Gill King and Les Sharp
Sue Moir
Paul Dalliday contesting the 2-bowl singles
Blackstones bowlers supporting their clubmates
Carol Warters and Elizabeth Wallace contest the senior pairs
Joan Robinson ahead of her CofC first round match
Moira Holroyd, Ann Holmes and Helen Holroyd with president Chris Ford
Stephen and Louise Harris in the mixed pairs
Elizabeth Wallace in action
Les Sharp in action
Whittlesey Manor bowlers contested 3-bowl rinks
Paul Dalliday, Simon Law and Tris Morton with president Dick Noble
YAXLEY PAIR EARN FINAL SPOT IN STYLE
Les Sharp and Gill King charged into the final of the senior mixed pairs at the national championship in Skegness with an emphatic win in the semi-final.
The Broadway, Yaxley duo crushed the Price/Waling combination from North Cambs 27-6 and were due to play the Durham pairing of B Errington and B Aitken in the final later this afternoon.
Stephen Harris’s hopes of reaching the 4-bowl singles final ended with a 21-18 defeat by D Fenwick (Cleveland) , while Dave Adams (Notts) put Malcolm Mann (Vanguard) out of the champion of champions singles 21-11.
FRIDAY SCHEDULE
England Under 25 indoor international Stephen Harris (Blackstones) will need to summon all his energy and experience to survive a hectic Friday of non-stop competition in which Northants bowlers are still contesting an unprecedented 11 events.
Harris challenges for at three events today starting at 9.15 with the four-bowl singles semi-final against D Fenwick (Cleveland) followed. He must then must fit in both the under 25 singles against an as yet unknown opponent and a mixed pairs final with his sister Louise against Dave Adams and his wife from Notts.
Harris has also reached the final of the under 25 Open pairs with Jack Corney (Whittlesey Manor) which will be played on Saturday.
Louise Harris meanwhile, faces the winner of the E Collins (Derbyshire) or Danielle Wild (Lincs) quarter-final at 12.15pm.
Other scheduled events which include Northants bowlers are as follows: 9.15 am – Senior mixed pairs semi-final : Les Sharp & Gill King v S Price & C Waling (N. Cambs); 10.45 am – Women’s two-bowl singles semi-final: Sue Moir v J Chapman (Hunts); Champion of Champion singles – Malcolm Mann v D Adams (Notts).
2.15pm – men’s 2-bowl rinks final – Paul Dalliday, Simon Law, Tristan Morton ( or James Harford) v Derbyshire; men’s 3-bowl rinks final – Roger Stevens, Graham Agger and Martin Welsford v Suffolk; women’s 3-bowl rinks final – Moira and Helen Holroyd & Ann Holmes v Cleveland.
THURSDAY (Continued)
As the sun set on Skegness on Thursday, Northants bowlers reached two more finals to be played on Friday afternoon.
In the respective three-bowl rinks – for men and women – Northants clinched both final places.
The Whittlesey Manor men’s trio (Roger Stevens, Graham Agger and Martin Welsford) however, had to endure a tense measure at the end of their clash against Cleveland.
With the scores level and the last bowl delivered, the umpire was called on to make the final decision which eventually went Northants way 18-17 and earned a place in the final against Suffolk.
For mother and daughter Moira and Helen Holroyd playing with skip Ann Holmes, the Stamford Town triple, secured a 14-6 victory over Northumberland to set up a final against Cleveland.
Sue Moir earned a spot in the semi-final of the two-bowl singles against Hunts’ J Chapman after beating S Clipston (Derbyshire) 21-19 but Mick Duell’s hopes of regaining the Veteran singles he won in 2016 ended with the narrowest of defeats (21-20) at the hands of Notts’ Ian Dickinson.
Malcolm Mann (Vanguard) is still going, however, in the champion of champion 2-bowl singles and having beaten D Woolford (Hunts) 21-11 faced Notts veteran D Adams.
THURSDAY
Despite the loss of Tristan Morton to commitments at the EBA finals at Leamington, the Parkway trio of Paul Dalliday, Simon Law and substitute James Harford, maintained their defence of the two-bowl triples title with a convincing win over Humberside, to reach the final at Skegness on Friday (2.15 pm).
With Law taking over the skipping duties from Morton and Harford, captain of Northants’ indoor county championship-winning side, slotting in at No.2, they beat the Humberside triple from the Cemex club in South Ferriby 21-16.
They will play Russell Robinson’s Derbyshire trio, who beat Cleveland 20-8.
Whittlesey Manor bowler Mick Duell made a good start in his bid to regain the Senior singles title he won in 2016. He beat Notts’ Paul Richie 21-15 and will play Cleveland’s P Dickinson later today.
Stephen Harris continued on his unbeaten run in four competitions. A former winner of the Under 25 Open singles in 2016 with Darren Middleton,the young Blackstones bowler this time joined Jack Corney (Whittlesey Manor) to beat a Cleveland combination 21-11.
Stephen’s sister Louise won a nail-biter in the Under 25 singles beating K Jones (Notts) 21-20 to reach Friday’s semi-finals.
Les sharp and Gill King ( Yaxley) caused one of the championship upsets when they beat 2016 winners of the senior mixed pairs Annie Lenmie and Herbie Blackstock (Northumberland) 17-15 to reach the semi-finals.
WEDNESDAY
Northants Federation bowlers moved into the closing stages of the national championships at Skegness with still hopes of repeating last year’s successes when they claimed three titles.
In the men’s two-bowl triples, defending champions Paul Dalliday, Simon Law and Tristan Morton reached the semi-finals with a 22-13 defeat of Norfolk, who had earlier beaten Lincs.
Dalliday also reached the second round of the two bowl singles defeating J Emmerson (Notts) 21-19.
The unforgiving Suncastle rinks were causing problems all round for players and in the senior mixed pairs, the frustration caused Les Sharp and Gill King to switch positions as the Federation rules allow, giving Sharp the opportunity to convert heads from skip. The pair picked up four shots on the 15th end and went on to win 17-16.
However, a switch of position just failed to prevent the Ketton senior pair of Elizabeth Wallace and Carol Warters from progressing. Warters turned their fortunes around from lead at 3-8 behind but a fortunate trail by Derbyshire skip Daphne Eaton put the result beyond doubt from 15-15.
There was also disappointment for the Yaxley rinks of Joyce Needham, Kath Browning and Viv Hempsell, who built up a healthy lead against North Essex in the two-bowl discipline only to squander it 17-12.
Elsewhere Stephen Harris again reached the semis of the Under 25 singles, defeating J Buckee (Humberside) 21-12 and was due to play T Reed (North Cambs) for a place in Friday’s semi-finals of the 4-bowl singles.
The Stamford Town triple of Moira and Helen Holroyd and Ann Holmes looked to be facing an uphill struggle against Lincs when they trailed by six, in the three bowl triples and we’re facing a six count against them.
However, when Holmes managed to grab second bowl and Helen took over at lead from her mother, fortunes quickly changed. They started piling on the pressure and went on to win 20-14.
It was just one of six successive wins at the end of an exciting day, with the Whittlesey Manor trio of Roger Martin Welsford also winning well 23-16 after the match was tied at 16-16 with two ends to play.
Late in the day, Yaxley’s Joan Robinson earned a second round spot against Northumberland with a 21-16 defeat of Lincolnshire Maureen Wilson.
Louise and Stephen Harris then completed an outstanding afternoon for Northants, beating Steve Botten and his partner from North Essex 21-18 in the mixed pairs.
They will face the Millers from North Cambs in the semi-final at a time yet to be decided.
TUESDAY
The opening day of the English Bowling Federation championships on Tuesday brought little joy for Northants bowlers with only Blackstones’s Stephen Harris and Langtoft’s Sue Moir reaching the second round.
Having beaten P Dayus (Notts) 21-7 in the four-bowl singles, Harris will play T Reed (North Cambs) on Thursday morning.
Moir was equally convincing in beating M Thompson (North Essex) 21-16 in the two bowl senior singles and takes on J Yelland (Notts) on Wednesday morning.
NWBF president Christine Ford (Ketton) held J Clifton (North Cambs) at 16-16 but lost momentum, conceding a three and two-count in the last two ends.
Defeat also came for Louise Harris and Katie Bailey (Blackstones) a 12-17 scoreline against Northumberland.
Elsewhere, last year’s mixed triples semi-finalists Sophie and Tristan and Simon Law (Parkway) went out 14-18 to North Cambs and clubmates Brian Martin and James Harford crashed out of the pairs 18-21 to Humberside.
It was similar story for the senior combination of Malcolm Mann and Mike Ramsden (Vanguard), beaten 15-19 by the Lee and Waine Huntingdonshire duo.
Malcolm Squires (City of Peterborough) was beaten 21-7 by Cleveland’s J Higgins in the secretaries singles.
