The weekend of 5th to 8th
December saw us back at Hemsby again, this time for our second
annual Christmas Break.
A total of 52 pairs entered
the event. The numbers were a little down on the same time last
year, although this was down to our weekend at Gunton Hall back
in October. The close proximity of the two events meant that
the majority of people chose to do either one event or the other.
Indeed there were several new
faces at Hemsby which meant that instead of the 70 pairs that
we had for one event at the end of last year, we had 100 pairs
over 2 events this year.
Round Robin - Game 1
24 pairs were off to a winning start with their first game.
John Whiting & Gordon
Bloomfield led the
way with 18 shots, followed by Ken Drane & Mike Daniels
on 15 shots. Third place was held by Alan & Josie Long
who had 13 shots and they were followed by Iris Allen &
Joyce Wilson and Peter & Jean Blackley, each of
whom had 12 shots to their name.
Round Robin - Game 2
The second round of games saw no change in the top 3 positions.
John Whiting & Gordon Bloomfield continued with their
impressive start, now having accumulated all of 32 shots on their
way to their pair of wins. Ken Drane & Mike Daniels
had moved on to 20 shots while Alan & Josie Long and
Roy & Kath Howe were both hot on their heels with
19 shots. Meanwhile Gloria Bloom & Pauline Collins
were now in 5th, heading a host of teams on 4 points and 17 shots.
In total 13 teams where left
on the maximum 4 points, all of whom were going to qualify for
the knockout stages if they could manage to win all their remaining
games.
Round Robin - Game 3
Yet again there was very little change at the top, following
the third round of games as the top 3 continued with their very
fine starts.
John Whiting & Gordon
Bloomfield had now
moved on to 51 shots from their 3 wins and inevitably continued
to lead the way. Ken Drane & Mike Daniels followed
just behind as they all the way, so far, now with 34 shots to
their name and Alan & Josie Long were still lying
in the third spot which they held from the first game, now on
31 shots.
Gloria Bloom & Pauline
Collins continued their
gradual climb up the standings, now moving into fourth on 25
shots, just ahead of David & Julie Hurr, on 24 shots.
Just 7 teams were now left
with perfect records, followed by a further 3 who had dropped
just a single point, meaning that the whole host of teams that
had already lost one game had quickly come back into contention
for a spot in the final 16.
Round Robin - Game 4
Saturday's last set of games finally brought about some change
in the standings, and what a change it was. The top 3 teams all
suffered losses, as 5 of the 7 teams with previously perfect
records, dropped points.
It was Gloria Bloom &
Pauline Collins who ended the day on top with 4 wins out
of 4, followed closely, as ever, by David & Julie Hurr,
just 3 shots behind.
The only other remaining team
who had yet to be beaten were 3rd placed Sylvia & John
Disley who stood alone on 7 points.
Following the top 3 were a
huge cluster of 15 teams, all on 6 points. In fact at this stage
it was so close that despite losing their last games, the teams
that had previously held the top 2 spots, John Whiting &
Gordon Bloomfield and Ken Drane & Mike Daniels
had only fallen to 4th and 5th places respectively.
Round Robin - Game 5
While a sound night's sleep may have been a tonic to some of
the teams, it clearly wasn't so for the overnight leaders as
it was all change once again first thing on Sunday morning.
The two remaining perfect records
went south and the team left at the top of the pile were the
only ones not to have lost a game. Sylvia & John Disley
won their penultimate game of the weekend, taking them on to
9 points, first place and into the next round, the only team
to have guaranteed a place in the knockout rounds at this stage.
In total there were now 9 teams
on 8 points, headed by Ken Drane & Mike Daniels who
had risen back up to their familiar second place, with 46 shots.
Alan & Josie Long were once again back up to 3rd place,
with 43 shots, the same as 4th placed John & June Elliott.
And 5th place was now held by Iris Allen & Joyce Wilson
who had 42 shots.
Round Robin - Final Game
Sylvia & John Disley
won their final game to retain their record as the weekend's
only unbeaten team and finish as the top qualifiers.
The remainder of the top 5
were made up of the only other teams to have dropped no more
than 2 points over the course of their 6 games. Ken Drane
& Mike Daniels ended up where they had started, in second
place, while third went to David & Julie Hurr.
