Isle of Man County Crown Green Bowling Association

PlumbMaster Rayner Shield

New sponsors for the Isle of Man Crown Green Bowls – Men’s Section are PlumbMaster who are part of Haldane Fisher. They have agreed a two-year deal sponsoring the Rayner Shield and the Rayner Plate, the Association Cup along with the Men’s Doubles Manx Championship which takes place later in the season.

Match of the night on paper was between Peel A and Marown A with the Crosby men being drawn away from home. A solid performance from the visitors resulted in a 2-6 win on the night. Colin Kelly signed off before jetting off with a 21-9 win over Pip Pemberton, Marown captain Paul Dunn shown no mercy to George Gadsby with a 21-7 victory. For Peel Dave ‘Barney’ Kelly inflicted a 21-14 defeat on John Gelling, Tommy McMeiken beat Paul Kelly 21-15, whilst Gary Smith just lost out 20-21 to Glenn Boland.

The real match of the night was between Douglas A and Onchan A at the Villa with the score 4-4 on games the match was decided on chalks, with the visitors advancing to the quarter finals with as they won by just three chalks (140-143). For Onchan Neil Dunwell was the best winner as he beat Gordon Wynne-Smythe 21-8, whilst for the visitors Merv Sayle went one better with a 21-7 win over Will Penhallurick. Claiming victories in close games for the Villa men were Keith Rise who edged it 21-20 against Phil Kerruish and Ian Moore who beat Mike Thomas 21-18. For Onchan Kevin Quirk had his work cut out to beat Mark Kneen 21-17.

Current Rayner Shield Holders South Ramsey A won 8-0 once again in their second-round match on a vastly improved Noble’s One green. Whilst they won all their games, with four of them to single figures, they didn’t have it all their own way as Alex Hampson performed well to lose out 15-21 to South Ramsey captain Glynn Hargraves, as did teammate Phil Salmon against Jordan Cain. Highest scorer of the night for Noble’s was Stephen Corkill as he just lost out 19-21 to Stefan Kelly.

Port St Mary A lost out 3-5 at home to Castletown B despite having home advantage, however they could console themselves slightly as they won on chalks (138-130) with the impact of missing three regulars from the team just too damaging on the night, as Dan McCabe lost 20-21 to Alan Phair, Bob Kay was beaten 19-21 by Ian Watson, and Wayne Roberts lost 17-21 to Peter Oates. Winning big for the Port men were Peter Collins and Trevor Quayle who both won 21-7 against John Matheson and Willie Corkill respectively.

South Ramsey C made home advantage count as they won 5-3 at home to Peel C, with Lee Dawson making his first night league appearance of the season as he impressed massively as he continues his road to recovery with a 21-2 win over Jeff Wilson, whilst Anthony Kelly ensured the match didn’t go down to chalks with his 21-20 win over Phillip Clarke.

Division Three side Douglas C hosted first division team Marown C, with the visitors coming away with a 1-7 win, claiming four single figure wins on the night. Preventing the whitewash was John Ferguson who beat Kevin Kelly 21-17, whilst teammate Juan Readshaw was on the wrong side of a 20-21 against Dan Smith.

Douglas B who are ticking along nicely in Division Two hosted Division One strugglers Castletown A, it was the Villa men who caused a mini upset as they won 6-2 on games with the chalks telling a different story as they won by just one chalk (140-139). Nathan Hamilton was the best winner for Town as he beat William Cowley 21-4, whilst Stuart Garrett won 21-9 against Jordan Drewett.

Port St Mary B welcomed North Ramsey A to Breagle Glen with the visitors easing to a 1-7 victory, however two of the wins to 21-20, with Steve Walmsley and Allan Callow beating Nicholas Peterson and Derek Cain respectively. Bernard Thackrah prevented the whitewash for the Port men.

