Isle of Man County Crown Green Bowling Association

Saturday saw a quality field of 29 pairs of all ages entered for the MannMade Men’s Doubles at Noble’s Number Two green, whilst the Ladies competed on Number One green, with the weather holding out for the duration of the competition.

Losing out at the quarter final stage were Evan Leece & Glenn Boland (Noble’s), with Evan playing in one of his first competitions winning two games and playing some great bowls before losing out to the Marown pairing of Matthew Keggen & Paul Kelly. The Castletown duo of Sam Clague & Nathan Hamilton lost out to Finch Hill’s Dave McCabe & Zain Abideen, with Zain fairly new to the game and is getting himself around the open competitions to gain experience. Marown pair Paul Dunn & Neil Withers lost out to Onchan duo Jordan Cain & Matthew Quirk, whilst Alan Moore & Ryan Hargraves (South Ramsey) ended the challenge of Colin Kelly & Juan Killip (Marown).

Losing out in the semi-finals were Dave McCabe & Zain Abideen 13-21 to Jordan Cain & Matthew Quirk, whilst Alan Moore & Ryan Hargraves lost out to Matthew Keggen & Paul Kelly 15-21, despite a strong start on the first end with 12-year-old Ryan trailing the jack to count for three. Young Ryan is showing that his game is definitely moving in the right direction and will be one to watch in the future.

With both finalists off a handicap of +3 it was nip and tuck in the early stages. Both finalists went with the tactic of playing a long length, however neither pair were able to get away from the other with the scores finally balanced at 11-11 after 10 ends. From there Cain and Quirk took control over the next three ends scoring a single, a four, which was then compounded by a three to jump into a 19-11 lead. Both teams played some good bowls during what was an entertaining final, however Cain & Quirk then took a single to lead 20-11, before conceding one on the next end. On the last end the Onchan pair took a single to take a 21-12 victory to claim a deserved victory.

The presentation was made by Alison Keggen, Competition Secretary for Noble’s, who thanked everyone for entering and assisting throughout the day. Tina Hampson from sponsors MannMade Group was then introduced to present the prizes.

Special thanks must go to sponsors MannMade Group, to everyone who helped make the competition a success.