Last updated 11:39, Thursday, 22 May 2008

NATIONAL Under-25 Double Rink champions Cumbria made a successful start to the 2008 campaign when beating Durham by 15 shots at Wigton Park.

Kevin Harrison

Kevin Harrison and Stephen Green, two players who have showed a fair amount of improvement during the winter, showed that they are likely to reproduce that improvement outdoor as well.

And they provided an excellent early springboard which saw Danny May’s four which had Mark Irwin at three race to a 12-0 lead after just six ends.

The visitors then staged a strong rally which saw them reduce the deficit to just a shot but in the last third of the game the home side regained their composure to win seven of the last eight ends and record a final score line of 22-13.

On the other rink Stuart Bowman picked up a count of four on the first end but then went 5-4 down after the first quarter.

However, twelve shots in the next four ends saw his four of David Forster, Jonathon Fieldhouse and Scott Beattie race away to a 16-5 lead.

As on the other rink the Durham four recovered but the home side was always in command and held on well to win 22-16.

MIDDLETON CUP action commences on Saturday May 31 when Cumbria travel to Middlesbrough for their opening game against Yorkshire.

Before then there will be a Middleton trial when the first team squad will play the Alsop side on Tuesday May 27 at Wigton.

There are few surprises in the squad, as one would expect when the side managed to reach the final at Worthing last year.

Two additions to this year’s squad are Gavin and Trevor Taylor who did not play last year though Niall Currie and John Wills who were regulars last year have both not yet regained full fitness and will be missing.

THE ALSOP CUP side has I believe been selected and they will play their opening game also on May 31 when making the trip to Bolton for the match against Lancashire. This game starts at noon.

THE COUNTY COMPETITION programme gets under way this Saturday when the early rounds of the county Singles will be played.

It seems strange that at a time when Cumbria bowlers are among the best in the country that the entry for this competition is the lowest in living memory at just 89 with a number of the Middleton squad failing to take part.

Nevertheless the draw throws up some interesting games none more so than at Whitehaven where Richard Chandler will play Scott Beattie and the winner of that tie will meet either Kevin Harrison or Neil Karge.

At Edenside Trevor Taylor plays Stuart Bowman and it seems likely that a third round tie against Ian Gallagher beckons for the winner.

At Workington Ben Sherwen will need to be at his nest against Dean Haney and he could well meet Andrew Baxter in the third round.

At Subscription Mark Nanson will play Michael Downie if both win their first games while in a game which is scheduled for Appleby Danny May meets club mate Ken Johnston.

BOWLS ENGLAND COMPS: There have been five ties completed in the Over 55 Pairs. Brian Warren beat Eric Gande 24-6, John Maddison was successful against John Brew 27-16,

Barry O’Hare went through against Henry Stewart 21-10, Donald Holme beat George Taylor 28-11 and Bob Fleet was a 16-14 victor over John Foster.

In the Over 55 Singles David Stanton beat David Cannon 21-19 and Peter Fisher was successful by the same margin against mike Watson. John Foster accounted for Joe Carr 21-8.

In the mixed pairs, Kath Baxter beat Karen Edmondson 19-15 while in the Mixed Fours Geoff Crerie got home by the minimum margin against Noel Christopher.

In the Top Club Kirkbride scored a good 4-1 win over Wigton Park but then went down to Subscription.

In the Double Fours Wigton went down narrowly at Spennymoor, a long trip at this stage of the competition, while Silloth accounted for Whitehaven B 45-37.

Subscription was surprisingly beaten 42-37 by Appleby though without in any way belittling the Appleby performance there were I believe some possible later date clashes which contributed to the final result.

CARLIOL LEAGUE: In the Thursday section Dalston move to the top of the league after their maximum points win over Holme Head but are closely pursued by Subscription who picked up seventeen points from their two fixture last week are no just one point adrift of the leaders. British Rail’s 7-3 home defeat at the hands of Subscription leaves them three points further behind in third while Edenside who picked up an 8-2 win at Courtfield are now in fourth spot four points behind Railways.

In the other game played last Tuesday West End beat Brampton 6-4. In the Friday section Courtfield reversed Thursdays result when beating Edenside 7-3 while West End were 8-2 too strong for Currock.

Stanwix beat Dalston 6-4 and Subscription made a successful visit to Brampton when winning 7-3.

West End continue to lead the table on 32 points, four points clear of second placed Subscription with Stanwix in third on 23 and Edenside in fourth place on 20.

SILLOTH BOWLING CLUB MAY PAIRS, Monday May 26: First Filling 9.15am G. Tyson v G. Blackburn; W.Weightman v D.Wallace; A. Prince Whitehaven v K. Hamilton; G. Allan v E. Orchard;

P. Wallace v Late Entry; S. Robertson v D. Shield; Late Entry v Late Entry; R. Gallagher (Subscription) v I. Johnston (Dalston).

Second Filling 11.00am R. Au (Harris Park) v Late Entry; J. Brew (Vulcan Park) v H. Parker; J.J. Graham v D.Nichol W. Strong (Caldbeck) v R. Gibson (Aspatria); S. Irwin (Aspatria) v Late Entry; W. Jefferson v D. Adair (Wigton Park); Late Entry v L. Parker; J. Carr (Aspatria) v A. Neilson.