Welfare four. Stuart Thomas' four will be hoping to swoop into the final with the help of 13-year-old Darren Allsopp at two, but will find it difficult against David Holt and his rink who are hoping to retain the title they won last year. The other semi final will be between Darlington Railway Athletic, skipped by Andrew Kirtland and the Shanklin four from the Isle of Wight, skipped by Steve Clarke. Three of the semi finalists come from counties who were only allowed one representative at Worthing (due to limited county competition entries), so it just shows it is quality rather than quantity that counts.
The Gilt Edge four of Marc Stones, Steve Parker, Mark Bywater and skipped by Grant Burgess have progressed through to the last sixteen of the Yoplait National Fours. They reached this stage with comfortable wins over Cleethorpes of Lincolnshire and Wellworthy of Dorset. In the first round they lead from start to finish for a comfortable 27-10 win, playing only 18 ends. In the second round on a difficult rink (rink 3 on A green) they trailed 11-6 in the early stages against Dorset, but from the point that they brought the mat up the green to bowl short jacks, they ran out 22-15 winners. However, they know things will get more difficult today as they play Crediton from Devon, skipped by Ian Bond who is a member of the England Commonwealth Games squad. The Worcester Bowling Club four of Ian Sutherland (deputising for Don Wilde, who is on holiday in Australia), Terry Dovey, Justin Wallcroft and Chris Wilde lost in the first round 22-7 to a Fassnige Four from Middlesex. The game was close early on (3-3 after 5 ends and 7-13 after 14), but very little went right for the Worcester four. Whenever they moved the jack it seemed to end up in a worse position than it started in, to the extent that on the fifteenth end Justin Wallcroft thought he had ditched the jack perfectly only to see it rebound up the rink right between two Middlesex bowls.
Richard Hall of Droitwich Spa performed brilliantly despite losing in the semi final of the National Champion of Champions Singles. Following an excellent quarter final win (21-15 against Ken Handleigh of Middlesex), he came up against John Ottaway of Norfolk. Ottaway won the Singles trophy at Worthing last year and was determined to win the Champion of Champions Singles this year to enhance his chances of getting the singles berth at next year's Commonwealth Games in Manchester. Despite trailing throughout the match Richard kept within sight of the favourite and at 13-11 the match looked poised for a very tight finish. At this point however, Ottaway moved up a gear and ran out the winner 21-13.
There was no glory for the Worcestershire bowlers involved at Worthing on the opening day of the Championships. Droitwich Spa were involved in an extremely close game with Marlow B.C. of Buckinghamshire. There was never more than half a dozen shots between the teams at any stage, and with each rink having one end to play Droitwich looked favourites. Droitwich Spa were three up and Hughie Lammas had put a bowl about an inch behind the jack on rink one. Phil Moule then moved the jack to the side of the rink on rink three, and whilst still one down, there was nothing within about five feet. Phil's opposing skip drew another shot, but it was also about five feet away, however, Phil then went six feet through in ensuring he wasn't short on the fresh grass. This meant that Ian Jenkins needed to prevent Marlow from scoring to ensure victory, and with Hughie's bowl still sitting just behind the Jack all looked well. The Marlow skip played with weight at the head with his first bowl and played a short bowl onto the jack, which bounced around before settling besides two Marlow bowls. Ian tried to hit the jack or bowls with his last bowl, but just missed and Droitwich were out. In the final Marlow B.C. lost to a confident and noisy Banbury Borough team skipped by Internationals Greg Moon and Alan Prew. In the Junior Singles, Paul Speake of Broadway was involved in a no win battle against Sam Tolchard, a twelve-year-old from Devon. Obviously the vast majority of the crowd were routing for the Devon youngster, but Paul showed great skill and composure to lead throughout for a 21-18 victory. By the time the second round got underway the rain had started and very little went right for Paul as he lost 21-10 to Philip Sampson from Cumbria.