Last updated at 12:17, Thursday, 05 June 2008

Cumbria's Middleton and Alsop teams got the season off to a great start on Saturday when both scored convincing wins over Yorkshire and Lancashire respectively.

Cumbria’s premier side made the trip to Middlesbrough for the opening Middleton game and after a shaky start soon assumed command and eventually ran out ready winners taking all 22 points in the process, the only side in England to do so on the day.

The shaky start when Cumbria trailed by 24 shots can be put down to green conditions.

The Cornfield Road green at Middlesbrough nearly always looks well but over the years has rarely been anything other than very heavy. So I was surprised when and one player on Saturday remarked that it was running at about 16 seconds, until he added that it was eight seconds each way.

Once the Cumbria players adjusted however the gap between the sides was plain to see and Cumbria eventually won by 49 shots. Rick Gallagher had a great 14 shot victory over P Emmerson while Stephen Farish beat V O’Neill by 11 shots.

John Bell won by 10 against C Kelly and Ian Gallagher beat leading Yorkshire skip Mark Walton by seven shots.

Ben Sherwen won by four shots against R Hudson and Stuart Airey rounded off a great day when winning by three shots against P Stoker.

In the other group game Northumberland beat Durham by 33 shots and by 16 points to six.

Alsop Cup: Cumbria’s B team also made a great start when beating Lancashire at Bolton by 48 shots and by 20 points to two. The win was not unexpected but there was much to like about the manner of it and the winning margin.

Peter Metcalfe who played well in the recent trial at Wigton beat G Booth 29-10 while Peck Orchard also skipped his four to a 25-9 victory against I Dodd. Rupert Cox gained a 23-11 victory over V Mellor while Peter Irving and Alan McGuiness were both three shot winners over R Brundrett and D Wilson respectively.

The only slight hiccup was the narrow three shot defeat of Bob Ritchie by N Macfarlane.

Top Double Rink: In view of Cumbria’s success it seems strange that in recent seasons the County has not done well in this particular competition.

Unfortunately, despite having what looked to be two good fours, Cumbria again failed when playing Lincolnshire T Kirbymoorside on Sunday. Stuart Airey did well enough in winning by ten but Stephen Farish found the going tough and went down by twenty despite not playing that badly.

Under-25 Singles: Sixteen of Cumbria’s top junior players met at Cockermouth Croft on Sunday and despite the poor weather conditions produced a good standard of play.

The field included Junior Internationals David Forster who had beaten his colleague John Bell in the prelim, Danny May and Cumbria’s newest junior international Scott Beattie of Kirkbride.

In view of his current good form Danny May was probably favourite for the event and he made his way to the final but not without having to play well.

A comfortable win over Ryan Baird was followed by a much harder short head win over a player who I was disappointed was not given the opportunity of a Junior Trial Kevin Harrison.

In the semi-final May was once again given a stern task but managed a 21-16 victory over his Middleton colleague Stuart Bowman.

In the other half of the draw last year’s beaten finalist Lewis Parker of Silloth showed that result to be no fluke by battling his way through to the final once more.

He certainly needed to show his battling qualities when having to come from 10-6 down against David Forster and then go on to beat Scott Beattie in the semi-final 21-19.

Other players to catch the eye on an interesting days play were Adam Hocking who fought back well before going down to Scott Beattie and Adam Newstead a pupil of Scott Beattie who led 17-13 before going down 21-17, probably a good decision!

The final will be played on Sunday July 20 at Wigton.

County Singles: The last thirty in the County’s premier championship played off on Tuesday evening on six greens throughout the county. Ben Sherwen proved too strong for Mark Hodgson and will now meet Nigel Harper who was given a walkover by Andrew Baxter.

Peter Pattinson accounted for John Pape and will now meet Robin Phillips who defeated Richard Gibson.

These two ties are scheduled for Appleby. Paul Bannister beat John Barber and will now play David Forster Jnr who beat Chris Allason at Courtfield. At Subscription David Stanton who is currently going well beat Bob Au and in the next round will play Neil Karge who beat Geoff Round. These two games are scheduled for Courtfield.

At Silloth Bob Dent got the better of a protracted struggle against Stuart Irwin and will play Ian Gallagher who was given a walkover by John Phillipson.

In the bottom half of this section Craig Docherty beat Peter Irving and he will now play Mark Nanson who was successful against club mate Michael Downie.

At Wigton Alan Walker came out on top against Stephen Walker and now meets Geoff Steel who got the better of John Hodkin.

Frank Wilson accounted for Noel Christopher and he takes on Danny may next time after the Subscription player beat David Beattie.

The last four ties are scheduled for Edenside and all eight fourth round ties are due to be played on Friday June 13 at 6.30pm.

Top Club: Subscription went all the way to Worthing in this competition last year but came unstuck at Silloth on Monday evening.

After Danny May had won the Two Wood for the visitors Peck Orchard levelled the game when holding his nerve in the closing stages of the four bowls singles to beat Neil Karge 21-19.

Subscription took the fours in comfortable fashion but Ryan Orchard and Paul Wallace completely outplayed Ian Airey and Ian Gallagher in the pairs and the result was decided by the triples where Gaza got the better of Stuart Airey to gain a 3-2 win for the seasiders.

Senior International: Better news for Stuart Airey following the selection of the International side where he will be given the opportunity of playing third to county colleague Stephen Farish. Also selected in the side is Craig Docherty who has been chosen to lead. Congratulations to all three.

Carliol League: Following an 8-2 win at Holme head Brampton have moved into clear second place just one point behind Subscription who won 7-3 at Edenside.

Courtfield drop to the third spot after a 6-4 home win over West End while Dalston are in fourth place despite losing 6-4 at fifth placed Stanwix.

In the Over 60sSubscription have moved into top spot following their 7-3 win over bottom placed Currock while West End have dropped to second after a maximum defeat by Stanwix who have now moved up into third spot.

Courtfield despite winning 7-3 at Wetheral drop to fourth place and are joined by Brampton who had a 10-0 win over Edenside, Dalston move up two places into sixth after their 8-2 win at Linton.

Indoor Bowls: The draws for next year’s domestic competitions in Cumbria Indoor Bowls Club will be made late next week and anyone who wishes to enter and has not yet done so can still make an entry on either Monday or Wednesday morning when the club is open for bowling.

First published at 11:37, Thursday, 05 June 2008
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk