The Islands premier doubles competition the Plumbmaster Doubles Championship was hosted by Noble’s Bowling Club on Sunday. The competition was played 21up off a handicap of +3 for all competitors. The event was well supported with 31 pairs entering in a bid to win the coveted title.

At the quarter final stage the holders Neil Withers and Paul Dunn (Marown) had a tough battle against Neil Dunwell (Onchan) and Lee Dawson (South Ramsey) as the Crosby men prevailed 21-18. Dave ‘Barney’ Kelly and Stevie Kelly (Peel) just crept home 21-20 against Rob Monk (North Ramsey) and Matthew Quirk (Onchan).

In the other half of the draw both games were also close as South Ramsey’s Glynn Hargraves and Stefan Kelly beat the Onchan pairing of Kevin Quirk and Steve Parker 21-19, whilst Jordan Drewett (Castletown) and Dean Kinley (Peel) lost out 17-21 to Matthew Keggen and Paul Kelly (Marown).

In the semi-finals Dunn and Withers were up against the father and son Barney and Stevie Kelly, with only singles scored in the first nine ends the score was 9-6 to the Marown pair. The Peel men briefly took with the lead on the 10th end, with a four scored only to concede a two and a three to trail 10-14. Just seven more ends were needed for Withers and Dunn to reach the final despite only winning three of the ends, they scored a single, a four and a double to secure a 21-14 win.

The other semi-final saw Glynn Hargraves and Stefan Kelly take on Matthew Keggen and Paul Kelly, this was more straightforward as the Marown pairing were kept down to five singles as the South Ramsey men progressed to the final with a 21-8 victory.

On the first end in the final, this ended up a dead end with the jack being taken off the green by Kelly. On the next end a three was scored by the South Ramsey pair, this prompted an immediate response from the Crosby men with two singles, two doubles and three three’s in between conceding just two singles to take a commanding 18-8 lead, with the Marown pair playing good bowls along with the ability to take out their opponents counting bowls. A three from Hargraves and Kelly, prompted a double for Withers and Dunn to put the score at 20-11 to the Marown men.

Withers headed for an edge putting up a good lead bowl to count one for game. With nothing to lose Hargraves came close to taking out the counting bowl only to take out his nearest bowl. Lying three down Kelly used a side bowl to come in off which Kelly did to perfection, with a good bit of fortune they counted for two to put the score at 13-20. Heading for the corners a good lead bowl from Hargraves was beaten by Withers with a front ‘toucher’, which gave Kelly two goes to kill the end, with the second attempt just missing this sealed a fully deserved 21-13 victory to win the title for a fourth successive year, following their wins at Port St Mary in 2020, Peel in 2021, and South Ramsey last year.

The presentation was made by Association President Phil Kelly, who thanked Noble’s Bowling Club and their members for providing helpers throughout the day, along with the competition team for the smooth running of the competition.

The final of the Plumbmaster Rayner Plate took place on Friday evening in windy conditions between second division side Ballaugh A (+45) who are battling for promotion as they occupy second place and first Division side Peel Sunset B (+35) who sit in 9th place in the top division.

Peel would have started as favourites as they ply their trade above the Ballaugh men, with the latter team having a 10 chalk start this was just over one chalk a man for Peel to claw back, however Ballaugh have a good mix of new bowlers, along with their experienced players.

The evening started positively for Peel as captain Paul Quirk stormed to a 21-6 win over John Keenan, with the Ballaugh man never getting a look in as Peel went five chalks ahead on the night. The next game off was a first win for Ballaugh as Mike Spooner one of the newest bowlers in the team beat Geoff Rice 21-15, with Spooner keeping Rice down to scoring just one double, whilst scoring seven doubles himself, with this being the main difference.

The third game went to one of the most experienced players on the green, with John Maddrell determined to show he can still mix it with the younger players as he beat Andy Mackie 21-13. Another one of the Ballaugh stalwarts delivered as Edgar Cowin recovered from a 6-11 deficit against Rob Middleton to take a 21-19 victory, with Cowin seeing the game out with five successive singles, when trailing 16-19.

At the half way stage Ballaugh had maintained and extended their 10 chalk head start over Peel by a solitary chalk to 11 chalks (114-103).

In the second half of the match, with a first ever Team Cup win in their sights Ballaugh captain Phil Quayle ensured the pressure was kept on Peel as he put in a good performance to beat Mick Kavanagh 21-13 to build up a 19 chalk lead. With the remaining three games for Ballaugh going in their favour, the win was all but confirmed as game number six came off, with Richard Hainge also winning to 21-13 as he put in a solid performance to beat Dave Smith.

Next off was the youngest player to play on the night in Patrick Grant, who looked like he could have a game on his hands with Dougie Allan, who is a tough customer. The younger and less experienced bowler never looked in doubt as he went on to seal a 21-13 win over Allan. Putting the cherry on the cake on the night was Nigel Tebay who ensured it was a resounding win for Ballaugh as he beat Alan Cromwell 21-16.

The all-important chalks went in Ballaugh’s favour as they won by a massive 40 chalks (198-158) to ensure the handicap difference of 10 chalks never came into play, whilst also winning 7-1 on games.

The presentation was made by Competition Committee Officer Steve Moore who thanked Finch Hill for hosting the final, along with providing measurers and the refreshments. Captain Phil Quayle was then presented with the trophy, he congratulated his team on their performance and offered his commiserations to Peel.

Rayner Plate Final Results

The Isle of Man Team took part in the 2023 BCGBA Senior Supplementary County Championship which was held on Sunday at Bellingham Bowling Club in Wigan on a good playing surface.

Drawn in Group 1, as expected the opposition was tough with Cheshire, South Yorkshire and Wales awaiting.

In the first round of matches the eight man team were up against Cheshire as the
the Manx men won 5-3 on games with Peter Jones, Paul Dunn, David Bradford, Bob Clark and Glynn Hargraves all winning, with the three games lost being to high scores (17,19 & 19) as they scored highly to win by 25 chalks (160-135) to make a positive start to pick up two points for the win.

In their second round match South Yorkshire were the opposition, the team managed to win three individual games with the winners being Paul Dunn, Jordan Cain and Bob Clark. Losing out in close games were David Bradford who lost 17-21 to Ross Meese and Neil Withers who was beaten 17-21 by Tom Boyd as they lost this one by a margin of 13 chalks (137-150) just two chalks a man to show the very fine margins between victory and defeat.

In their final match they faced Wales with all still to play for, winning four individual games from Peter Jones, Jordan Cain, David Bradford and Matthew Quirk. The team ultimately won the all important chalks as they won by 9 chalks (150-141) to pick up two points for the victory, helped by high scores from Neil Withers (20), Glynn Hargraves (18) and Bob Clark (17).

Cheshire ended up topping the group, going on to the reach the final where they came up against Warwick & Worcestershire who prevailed in Group 2, in a group that included Merseyside, North Midlands and Potteries. In the final Warwick & Worcestershire edged out Cheshire as they won by just four chalks (146-142) with the winners hanging on to a 22 chalk lead at the half way stage to take the title home.

The Isle of Man Team who were managed by Phil Kerruish and assisted by Juan Kermode finished in a very respectable second place on four points in the group to surpass last years performance in this competition, as they also finished +21 on aggregate chalks to show they can compete with other counties, with Cheshire progressing largely thanks to a huge 50 chalk win over Wales in their second round match, they then went on to beat South Yorkshire by seven chalks to also finish on four points and progress to the final with a better aggregate (+32) than the Isle of Man.

To put this into perspective the Isle of Man have just 13 bowling greens available on the Island, with a limited pool of bowlers to choose from. Whilst other counties have hundreds of greens to play on and thousands of bowlers to pick from, it could well be argued that the Isle of Man are punching above their weight.

A great team effort overall, with all players winning at least one game, no defeats to single figures and generally high scores even in defeat helping contribute to the overall result. It says a lot that the team were disappointed not to reach the final, to show the expectation has increased within the squad.