BOWLS By David Taylor

Published at 11:42, Thursday, 31 July 2008

Danny May: Under 25 Singles champion

Cumbria’s last county match of the season was completed at Appleby when the Armstrong side scored a resounding 14-0 victory over Durham.

This was more like the form which we knew the side was capable of and if only it had come a little sooner Cumbria could well have won the league for although only finishing in third place we were just five points behind champions Yorkshire who went down 12-2 to Northumberland in their last game.

Several of Cumbria’s Armstrong side will again be representing the county when the team takes on South Shields at Dalston on Saturday. The game starts at 1.30pm and the following players have been selected – L Parker, A Hocking, A Newstead, J Park, J Fieldhouse, Mark Hodgson, Matthew Hodgson and S Moffatt.

In the National Double Rink, Silloth’s excellent run came to an end at York on Saturday when the seasiders lost out in the final to White Hart.

There was very little in the game throughout and at the end Silloth finished just seven shots adrift. Nevertheless it was a good effort.

In the mixed pairs Wigton’s Kath Baxter is now in the zone final having received a walkover in the last round. In the zone final she will meet Eddie Henry of Leadgate Bowls Club in Durham

In the Senior Pairs John Hodkin and Barry O’Hare had a good win in their zone final and have earned themselves a place in the national finals at Worthing on August 19 and 20.

David Stanton’s excellent run in the senior singles came to an end in the zone final when he was beaten 21-13 by Gil Roy of Walkington in Yorkshire. In the Mixed Fours final which was played at Dalston last week Karen Edmondson, Judy Armstrong, David McManus and Anthony Little were up against it from the word go.

The Lancashire quartet which included the useful Gordon Niven and David Lockhart, had the advantage of some rather straighter bowls and though this may not have made all the difference to the final score it was certainly a help where the middle of the rink was not easy to find with standard bias bowls.

Danny May continued his rich vein of form winning the Under 25 Singles final at Wigton last week.

Playing Silloth’s Lewis Parker, Subscription’s May just had too much quality and experience for his 15-year-old opponent who was nevertheless far from disgraced and continues to improve.

Though beaten here, however there will be other days for the Silloth young man especially if he can be persuaded to concentrate on front end bowls for the time being at least.

There are still several county finals to be completed and the pairs between Trevor Taylor and Craig Docherty and John Baird and Rick Gallagher will be decided at Edenside this evening.

The County Singles between Danny May and David Forster has yet to be completed as well as the county Triples between Andrew Baxter and Stephen Farish which I believe is scheduled to be played on Saturday, August 9.

Despite their scheduled Thursday game against Brampton being postponed Subscription remain in pole position, eight points clear of Courtfield who scored an 8-2 home win over Dalston who are now in fourth place. British Rail scored an 8-2 win at Holme Head while Stanwix beat near neighbours Edenside 6-4.

In the Friday league, Dalston, who have a great away record this season, continued their good run beating Wetheral 8-2 and they remain 14 points clear of West End who did well to win 8-2 at Subscription.

Stanwix are in third place after beating fourth-placed Brampton 6-4 and Linton scored a welcome fourth win of the season, beating Courtfield 6-4. Edenside were another side to celebrate victory after beating Currock 8-2.

Cumbria Indoor Bowls Club has been given the opportunity to host the Professional Bowls Association Singles Qualifiers in mid-September.

These qualifiers decide who will meet the top players in the main televised events. If you have any time available in September just make a note in your diary – September 13th to 17th inclusive. Further details will be available shortly.

Last year’s Open Week proved to very popular and will therefore be repeated this year.

The dates to note are Tuesday, August 26 to Friday August 29, inclusive.

Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk