Published at 11:49, Thursday, 21 August 2008

AFTER the early Cumbrian successes in the fours at the National Championships early last week the results in the triples were something of an anticlimax.

Following a preliminary round win the Wigton Park trio of David Beldington, Dean Haney and Andrew Baxter were well beaten in the first round and a similar fate befell the well fancied Wigton trio of Paul Barlow, John Bell and Stephen Farish.

On the to the pairs an Monday and the county champions Trevor Taylor and Craig Docherty were expected to put up a bold show. It was not to be, however, for they played well below par and finished well beaten.

John Baird and Rick Gallagher soon managed to salvage some Cumbrian pride however and came up trumps with an excellent two shot win over Devon hot shots Simon Stevens and Ian Bond.

The Subscription pairing soon showed that result to be no fluke when beating Hampshire A in round two and saw off the challenge of Northumberland’s Stephen Birdsey 22-8 to earn a place in the quarter final. It began to appear as though the longer they played the better they became for in that quarter final they cruised to an impressive 26-10 over Surrey’s Andy Gladwell and now face Northants in the semi-final.

Baird and Gallagher, as anticipated, found the going tough in the semi-final against Neil Rees and Paul Broderick of Northampton but despite going nine shots down at one point stuck to their task in determined fashion and came back in the final stages to earn a place in the national final 24-19.

In the final they came up against Suffolk’s Andy Meikle and Adrian Holden who had ended Trevor Taylor and Craig Docherty’s hopes in the first round. Again it was another hard battle in which the Subscription held their own until about halfway when the Suffolk pair took command to take the title 20-10.

In the Over 55 Pairs Workington’s John Hodkin and Barry O’Hare faced the experienced Phil Birch and Colin Jacox of Avenue B.C. Warwickshire and were comfortably beaten

Today it is the turn of the singles and Cumbria is represented by two of its Junior Internationals.

Workington’s David Forster and Subscription’s Danny May are both in good form, both are hungry for success and both being under 25 are ideally equipped for three hard singles games in one day.

David Forster began his campaign with a tie against Jamie Stansfield of Lincoln and a win would almost certainly see him matched against one of the better singles players in England, Brett Morley of Nottingham. Danny May begins his challenge this morning with a first round tie against Craig Cooper of Northumberland. Though young both players have plenty of experience and both should perform creditably at least.

Northern Counties Championships: The NCC Championships will be staged at Houghton Dairy Lane on Saturday and Sunday August 30 and 31. At one time this was a most prestigious event and winners badges were much sought after. Today however the rules have been amended to allow either the county champions or finalists to take part though even with this dilution of qualification Cumbria can mange only representatives in four of the six disciplines with no triple or four representing us.

Carliol League: Subscription, the champions even before the last game was played, finished their season on a high note outclassing neighbours Courtfield at Myddleton Street. It seems unlikely that their dominance will be seriously challenged in the near future. Several clubs are finding it increasingly difficult sustain full teams in the league.

Indoor Bowls: On the indoor scene there are two new competitions this year. Firstly there is an Over 60s fours but perhaps of wider appeal will be an over 60s version of the Liberty Trophy. Cumbria’s first fixture will be against Yorkshire on Tuesday October 9 at 12.30pm.

Three away and the two games will be played at Cumbria IBC in Carlisle and Selby IBC.

Open Week: There is a fair amount of interest in Cumbria Indoor Bowls Club’s Open Week which is being staged next week. Perhaps because of the continuing bad weather.

Cumbria Indoor Bowls Club on the Viaduct Estate will be open 11am to 3pm on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday and on Thursday 5pm to 9pm for anyone to try the game.

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