Super Sunday as four titles won at Leamington
Four competitions came to a conclusion on Sunday at the Bowls England national championships at Leamington spa.
Oxfordshire’s Paul Comley & Colin Whitehead won the Men’s Senior Pairs Competition, supported by the Friends of English Bowling, after defeating Cornwall’s Ronnie Thomas and Kevin Williams 24-7 in the final.
Victory for Oxfordshire ensured that Whitehead joins a distinguished group of people to have won both the Men’s Senior Singles and Senior Pairs, following his success in the Men’s Senior Singles in 2010.
In the semi-finals, Thomas and Williams defeated 2016 champions John Bell and Rick Gallagher from Cumbria by one shot, with Comley and Whitehead securing a 24-10 victory over Neil Farnish and David Simpson from Buckinghamshire.
Results:
Semi-Finals:
Oxfordshire (Paul Comley & Colin Whitehead) bt Buckinghamshire (Neil Farnish & David Simpson) 24-10;
Cornwall (Ronnie Thomas & Kevin Williams) bt Cumbria (John Bell & Rick Gallagher) 18-17
Final:
Oxfordshire (Paul Comley & Colin Whitehead) bt Cornwall (Ronnie Thomas & Kevin Williams) 24-7
Norfolk’s Danny Mills won the 2018 Men’s National Junior Singles Championship, supported by David Mitchell-Gears MBE
The County Arts bowler defeated Lancashire’s Anthony Booth-Young, from Bolton FGBC.
Mills trailed 4-9 in the early exchanges, before a really good period of play saw him lead 16-12. Booth-Young then fought back and regained the lead at 18-17, before Mills picked up a full count of four to secure a 21-18 victory.
In the semi-final, Booth-Young secured a 21-19 victory over Berkshire’s Lloyd Sabatini. Trailing 9-17 and 12-19, Booth-Young then won seven consecutive ends to reach the final, whilst Mills defeated Suffolk’s Lee Calver 21-8 in a battle of the two East Anglian rivals.
Neither Lancashire nor Norfolk had had representation in the Men’s Junior Singles Final for almost a decade. Norfolk were last present in the 2009 final when Jamie Chestney defeated Huntingdonshire’s Tristan Morton, whilst Mark Dawes reached both the 2005 and 2006 final for Lancashire – defeating Sussex’s Stuart Holland in 2005 and losing to Hertfordshire’s Matt Coppen the following year.
Results:
Quarter-Final:
Lloyd Sabatini (Reading, Berks) bt Jaxon McKenna (Silksworth, Durham) 21-14;
Anthony Booth-Young (Bolton, Lancs) bt Lewis Baxter (Wigton, Cumb) 21-16;
Danny Mills (County Arts, N’folk) bt Danny Smith (Southsea Waverley, Hants) 21-14;
Lee Calver (Felixstowe & Suffolk, S’folk) bt Glen Adams (Hendon, M’sex) 21-18
Semi-Final:
Anthony Booth-Young (Bolton, Lancs) bt Lloyd Sabatini (Reading, Berks) 21-19
Danny Mills (County Arts, N’folk) bt Lee Calver (Felixstowe & Suffolk, S’folk) 21-8
Final:
Danny Mills (County Arts, N’folk) bt Anthony Booth-Young (Bolton, Lancs) 21-19
Sussex won the Walker Cup for the first time, after emphatically defeating Yorkshire 52-15 in the final.
Yorkshire defeated Cambridgeshire by one shot in the semi-final, whilst Sussex reached the final with victory over holders Somerset.
Sussex were competing in only their first final, whilst Yorkshire had been in two finals previously – runners-up to Somerset in 1970 and defeating Dorset in the final in 1997.
Results:
Semi-Finals:
Yorkshire bt Cambridgeshire 44-43
Rink scores (Yorkshire skips first): M Dowson bt E Falkner 26-11; L Metcalfe lost to J Stephens 18-32;
Sussex bt Somerset 41-33
Rink scores (Sussex skips first): L Kuhler bt K Hembrow 28-9; R Mackriell lost to S Branfield 13-24;
Final:
Sussex bt Yorkshire 52-15
Rink scores (Sussex skips first): L Kuhler bt M Dowson 27-6; R Mackriell bt L Metcalfe 25-9;
Hertfordshire’s Devon Cooper and Rachel Tremlett won the Women’s Junior Pairs Championship, supported by Marion Bushnell.
They defeated Wiltshire sisters Katy and Lucy Smith 16-11 in the final.
In the semi-finals, the Smith sisters defeated twin sisters Rachel and Vicky Forster from Cumbria, whilst Cooper and Tremlett beat Lincolnshire’s Ruby Hill and Chelsea Tomlin.
Results:
Quarter-Final:
Cumbria (Rachel Forster and Victoria Forster) bt Bedfordshire (Keeley Appleby and Robyn Hall) 19-13;
Wiltshire (Katy Smith and Lucy Smith) bt Northamptonshire (Shannon Swift and Louise Haladij) 19-15;
Hertfordshire (Devon Cooper and Rachel Tremlett) bt Sussex (Hannah Maslen and Kira Donno) 24-9
Lincolnshire (Ruby Hill and Chelsea Tomlin) bt Essex (Jasmine Wilson and Stacey Fryer) 14-13;
Semi-Final:
Wiltshire (Katy Smith and Lucy Smith) bt Cumbria (Rachel Forster and Victoria Forster) 18-11;
Hertfordshire (Devon Cooper and Rachel Tremlett) bt Lincolnshire (Ruby Hill and Chelsea Tomlin) 15-10
Final:
Hertfordshire (Devon Cooper and Rachel Tremlett) bt Wiltshire (Katy Smith and Lucy Smith) 16-11
