The 6th edition of our annual
Christmas Break took place at Hemsby over the weekend of 30th
November to 3rd December.
FOURS
The warm up to the main event was the Fours which took place
over Friday and Saturday nights.
Each team had 2 games per night
with the winners decided on the results of those games.
Only 2 teams made it through
the first night unbeaten, those of Keith & Prim Hume and
Tony & Patricia Staines and Angela Gee and Mick Harpley
and Alan & Kath Powis.
However on Saturday the Gee/Harpley/Powis
team were unable to repeat their performance from the night before,
leaving it for the Hume/Staines team to win as they won another
2 games, finishing 2 points clear of the runners-up Tony &
Lin Cooke and Jim & Janet Squares.
PAIRS
Saturday
Ten teams came through Saturday morning's pair of games with
2 wins. Leading the way were Tony & Lin Cooke who had managed
to amass 27 shots in their pair of wins.
They were followed closely
by Sam & Trish Agnew, Ken Drane & Val Game, Ray &
Jennie Collins, Betty Johnson & Chris Tilbrook and Mike &
Judy Easy, all of whom had scored at least 20 shots so far.
The remaining double winners
were Dave Cask & Mike Daniels, Bob & Ruth Withers, Keith
& Prim Hume and Aubrey & Sheila Mann.
But as usual these things never
last for long and perhaps lunchtime took it's toll on one or
two of the teams. First to slip up where the leaders. Taking
on the team that were laying last but one they would no doubt
have fancied their chances of extending their winning run, but
Lin & Tony unexpectedly lost and as a result fell back in
the standings, although they were still just inside the top 10.
Taking their place at the top
were Betty Johnson & Chris Tilbrook, while Ray & Jennie
Collins, Sam & Trish Agnew, Ken Drane & Val Game and
Mike & Judy Easy also went to 3 wins out of 3.
Saturday's final round of games
knocked the number of teams with a perfect record down to a mere
3. Betty Johnson & Chris Tilbrook were still leading the
way, followed by Sam & Trish Agnew, with Mike & Judy
Easy in third place.
Next up were a further 3 teams
who were still unbeaten but who had each drawn one of their games.
They were Peter & Kay Masters, Gordon Bloomfield & John
Whiting and Bob & Ruth Withers.
With 12th place, the final
qualifying spot now held by a team on just 4 points the top 3
teams had all but done enough to see themselves through to Sunday
afternoon's games. And the next 3 were all but there also, but
behind them it was all to play for.
Sunday
Sam & Trish Agnew continued their perfect run with a fifth
win and became the first team to qualify for the Knockout Stages.
Although Mike & Judy Easy
were unable to maintain their run of wins they did manage a draw
which was enough to see them through. Also moving on to 9 points,
still undefeated and booking their place for Sunday afternoon
were Gordon Bloomfield & John Whiting and Bob & Ruth
Withers.
Betty Johnson & Chris Tilbrook
duly completed their 5th win to guarantee their qualification,
along with Peter & Kay Masters who finished their 6 games
with a total of 9 points.
Half of the qualification spots
were now spoken for, with perhaps 11 teams in with a realistic
chance of capturing one of the remaining 6 places.
The next batch of qualifiers
were Ken Drane & Val Game and Lin & Tony Cooke and the
next round of matches saw David & Julie Hurr, Keith &
Prim Hume and Jim & Janet Squares.
And so with one round of matches
still left to go there was just one place left to fill and it
was going to be between 2 teams. Alan & Josie Long were finished
on 7 points and the only team that could still overtake them
were Alan & Kath Powis who needed only a draw, provided they
scored more than 6 shots. However, going into the last end they
were 5-2 down and seemingly out of it, but remarkably they came
back with a 5 shot haul to win the game and qualify.
So out of those teams the top
4 who would go straight through to the Quarter Finals were the
only one not to have lost a game, Betty Johnson & Chris Tilbrook,
Sam & Trish Agnew, Gordon Bloomfield & John Whiting and
Bob & Ruth Wither, the first two of whom won all their games,
while the next two dropped only one point each.
Knockout Rounds
First Round
Ken Drane & Val Game took a comfortable 15-2 win over Alan
& Kath Powis and the same was true for Keith & Prim Hume
who beat Peter & Kay Masters 12-4.
Tony & Lin Cooke were tied
5-5 with Jim & Janet Squares with 2 ends to go, but the Squares
took the 6th end and on the final end forced their opposition
into a shot which took the jack off, leaving the Squares 9-5
victors.
And equally close was the game
between Mike & Judy Easy and David & Julie Hurr which
yielded just one shot per end. It was the Hurrs, though, that
got the better of it, winning 5-2.
Quarter Finals
Gordon Bloomfield & John Whiting had a 6-4 lead over Jim
& Janet Squares with 2 ends to go, but the Squares came through
to overhall their opponents and go through with an 8-6 win.
Keith & Prim Hume took
4 on the first end against Sam & Trish Agnew and never looked
back. The previously unbeaten Agnews were never bale to recover
and finally lost 9-2.
The other team that had previously
won all their games, Betty Johnson & Chris Tilbrook finally
met their match, losing 6-3 to David & Julie Hurr.
But closest of all were Bob
& Ruth Withers and Ken Drane & Val Game. The Withers
had been 5-2 ahead with 2 ends to go, but Ken and Val came back
to draw level after 7 ends and take the game to an extra end
which they went on to win.
Semi Finals
Jim & Janet Squares kept it pretty close with Keith &
Prim Hume over the first half of the game, but the Humes came
strong in the last half, running out to an 8-1 win.
Ken Drane & Val Game were
only 4-3 up with 2 ends to go against David & Julie Hurr
but had the best of the last couple of ends to finish 7-3 ahead.
Final
If the semi-finals weren't as closely fought as one might have
expected, the same was not true of the final which went all the
way down to the wire.
Keith & Prim Hume made
a promising start with 2 on the first end. The next end was tied,
but Ken & Val levelled the score on the third.
The Humes were back in front
with a shot on the 4th end and added another on the next to lead
4-2, in a game as close as this one it was a promising lead.
But once again Ken & Val
fought back, getting back to level and leaving it all to be settled
on the last end.
And that final end was another
cracker, which eventually went to Ken & Val, denying the
Humes of their double.
Both teams played so well that
it was a shame that anyone had to lose, but it was a great climax
to the weekend.
Once again we owe a debt of
thanks to everyone who joined us for the weekend, and for helping
us to raise another £250 for the East
Anglia Air Ambulance.
tanddcarpetbowls@gmail.com
5th
December 2012 |