By David Taylor

Published at 11:38, Thursday, 19 November 2009

IT HAS been another excellent week with both Copeland and Cumbria IBC making progress in the Denny Cup along with other successes for the Carlisle club as well.

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National title holders Cumbria IBC met South Shields on Saturday in a game which they were expected to win. They did so but not before the north east side gave supporters cause for concern.

Cumbria took an early lead but after 10 ends Shields led 35-34. However, Cumbria added 20 shots to 10 in the next quarter and gradually extended the advantage to reach the 23 mark at the close. At home, Stuart Airey skipped his four to a 20-11 win but Trevor Taylor was kept up to his work against Ian McIntosh in winning 18-14. At South Shields, Gavin Taylor recovered from a slow start to beat Kevin Donkin 19-16 and, after being three down three quarters of the way through, Stephen Farish came back to beat John Kelso 21-14.

It was a double celebration for Cumbrians when Copeland also got through, producing an excellent team performance to beat North Shields club The Parks by nine shots.

At Cleator, Jack Walker had a good 23-14 win over Paul Ging and young David Forster saw off Michael London 24-9. Away from home, David Blackmore found the going tough losing 27-14 but Ben Sherwen kept his game tight losing by just two shots to C Boyle. A great result.

On Sunday, Copeland found the going rather tougher when taking on Cumbria IBC in the Egham Trophy and the Carlisle club emerged with a comfortable 40-shot win.

At Carlisle, David Blackmore did well in going down by just two shots to Rae Graham but David Gregory was under pressure for much of the way against Gavin Taylor and went down by 17 shots. Jack Walker is never easy to beat at Copeland but Rick Gallagher managed it in admirable style, winning by 28, and Anthony Little suffered Cumbria IBC’s only defeat when going down by seven to David Forster Jnr. In the next round, Cumbria will meet York on December 6.

Prior to these weekend wins, Cumbria IBC also tasted victory on Friday in the Over 60 Double Rink when Tynedale provided the opposition.

Cumbria led from the off and, despite some spirited resistance from the Hexham club, the final result was never really in doubt.

At home, John Bell skipped his four to an impressive 19-shot win over the useful Keith Henderson, while at Hexham Joe Menzies had to withstand a late revival by the home four before getting home 25-19. In the next round Cumbria will meet Concordia who beat Stanley.

Not to be outdone by the seniors, the juniors weighed in with a good win over the Parks in the Under 25 Double Rink.

Despite missing the services of Danny May, the Cumbria IBC side proved well up to the task and recorded an overall 20-shot win. At home, Stephen Green got off to a fine start by scoring a six on the first end and, while the visitors recovered from that rather rude awakening, the home four, well served by Ryan Baxter making his home debut, kept up the pressure to win 19-13.

In North Shields, Martin Rice enhanced his burgeoning reputation when skipping his four to a great 25-11 win.

There were three interesting singles played this week the first of which saw Ron Gass back to his best.

Playing against Neil Karge, who has been in good form of late, Gass showed something like his old form racing away to a 13-1 lead and keeping up the pressure right to the end to score a convincing 21-6 win.

Paul Barlow is another player who has shown good recent form in the Denny Cup but he met his match when coming up against Jonathon Fieldhouse.

The younger player had a marvellous game, peppering the jack with uncanny regularity to get the better of his opponent 21-17.

In the last of the singles it was youth against experience when Gavin Taylor met Joe Menzies. Menzies can never be taken lightly and, with Taylor not showing his best form, the game developed into a dour struggle. Taylor held an early lead but stuck on 13 before a fortunate shot gave him a three to lead 16-14. Menzies fought back determinedly however, and the two players went into the last all-square. For just about the only time in the game, Taylor played a front toucher with his first delivery and it was never moved to give him the vital 21st shot in this 28-end marathon.

In the pairs, Ray Gall and Martin Rice made a poor start to their game against Fieldhouse and David Baxter but, after being 10-0 after seven, they came back well, particularly in the middle section, to go on and win 20-15. In the other completed pairs, Graeme Shepherd led 18-15 with four to play against Chris Horsfield but was unable to add to his tally and went down 20-18.

In the only mixed pairs completed, Jackie Wilson and David Taylor went down 23-11 to Linda Rose and an in-form Ian Gallagher.

In the senior pairs there was an extremely tight battle when Eddie McGarr and Bill Bryce played Matt Crombie and Joe Menzies. There were just 23 shots scored in 19 ends. Menzies scored 14 of them but in the last two ends Bryce picked up two 3s to gain a 15-14 victory. In contrast, Alan Carruthers and Jim Morris raced away to a 13-0 lead after seven ends.

That lead was extended to 19-5 and that looked to be that, though David McManus and Anthony Little made a spirited recovery, which saw them end the game just four shots in arrears.

In the last of the nationals, Gavin Taylor played Ian Gallagher in the mixed fours, with Gallagher skipping Linda Rose, Karen Edmondson and David McManus to a comfortable 21-9 win.

Cumbria’s County side will be in action on Saturday when Durham will provide the second round opposition on the Carlisle green at 11am.

The last time the two sides met was in the semi-final two years ago, when Durham came out on top by a handful of shots. I feel that the Cumbria side is a stronger side than then and, with the added bonus of most of the team playing on its own green, I am more than hopeful Cumbria can make further progress.

Rumours are apparently circulating that clubs and individuals want Holme Head to be removed from the league and secretary Ted Warwick has been in touch with league secretary John McLaren to express his concern. How these rumours start, is a mystery, for anyone who took the trouble to attend the League AGM will know that there is no substance to them.

When Holme Head found it impossible to continue to maintain their green many years ago, the league assured them that it would do whatever it could to help them continue and the league and its member clubs have done just that by allowing the continued use of the private greens. Since then, of course, the number of bowlers has declined and other clubs are finding it harder to continue with the upkeep of their own greens.

Costs continue to rise and my own club Courtfield had to spend about £11,000 to stay afloat and, as subscriptions bring in less than £3,000, it falls to the members to raise that extra cash. With that in mind, it was hoped that Holme Head might consider giving a helping hand by playing on one of at least three private greens which had offered their facilities. Apparently Holme Head are adamant that they will not do this, which is unfortunate and perhaps a little short-sighted, bearing in mind the number of greens which have disappeared in Carlisle in recent years. However, the league has I understand accepted that stance and may even be prepared to alter the league constitution to allow Holme Head to continue at St James next season and to formalize the situation.

Weekend programme: Saturday 11am Cumbria CIBA v Durham CIBA at Carlisle - Liberty Trophy. Sunday 10.00am A Kirkpatrick v D Forster Senior Triples: D Devlin v R McMath Senior Triples: R McGhie v J Morris Senior Triples. Sunday 2.00pm R Graham v R Gallagher Mixed Fours

Cumbria CIBA v Durham CIBA – Liberty Trophy round 2 at Cumbria IBC Saturday 11am.

N Karge, R Gallagher, P Barlow, S Airey

K Harrison, J Baird, D Linton, I Gallagher

S Green, D Taylor, M Rice, T Taylor

D Forster Jnr., M Nanson, B Sherwen, S Farish

G Robertson, R Gass, D May, A Baxter

E Murray, S Richardson, R Graham, G Taylor

Players to be at the club by 10.30am

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