St Georges Cup iv Match Report

Report by Mitchell Young.

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Pairs Session 1

To kick the proceedings off with the pairs was Dave Wall and Warwick France who faced Ryan Knight and James Smith, with The South duo proved too strong for opening pair to win 21-10 and got the first point on the board for The South.

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The next pair featured Mitch Harvey and Luke Lane against Paul Pomeroy and James Trott and was a tight affair until late on. The Northern pair pulled away and secured a 21-15 to level up the contest. The following pair saw Tony Colclough and Glyn Bereford face Chris Mann and Roger Wiggins and went nearly all the way but The Southern pairing edged The Northerners 21-17 to put The South back in front.

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The fourth pair was Mick Tandy and Chris Willies who played Steve Puttock and Dom Reed, this game went to the wire with both sides battling to get to 21 but the force of Tandy and Willies shone through to take the deciding shot and point to level it up once again.

 

After that followed Rich Clay and Nigel Towey who encountered James Bucknall and Lee Toleman which The Southern pair hit the ground running and finished in style 21-3 to regain the lead 3-2.

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Following them was Dennis Leather and Keith Smith who played Mark White and Barry Hedges with White and Hedges getting out the blocks and finished convincingly 21-1 to put another point on the board for The South. Then stepped up Phil Warr and Macolm Follis to face Ken Sleat and Jody Bright, The South took an early lead but slipped behind 19-15.Bright and Sleat didn’t give up and fought back to 20-20 and the deciding end went in favour of The South side to knotch up another point.

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The final game of the session had Graham Wiggins and Dave Wilson play Dan Windmill and Mike Ivings. Windmill and Ivings managed to get in front and maintain their lead during the middle period of the game and finished off with a 21-12 win to finish the session and give The South a 6-2 lead.

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Pairs Session 2

The second sessions opening pair had Graham Follis and Simon Willies face Dave Lamb and Melvin Woods. The Norfolk pairing started well and continued till the end to win 21-10 to start where The South ended the previous session. Although the next pair up was Chris Pegg and Scott Follis against Chris Page and Steve Stanton, The Northern duo got infront and kept it that way as they started the comeback for The North and won 21-13.

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Next up was Nick Tideswell and Keith Alders facing Ken Kelly and Simon Pridham. The Devon duo got an early lead and held it leading 20-14 but struggled to get the crucial point. Alders and Tideswell fought back to 20-20 but Pridham and Kelly regained composure and took the deciding end and another point for The South. Following them was Steve Bailey and Lee Lowery who faced Jack Barrett and Bronaugh Malone. The West Midlands double stormed in to the lead and was too much of a climb for The Southerners as Lowery and Bailey won 21-13.

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Stepped up next was Matt Fellows and Allan Williams against Les Woodwood and Dave Wiggins another tight match up as this went to the wire of 20-20 but in the penultimate end Fellows and Williams edged the game to keep The North side ticking over to win 21-20.

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Following them up was Josh Towey and Chris Williams against Malcolm Rollings and Marc Lancaster, The North pairing got a lead and pushed on to win comfortably 21-9. After them was Darran Beardmore and Martin Simcock who faced Jack Shephard and Gareth Davies. Once again The South slipped behind in the early stages and struggled to get back into the game and lost 21-12 to put The North back in the frame.

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The final doubles in the pairs was Simon Brindley and Alan Jones who faced Craig Burgess and Mitchell Young. Both duos keep it tight at 14-14 but The South pairing managed to pull away and take the match 21-15 to maintain The South’s lead, but was narrowing by the game, with it being 9-7 at the break.

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Fours

In the afternoon was the first of the fours being Mcolclough, Wall, France and Berisford played Knight, Mann, Davies and Smith to take an early lead and extended it to the end 22-10. The second four featured Fellows, Brindley, Tideswell and Williams against Rollings, Lancaster, Bright and Burgess which went to the last end as it stood 15-15 but The North quartet held of The South side to win 16-15.

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Next up was Bailey, Willies, Lowery and Willies who contested against Barrett, Bucknall, Malone and Toleman but The Southerners did enough and kept their opponents at bay to win 15-9. Followed them was Tandy, Pegg, Alders, Follis competed against Kelly, Pridham, Stanton and Reed could not keep up with The North rink as they pulled away in the final ends to win 15-11.

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Continuing The North surge was Follis, Wilson, Harvey and Lane as they were too strong for Puttock, Ivings, Pomeroy and Trott as they won 20-11. To follow them was Towey, Wiggins, Williams, Follis as they took the win after a tight game 15-11 pulling away in the final stages against Shephard, Young, White and Hedges.

The North won another fours as Towey, Warr, Simcock and Jones dominated from the off and steamed to a 21-9 win against Windmill, Woodwood, Sleat and Wiggins. The final four a restored point for The South as Page, Lamb, Woods and Wiggins won 20-10 against Clay, Beardmore, Leather and Smith. The session finished with The North coming out on top winning 5-3 and levelling up the contest at 12-12, ready for the start of day 2.

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Day 2- Fours

As Day two commenced the game stood all square it was all to play for both neck and neck. The first four out for The North was Clay, Beardmore, Pitcher and Smith who had a tight affair against Knight, Mann, Davies and Smith. It went to the last end as The South quartet made a comeback after being behind but couldn’t get over the line and The North four took the win.

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Second up were Towey, Warr, Simcock and Jones who managed to pull away from Barrett, Bucknall, Malone and Toleman and won 19-14 to stretch The North’s lead to two. Followed them was Towey, Wiggins, Follis and Williams nicked another tight match 12-10 against Kelly, Pridham, Bright and Wiggins to stretch the lead to three. The tides turned after that as France, Wilson, Harvey and Lane were beaten by Iving, Pomeroy, Trott and White 13-9 to narrow the deficit to 15-13.