Finishing in fourth place were
Marjorie Brennan & Valerie Game, albeit that a last
minute replacement was needed for Marjorie, in the shape of Chris
Tilbrook, after she injured her leg overnight. The 5th place
finishers were Ruth Bird & Janet Shinn who quite remarkably
managed the feat of winning 5 out of 6 games and yet ended up
with the exact same number of shots for and against, having won
3 games by a single shot and 2 games by just 2.
The remaining qualifiers were
made up of 3 teams on 9 points and 8 who had finished on 8 points,
including Ray & Jennie Collins who had managed to
drag themselves up from 37th place and only 1 win after their
first 3 games and the overnight leaders, Gloria Bloom &
Pauline Collins who made their way through, despite losing
both of their games on Sunday.
Knockout Stages
As usual the draw for the knockout stage of the event is based
on the results of the Round Robin stage, with the top qualifiers
taking on the bottom qualifiers, ie 1st plays 16th, 2nd plays
15th, etc.
The biggest surprise of the
First Round was the 7-4 defeat of Ken Drane & Mike Daniels,
who had finished 2nd, by 15th placed Gloria Bloom & Pauline
Collins. The only other result which went against form was
11th placed Harold & Patricia Ball's 7-4 defeat of
6th placed John & June Elliott.
Long time leaders John Whiting
& Gordon Bloomfield made their way through 7-6 by virtue
of 2 shots scored on the final end of their game with Joe
& Irene Woodward. Chris Tilbrook (standing in
for Marjorie Brennan) & Val Game had a comfortable
8-3 win over Iris Allen & Joyce Wilson who by simply
qualifying had managed by far their best performance in one of
our events.
Ruth Bird & Janet Shinn took a close fought 6-4 win over Margaret
& Leslie Hurrell, while Sylvia & John Disley,
the top qualifiers, took a comfortable 13-2 win over Richard
& Helen Cook.
Alan & Josie Long took control of their game against
Jane Evans & Joan Fairs early on and finished 9-4
ahead. And finally David & Julie Hurr finished 14-4
up over Ray & Jennie Collins, having taken 8 shots
over the last 2 ends.
Quarter Finals
With the exception of the very comfortable 14-1 win by Chris
Tilbrook & Val Game over Ruth Bird & Janet Shinn,
the Quarter Finals were all about comebacks.
Harold & Patricia Ball took 4 shots on the first end of their
game against David & Julie Hurr, but the game was
back to 4-4 by the next end, after which David & Julie went
on to take the game 8-5.
Gloria Bloom & Pauline
Collins were 4-1 up
4 ends into their tie with Alan & Josie Long but lost
the lead and then the game as the Long's took the match 6-4.
But the biggest comeback was
in the game between John Whiting & Gordon Bloomfield
and Sylvia & John Disley. Four ends in and it was
just 3-2 in favour of John & Gordon, but by the 6th they
were 6-2 up and only one end to go, but remarkably Sylvia &
John had the game tied with their final wood still to come and
scored with that last one to take 5 on the end and the game 7-6.
Semi Finals
Although both matches were won by what looked like comfortable
margins the final scores certainly bely what were in reality
much closer games.
Alan & Josie Long had control of their game with David
& Julie Hurr from the very first and after that the Hurrs
were forced to chase the game with the Longs able to take a more
defensive approach which in the end saw them to a 13-1 win.
The other game was somewhat
closer with Sylvia & John Disley all square with Chris
Tilbrook & Val Game at 3-3 after 4 ends, but the next
2 ends were decisive as the Disley's swept out to an 8-3 lead
with just one end to go, as they finally came home winners 8-4.
Final
Judging from the previous rounds and indeed the first couple
of ends of the final it looked as if we were headed for a close
affair. But a run of 5 straight winning ends for Alan &
Josie Long saw them edge further and further ahead of Sylvia
& John Disley to the point where the game was technically
over before the last end was played. The final score was 8-3
as the Disley's fell to their first defeat of the weekend and
the Longs became the 7th different winner in 7 events.
The full results of the weekend's
bowling can be found here. |
AND FINALLY
We would once again like to thank everyone for another great
weekend and for helping us to raise another £200 in aid of MacMillan Cancer
Support and of
course we would also like to give special thanks to all those
who kindly gave up their time over the weekend to help sell draw
tickets.
tanddcarpetbowls@gmail.com
8th
December 2008 |