Isle of Man County Crown Green Bowling Association

Peel Sunset Bowling club hosted the popular Peel Town Cup on Saturday afternoon. The competition attracted 75 entries, despite the poor weather. With handicaps ranging from +3 to +9, it certainly made for an interesting day with some shock results. There were a number of high profile casualties early on.

Losing out at the quarter-final stage were Stevie Rundle (+7) 13-21 to Marown clubmate Tom Kelly (+4), home greener Dave ‘Barney’ Kelly (+3) lost out 18-21 to Peter Jones (Marown)(+3). In the other half of the draw David Bradford (+3) got the better of teammate Glynn Hargraves (+3) 21-11, whilst Stevie Kelly (Peel)(+3) held off a strong challenge from Toby Hart (+7) to win 21-18.

Both first semi-finals resulted in the favourites advancing to the final with relative ease as Jones won 21-12 against Tom Kelly, whilst Bradford won 21-13 against Stevie Kelly.

With Bradford fresh from his win on Thursday in the Dreswick Cup, the rain had stopped in time for the final, however the wind picked up to throw a different challenge to the two finalists.

Bradford conceded two singles on the first two ends, then got a foothold in the game getting a run on the wall edge, that he had played in earlier rounds to take a 10-5 lead, then led 12-7 over Jones. The Marown man managed to claw his way back into the game winning six out of eight ends to level the game at 15-15. The South Ramsey man responded to ensure Jones didn’t take the lead, with three singles scored over four ends. Jones gratefully took up a good chance to make two to level the game up once more at 18-18.

The following end Jones played a short round peg with Bradford beating a two foot bowl to go within touching distance of the win to lead 19-18. In a change of tactics Bradford played his jack over the crown, with his lead just over two foot wide, with Jones being caught out with both bowls being left short for Bradford to score two to win 21-19 and secure the title for a second time.

At the conclusion of play the presentation was made by competition organiser Dave ‘Barney’ Kelly, who thanked the sponsors Central Bar & Bistro for their support, and the club members for assisting throughout the day. Paul Gelling from The Central then presented the prizes.