PlumbMaster Rayner Plate

With handicaps awarded based on League placings the match of the week in the last 16 of the Plate was between Peel B (+20) and South Ramsey D (+70) as the match finished 177-177 with the Peel men clawing back 50 chalks to tie, only to advance to the quarter finals as they won 7-1 on games, since they couldn’t be separated on chalks. Lone winner for the visitors was Frank Feeney as he beat Gordon Corrin 21-10, whilst Peel’s best winner was Dougie Allan who won 21-4 against Geoff Collier. Dewi Bartlett made it four wins from four games played defeating South Ramsey captain Franz ten Donkelaar, with Bartlett rumoured to have played bowls to a high standard in Wales.

Another epic encounter was between Marown D (+50) and Ballaugh B (+60) at Crosby with the home team just sneaking home by two chalks (188-190), with Ryan Holdaway turning out once again as he won 21-9 to help his team progress to the next round.

Finch Hill A (+45) progressed with a 27-chalk victory (178-205) away to Noble’s C with the Noble’s men performing admirably as Lee Greggor and Dean Sowerby won 21-20 against Stephen Oates and Brian Murphy respectively, whilst Terry Bates did well to beat Dave McCabe 21-15.

Port Erin A (+30) drew 4-4 on games, only to lose out by 16 chalks (174-190) to Noble’s A (+50) as Bernie Durcan beat Mark Bradshaw 21-8, with David Cain winning 21-9 against John Andrew as they attempted to claw back the chalks.

Finch Hill B (+50) overturned a 15 chalk deficit on the handicap at home to Peel D (+65) as they won by 13 chalks helped by winning 6-2 on games, as Peter Woods won 21-9 against Will Mitchell, whilst four of his Finch teammates won 21-15, and the final win 21-14 was claimed by Tony Jones as he beat Mike Ashmole.

South Ramsey B (+25) had a dominant home win against second division side North Ramsey B (+60) as they won by 62 chalks (193-131) despite having to give the Mooragh men a 35-chalk start, they won all eight games on the night, with five games being won to single figures.

Ballaugh C (+50) were crushed 0-8 at home to Marown B (+15), with the Crosby men winning on the by 38 chalks (145-183).

Ballaugh A (+30) made light work of visitors Port Erin B (+70) despite having to give the Breagle men a 40-chalk start as they won by 33 chalks with three single figure wins helping claw back the chalks.

Canada Life International Mixed Team Championship

In Group A Marown A welcomed North Ramsey A to Crosby with the home team winning three games to single figures in their 29-chalk victory (152-123) as Neil Withers, Paul Kelly, and Glenn Boland beat Steven Waters, Madison McMullan, and Rosemary Quirk respectively, whilst Janet Monk won 21-6 against Rebecca Teare for the visitors.

In the other match in Group A Ballaugh A hosted Douglas A, it was the visitors who picked up the two points as they won by just one chalk (154-155) despite losing 6-3 on games.

In Group B Port St Mary had the visit of Peel to Breagle Glen as the home team by 35 chalks, despite the games being a lot closer going 5-4 in favour of Port St Mary.

The other fixture in Group B was between Noble’s A and South Ramsey A, with the home team winning two games as they lost out by 43 chalks to the current holders. Winning for the home team were Mark Bradshaw who performed well to beat James Teare 21-18, whilst Stephen Corkill won 21-8 against Fiona Kennish.

Canada Life International Mixed Team Plate

In the Plate competition in Group A Noble’s B took on Finch Hill at home with the visitors coming away with the victory by 20 chalks (156-176) as they won 3-6 on games.

North Ramsey B had the visit of a relatively inexperienced Marown B with the Mooragh men winning by 25 chalks, Katie Johnson was the best winner for the home team, whilst James Kelly and Phil Dunn were both single figure winners for Marown as they beat Joe Kneale and Bailey McMullan respectively. Just losing out 19-21 was Ryan Holdaway to Olivia Johnson.

In Group B another team fielding several new Bowlers was Douglas B who were at home to Port Erin with the home team losing out by 32 chalks, as Paul Cowley lost out 20-21 to Jean Thackrah, whilst Junior bowler Clark Kelly performed well only to lose out 18-21 to Steve Durcan.