Enthralling finals day at Clarence

RICHARD Crawford and David Stott teamed up for a great title double in an enthralling finals day at Clarence indoor bowling club on Sunday.

The duo and Mick Edlin, all members of Clarence men’s first team outdoors, won an exciting triples final, then Crawford and Stott prevailed to take the pairs as well after a 24-end marathon against holders Pam and Ivan Barnbrook.

In the morning triples, against Don Towie, Carol Edlin (Mick’s wife) and Audrey Powell, the all-male trio led 15-6 after 10 of the 18 ends, but were pegged back to 15-all five ends later.

Going into the last end, Stott’s team led 18-15, then two brilliant woods by Carol Edlin put her side in position to force an extra end with only the skips to come. Stott cut down the deficit for his side by drawing second wood. With the last bowl of the match, Powell suffered bad luck as her weighty effort disposed of Stott’s wood, but the jack rebounded back up the rink to give her opponents two shots and victory by 20-15.

Thus, Edlin, Crawford and Stott became the first holders of the Stan James Cup, this being the first time that Clarence have held an indoor triples championship.

After a short break for lunch, Crawford and Stott were back upstairs for the pairs final against the Barnbrooks, twice winners of the title.

The standard of play in this match was even higher than in the triples and there were never more than four shots in it.

Crawford and Stott, showing few signs of fatigue, led 19-17 going into what should have been the last end and with the latter having drawn what would have been the match-winning shot, Ivan Barnbrook killed the end, the second time he had done so.

The replay of the end produced a superb final wood from Ivan Barnbrook, as he turned a one-shot deficit into a two-shot advantage, levelling the scores and forcing an extra end, the 24th.

Stott was at his best in the decider, helping his side to build a three-shot advantage and, despite Ivan Barnbrook’s best efforts, he and Pam lost 22-19. The weary Crawford and Stott received the T and M Richardson Pairs Cup from Clarence men’s president Reg Flicker.

Last event of a long session was the singles final which, surprisingly, featured two men whose work commitments allow them little play in the daytime indoor leagues, Don Towie, in his second match, and Andy McMillan.

It was another close and exciting match, with never more than four shots between them. At 13-all after 18 ends, McMillan edged one in front, but Towie scored three on the next, moving to within five shots of victory.

However, McMillan picked up six shots, including a four, on the next two ends and closed out the match 21-16 on the 23rd end to win the Les Andrews Indoor Cup for the first time and leave Towie a runner-up for the second time on the day.

Clarence’s short-mat section held their finals day on Saturday. George Dickason beat Barry Paterson 22-10 to take the singles title. But Paterson made up for this disappointment in the pairs, partnering Roger Lavender to victory by 23-13 against Derrick Milford and Jan Lavender, Roger’s wife.

? CLLR Jocelyn Holder, deputy mayor of Weston, will be the guest of honour when Clarence Bowling Club open their season with Captain’s Day on April 9.

Announcing the news at the club’s pre-season meeting on Saturday, captain Ian Baker said that it would be a busy season for Clarence and, he hoped, a successful one.

He announced that David Stott would captain the club’s A team, who have been promoted to Premier Two of the Somerset County League for the first time after having won two successive divisional championships.

John Edwards, the club vice-captain, will captain the Blues, Clarence’s first team in the Weston & District Over-60s League. They will be playing in Division 1 following their success in winning the second division title last year.

Club president Reg Flicker welcomed three new members at the meeting and said that he hoped there would soon be quite a few more. “This is the best club in the south-west and we must make sure that it continues to thrive,” he said.

The interior of the club’s pavilion is being redecorated and working parties of members will be busy both outside and inside before the season starts.

David Stott unveiled the club’s new website, which he has created, and members agreed that it was a huge improvement on the previous site. It can be found at clarencebowls.org

Sympathy was expressed for popular member Harry Maughan, who has had his left leg amputated in Bristol Royal Infirmary.

? ST ANDREWS Indoor Club has reached an unprecedented four county finals and, remarkably Andrew Owens will feature in each.

At Donyatt he overcame Paul Denslow in the singles semi-final 21-17. In the men’s pairs he and Barrie Forse stared defeat in the face as they trailed Jason Sparkes and partner by seven shots with three ends to play at Bristol.

Yet it was the Saints who prevailed with an extra end victory. He will line up with Barrie Forse and Ken Uglow in the men’s triples and in the men’s fours Don Bailey joins Andrew, Barrie and Ken.

The finals are scheduled for April 16, but clearly Andrew is unlikely to be asked to play four finals in one day.

The play-offs in the Pro Wash Open Triples get under way tomorrow (Fri) with the Jackpots pitted against the Hunters at 6.30pm. The winners will face runaway leaders the Chasers on April 1. Meanwhile, the Classics face the Goodwoods at 8.30pm to see who will meet the Yankees the following Friday.

Saints success at national level has impacted on the club finals which were planned for the weekend of April 2/3.

Four Saints will be in action in Nottingham on that weekend, so two of the club finals will now take place on Saturday. Pat Uglow and Andrew Owens will face Danny and Meg Favis in the mixed pairs at 10am. Later in the day, Ken Uglow meets Andrew Owens in the men’s singles final.

? MEMBERS of Woodspring Indoor Bowling Club took part in the Woodspring Challenge, an annual event consisting of 12 games, six on each rink, of two-wood triple.

This is a fun day as four teams - red, blue, white and green compete against each other in friendly rivalry for the grand prize of an Easter egg. After four games the teams were level pegging on two points each, after eight games there was a four point difference between the highest and lowest.

Eventually, the Red team won by two points. The next big event is the club finals played over the weekend of April 2/3. Vying for the men’s championship are Tony Williams and Clive Winser and for the ladies, Jean Beat and Rose Cleeves.