By David Taylor

Last updated at 12:38, Thursday, 24 September 2009

After a short interlude top class singles play returns to Cumbria Indoor Bowls Club this weekend when the qualifiers for the World Singles will be taking place in Carlisle.

There was some excellent play last week in the qualifiers for the Scottish and Welsh Open Tournaments and the standard should be just as good once more and as an added bonus the World pairs qualifiers are also taking place on Sunday.

There will be an abundance of local interest with a good number of Cumbrians taking part. Play commences at 9am on Saturday and there will be six locals taking to the rinks immediately. Trevor Taylor meets Alison Merrien, Stuart Irwin plays Ian Merrien, Neil Karge faces Phillip Harvey, John Baird takes on Rhys Vaughan and David Forster will do battle with Derek Green. Ninety minutes later Stuart Airey faces the challenge of Janice Gower, Ian Gallagher will play Daniel Targar while at 12.30pm the local programme is completed with the tie between Mark Nanson and Craig Docherty.

Play will continue until approximately 8pm and the final of the singles will be played at 9am on Sunday.

The pairs qualifiers commence at 11am on Sunday when Craig Docherty and Stuart Airey will play Newcastle’s Nick Davidson and Neil Karge and Mark Nanson meet Eden’s John Baird. At 12.45pm Janice Gower plays D Green while Trevor Taylor and Ian Gallagher take on K Bald and Stuart Irwin and Kevin Harrison will play A Lawton.

Once again it should certainly be worth coming along to support the locals and enjoy some first class bowling.

Liberty Trophy

The first Liberty Trophy game for Cumbria is against Lincolnshire on November 7 but already there is controversy about the venue.

Lincolnshire have apparently booked York and District with a start time of 11am. As usual Cumbria are again required to travel the furthest distance, the gap between the two county towns is about 180 miles with Cumbria required to travel half as far again as the opposition. It is true that it is virtually impossible to find a perfect halfway house but it becomes irritating when Cumbria always has to travel the furthest.

It is costly not only in terms of petrol but also in players travelling times and basically it is unfair. It happens both indoors and outdoors and I will certainly be pressing for both indoor and outdoor county associations to make representations to the national bodies to have something done about it, even if it is only a short course in geography for those who make the ultimate decisions!

Last year’s team selector Stuart Airey has once again accepted the invitation to choose the players to represent the county in a competition which it is probably fair to say that Cumbria has under performed, perhaps this season it will be different.

Over-60 Inter County League

This competition which is more generally known as the Over-60 Liberty competition sees Cumbria meet Yorkshire in the first of the group games on Thursday, October 22. The format for this competition is three rinks at home, Carlisle, and three rinks away, York. Lists for available players have been on Cumbria’s three affiliated club notice boards and it is expected that the team will be selected this evening. Cumbria reached the quarterfinal last year and was somewhat disappointing when losing out at Doncaster in the quarter final against Berkshire. With that experience behind the team a better performance is hoped for this year.

County Competitions

Entries for the indoor county competitions are now being taken and competition administrator Brian Warren has supplied all clubs with entry forms and copies of the rules.

These competitions are for players who have not entered the corresponding national competition.

All entries should be made to the club who will forward the entries onwards. The closing date for entries is October 18 and there are six disciplines available – men’s Singles, Pairs and Triples. Mixed Pairs and Over-50 Men’s Pairs and Over-50 men’s Triples.

Denny Cup

The first round of this year’s Denny Cup is just three weeks away when Cumbria IBC will meet north east opposition provided by Concordia IBC but the Carlisle Club’s current champions will be hosting a challenge match between themselves and the Scottish Club champions from Tweedbank on Sunday, October 4. The match commences at noon and Cumbria Indoor Bowls Club is expected to field the side which won the Denny Cup at Bedford at the end of February.

The team for this coming season will be selected by Paul Barlow.

Other Team News

All the Ladies Club sides are to be selected by the Ladies Committee though there remains a selection vacancy for the Egham Trophy side which if not filled will see the team chosen by the office. The Club Over-60 Double Rink A team will continue under the stewardship of Ron McMath while the B team will again be selected by the office and Gavin Taylor will select the Under-25 Double Rink. Peck Orchard has agreed to select one of the two Over-50 Triples League sides, there is a vacancy for the other and the Club Committee has agreed that the system of alphabetic selection be dispensed with following some complaints last year.

First published at 11:31, Thursday, 24 September 2009
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk