Isle of Man County Crown Green Bowling Association

South Ramsey hosted the Kennish Cup Mixed Doubles on Sunday with 25 pairs taking part to play in mixed conditions throughout the day in what started in glorious sunshine, it rapidly deteriorated with heavy showers for a brief period and blustery conditions which remained for the duration of the competition.

Losing out in the quarter finals were Marown pair Jayne Smith and Walter McCarthy who lost 17-21 to South Ramsey’s Elaine Moore & Glynn Hargraves. Clare Cooper (Marown) and Wayne Roberts (Port St Mary) were well beaten 7-21 by Paula Firth (Onchan) and Alan Moore (South Ramsey). Another Marown and South Ramsey contest went in favour of the Crosby pair Debbie Leece and Neil Withers who edged home 21-19 against Fiona Kennish and Steven Waters, whilst an all South Ramsey clash went in favour of Jenny Moore and James Teare who beat Sue and Geoff Collier 21-4.

The semi-finals were straightforward for one pairing with Jenny and James winning 21-9 against Debbie and Neil. The other semi-final went on for a considerable amount of time, it was Paula and Alan who were always in control of the game as they led 18-12 before a bit of a fight back from Elaine and Glynn fizzled out as the latter pair lost 17-21.

The final appeared to be one way traffic early on as Jenny and James leapt into a 9-4 lead, scoring four singles and a double.

Paula and Alan fought back to win four of the next five ends with a two and a three helping boost their score as they went ahead 11-10, only to lose the next two ends as they fell behind 11-13.

The Onchan/South Ramsey pair rallied once more to win the next three ends, scoring a three on the 17th end, only to lose the next three ends but vitally kept their opponents down to singles. With the score now tied at 16-16 Paula and Alan went on another run with Paula leading well at the front all day and Alan providing the firepower at the back when they were in trouble as they scored three singles and a double to run out with a 21-16 victory to prevent Jenny and James from picking up the trophy for a third straight year.

At the conclusion of the competition the presentation was made by Fiona Kennish, who thanked the club members who had helped with the running of the competition and the Ladies for the refreshments provided. Upon accepting the trophy Paula thanked the Kennish family for their sponsorship, and her partner Alan Moore for asking her to play. This competition was the qualifier for the BCGBA Mel Evans MBE Centenary Mixed Pairs at Heaton Park BC with the number of pairs qualifying to be confirmed at a later date.