Isle of Man County Crown Green Bowling Association

With only six more games after this week’s Tower Insurance Over 60’s League the race for the title remains the same with North Ramsey A still three points clear of Castletown A after both teams had a couple of difficult fixtures on paper if not so on the green, North Ramsey A entertained Onchan A and had a good 6-2 win while down south Castletown hosted Ballaugh and had a 7-1 win to keep some pressure on the leaders, with North Ramsey heading to Peel A in the second fixture they managed to keep their heads in front with a close 5-3 victory with Ray Kelly and Jeff Oates both getting 19 for Peel as did John Radcliffe for North Ramsey, Castletown A also had a daunting trip to the Villa to play Douglas A who had a couple of reserves playing, Town eventually coming away with a 5-3 win to keep in contention, Port St Mary A look secure in third place on 44 points 6 behind Castletown A and 9 behind North Ramsey A, but they are 5 points ahead of Onchan A who had a free game on Thursday, Port had a superb 7-1 win at home to Marown on Tuesday, before they visited Nobles B and again came away with the points in a 5-3 victory. On 37 points come Peel A, closely followed on 36 points by Castletown B, Douglas A, Nobles A and Marown, with South Ramsey on 35 points and Ballaugh on 34 there will be some changed to this order as Peel A Castletown B and Douglas A have all played a game more than their pursuers. Peel B and Finch Hill are on 28 and 27 points respectively, with Onchan B on 19, Port Erin and North Ramsey B on 17, Port St Mary B and Nobles B on 14 and Douglas B on 2 points. Could I remind all players about Mobile Phones should you carry a phone on the green and it goes off you lose your game to the score that you have when the phone goes off., so please make sure that you do not have your phone on the green with you. As this has happened again this week. The individual merit is still lead by Mike Hargraves of Castletown who has won 27 matches as has Stuart Garrett of Douglas, Chas Grills of South Ramsey has won 26, Geoff Porter of North Ramsey has 25, Peter Kelly (Marown) Ron Maycox (PSM), Tony Carroon (Peel) and George Peach (Castletown) are all on 24 wins. I would like to verify that my article about PSM B failing to fulfil a fixture was not intended to reflect on Port St Mary Bowling Club as a whole, but just the team involved. The Ismay Cup Final was played in glorious weather at Nobles Green on Wednesday with two of the top teams in the Over 60’s doing battle. North Ramsey A versus Port St Mary A. The match resulted in a win for North Ramsey by 7 games to 2, although the result was a lot closer than the score line suggests. North Ramsey won the first four games off to give them a brilliant start, Brian Lowe of Port St Mary beat Steve Gill 21-20 to keep Ports hopes alive, and with Chris Oates adding to Ports tally the North Ramsey lead was down to 4-2, the three remaining games were all relatively close but in every case the North Ramsey men just came out on top against the Southerners winning to 18-19 and 20 to ensure the cup went North. Both teams played very well in a excellent match. I would like to thank Nobles for the use of the green and hospitality, Ian Kissack for his excellent refereeing, and George Brew, John Clague and Colin Gook for measuring. The Ismay Trophy was presented to Mike Skelly of North Ramsey by executive member Ray Griffin who also presented the winners and runners up medals to everyone involved. Mike accepted the Cup on behalf of his team and thanked Port St Mary for a good game and his team for their effort. Ken Karran, Ports skipper congratulated North Ramsey and thanked his team.