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To follow was Stanton, Rollings, Lancaster and Burgess who edged their game against Tandy, Pegg, Alders and Follis 14-12 to put The South within one. Next up was Bailey, Willies, Lowery and Willies who faced Sleat, SHephard, Young, Hedges was in the game until the final third as The South four finished strong to win 18-7 and bring it back to level terms.

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Following them was Fellows, Brindley, Tideswell and Williams lost out to Windmill, Woodwood, Puttock and Reed 15-11 for The South to regain the lead. The final four in the morning session had Colclough, Wall, Leather and Berisford who took a big lead early on 11-2 and saw off Page, Lamb, Woods and Wiggins 15-9. Equalising the contest at 16-16 going in to the singles in the afternoon, leaving it all open for either side to take.

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Singles

The final session got underway and The South’s first singles player was Lee Toleman who got the ball rolling again for host’s as he got a point on the board beating Matt Fellows 21-15. The second match up was Paul Pomroy and Alan Jones who was too strong for Pomroy as he won 21-15 and again levelled up the game.

Following them was Jody Bright who faced Jon Pitcher who had a strong finish and pulled away from Bright to win 21-12. Next up was Scott Follis who got infront of James Bucknall and got the point on the board for The North as he won 21-10.

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Chris Williams was next up to face Chris Mann but Williams held of Mann to come home with another point for The North 21-16 were gaining momentum with four game streak. This continued as Alan Williams beat Gareth Davies after Davies kept himself in the game for as long as he could but Williams put the game to bed and won 21-16.

Micheal Ivings was next up against Luke Lane, Ivings was leading and looked to take the point in the final stages but Lane fought back hard and grinded out a win which looked out of reach and continued The North’s surge as they stretched out to a 22-17 lead from Lanes 21-19 win. Ken Sleat steadied the ship and put a well-earned point against Keith Alders as Sleat won 21-15.

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Mick Tandy was up against it facing Dom Reed as he breezed to a 21-5 win and brought The South within four. Dan Windmill played Nigel Towey who held his own, but Windmill go the better of Towey to take the victory 21-13.

Mitchell Harvey faced Ryan Knight in the next game which went all the way as it was kept tight by both players, Knight was 20-18 behind but picked up a game winning three to snatch the game from Harvey.

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The South were now building momentum as Ken Kelly and Glyn Berisford was a classic with Kelly’s determination never to give up despite being behind for the whole game. He chipped away and it went to the penultimate end at 20-20 with Kelly’s fortunate bowl being the game clincher. The South were on the up and Dave Lamb kept the points rolling in as he won 21-7 against Chris Willies to once again level up the contest 22-22.

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Lee Lowery stopped the rot as he stormed to victory against Mark Lancaster 21-12 and take The North back infront. James Smith could not beat a great performance from Simon Brindley as he won 21-14 to extend their lead to two points infront. Jack Barrett showed his good run of form to win 21-11 against Martin Simcock to bring it back to within one point.

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Roger Wiggins made light work of Warrick France as he stormed to victory 21-3 and tied up the contest. Dave Wall was up next to face Melvin Woods which went to the wire as Wall held on despite being behind but fought back well to nick a 21-20 win to reinforce their lead. Followed them was Keith Smith who faced Mitchell Young which was tight for long periods of the match but Young managed to sneak infront and hold of Smith to win 21-17 and equalise the scoreline.

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Josh Towey came through against The South’s Malcolm Rollings as he won 21-13 to level up the match again. Bronaugh Malone played The North’s Tony Colclough and got her point on the board for The South as she won 21-9. Phil Warr swept past Steve Stanton as he won 21-17 to keep The Northerners in the hunt and still fighting.

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James Trott was next up to face Steve Bailey and Trott maintained The South’s slender lead winning 21-7. Malcolm Follis beat Jack Shephard 21-13 to heap more pressure on The South side with every point being crucial for each side. Barry Hedges collected his point for The South as he secured a 21-6 win. Richard Clay came out on top of Chris Page as he flew to a convincing 21-6 victory and put The North back on level terms. Mark White acquired his point after grinding out his win against Dennis Leather 21-12.

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Nick Tideswell comprehensively won 21-6 against Les Woodwood to really ask the question of The South whether they can see off The North side. Craig Burgess faced Dave Wilson and beat The Northerner 21-11 to put The South within a point of regaining The St Georges Cup at 31-30 overall. Simon Pridham faced Darran Beardmore in what turned out to be the reassurance game for The South. Pridham got in front and just ticked over the ends to win 21-16 and retain The St Georges Cup.

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This was not the end though for The North as they were not lying down and were determined to get the draw as Chris Pegg won against Dave Wiggins 21-12 to bring it back to 32-31 with one game remaining of the weekend.

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The final game Steve Puttock vs Graham Wiggin a fierce and hard fought game by both players. The game turned every which way it could as Wiggins was 20-14 up it looked inevitable for a simple draw. This was not the case Puttock slowly plodded along and pressured Wiggins as he struggled to get to the final shot. Puttock made a great fight back to 20-19 going in to the penultimate end and was lying game on with Wiggins still one bowl remaining.

 

Wiggins flew down his bowl looking for contact and then it was in the lap of the gods for about two seconds which Wiggins’s bowl rolled through the scattering bowls to take the shot and snatch the victory from The South to finish the contest as they started in a draw 32-32.

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A fitting end to what was a great weekend for an amazing cause Great Ormand Street and as Phil Mills The South Captain summed up the weekend “Bowls was the winner here today” and it was.

 

The passion and emotion showed this weekend was what it is all about, I’m sure everyone already cannot wait till next year.

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For more articles please go to my blog at mitchymillwoll.wordpress.com

Thank you for reading, Mitchell Young