BOWLS REPORT - August 27th 2011
The early exchanges were all in Sanderson's favour as Thomson struggled to get to grips with the wet conditions, in fact a quick finish was on the cards as Sanderson raced into a 16-3 lead however a change of length by Thomson got the score back to 17-12 and the Marine player looked to have grabbed the initiative and at one stage got back to 18-17, however Sanderson wasn't to be denied his own piece of history as the defending champion regrouped and went onto to win 21-17.
The seniors final saw Houghton Dairy Lane's Locky Todd face Roker Marine's John Smith, just like the main final a quick finish was on the cards as Todd raced into a 11-3 lead, with Smith struggling to find a length up the heavy way Todd continued to put distance between the jack and the mat and consistently produced counting length bowls to lead 16-6, with the writing on the wall for the Marine player Todd went on to record a fine 21-12 win and seal a first Sunderland & District title.
The Sunderland Womens Bowling Association also held its champion of champions competition this time at Silksworth, in the final Sunderland's Sue Almond defeated Roker Park's Maureen Firth 21-17, in the semi final's Almond defeated Whitburn's Muriel Felce 21-6 while Firth defeated Houghton Town's Ellen Faith 21-15. The new SWBA league champions are Silksworth ladies who pipped Houghton Dairy Lane by a half point.
All the S&D league's have been completed although the secretary is still waiting two scorecards, Earl match Silksworth v Seaham Town and Storey Bowl Hylton CW v Hetton Wkmen. The remaining promotion and relegation places have been clarified, in the Howey division one Houghton Town B are relegated into division two while Hetton Workmen's failure to take maximum points from there final game means Barnes West End held on to the second promotion place from division two and will join Ryhope in the top flight next season. The Storey Bowl title has been decided after Hetton Workmen's defeated there nearest challengers Seaham Town to retain there title, Hetton currently have a 100% record with thirteen straight wins which might be fourteen subject to the outstanding result card against Hylton CW, the Hetton success means the run of Storey bowl winners beginning with the letter H is stretched to 11 years on the trot.
Following his Worthing success Silksworth's David Bolt heads to Manchester this weekend to compete in the Northern Counties championship, in the singles Bolt faces a semi final tie against either Cumbria's David Stanton or Yorkshire's David Tooley, the other semi final is between Lancashire's Jason Parkinson and Northumberland's Chris Palmer. In the pairs Bolt and Silksworth clubmate Keith Avery face a preliminary tie against Northumberland's Paul Ging with the winners facing Lancashire's Alec Atkinson in the semi final, the other semi final is between Yorkshire's Nigel Brignall and Cumbria's Edwin Orchid. On the adjoining green at Manchester the Durham youngsters were due to take part in the annual Northern Counties Under 21's Top Nine tournament sadly due to unforeseen circumstances Durham have withdrawn.
The league programme commences at Crowtree on Monday with league play taking place on various sessions Monday to Sunday, all casual bowlers are reminded that bookings are still being taken at reception upto October 1st after that date the indoor club will be handling all the bookings, also payment for bowls lockers need to be made at reception before October 1st after that date all payments will need to be done via the indoor club. Players in the Saturday and Sunday leagues are reminded that the start times for both leagues have been changed to 1030, this is due to a change in centre opening times which are due to be introduced after October 1st. The indoor clubs 34th annual general meeting takes place at Crowtree on Sunday 11th September at 1245.