Browne Craine & Co Mens Doubles Championship
Thirty pairs made the pilgrimage to Nobles Park on Saturday in search of the first ever Brown Craine Manx Mens Doubles Championship victory, and it was John Kennish and David Bradford who managed to secure the first title.
This is a fantastic new competition putting the spotlight on the doubles format of the game and it obviously captured the imagination of the local players with some of the finest pairings I have ever seen put together.
Kennish & Bradford, who looked the most formidable pairing on paper, proved that sometimes things do go to form as they were ruthless all day. In the final they just had too much for the colourful Bob Clark & Jordan Cain with the former winning 21-13.
The eventual victors stamped their authority on proceedings in the Semi Finals as they took on Colin Kelly & Neil Withers it what potentially looked like a classic encounter. Kennish & Bradford were just too good and ran out comfortable 21-5 winners. Clark & Cain dispatched South Ramsey’s Glynn Hargraves & James Teare 21-12 at the same stage.
Fallers at the quarterfinal stage were Barney Kelly & Stevie Kelly, Mike Hargraves & Ian Kissack, Tim Williams & Ray Maddrell and Stuart Garrett & Ian Moore.
Thanks go to Neil Withers and the Isle of Man association for organising and running the competition but more importantly to Brown Craine who shared in our vision for a premier doubles competition and gave us the support to allow it to happen.