Isle of Man County Crown Green Bowling Association

The Noble’s Cup was held on Saturday with 19 pairs taking part, a reasonable number considering it was the All England on Saturday with a number of locals travelling to support the two Isle of Man representatives competing.

The competition was won by home greener Glenn Boland and Matthew Keggen (Marown), seeing off the challenge of the South Ramsey pairing of James Teare & Glynn Hargraves 21-15. The final started with Teare/Hargraves getting off to a flier taking the first six ends, scoring 10 chalks in the process. At 15-5 it looked a long way back for Boland & Keggen, however they got in with a double then won seven consecutive ends in the corners scoring two fours, three doubles and two singles to run out in style.

Losing out in the semi-finals to the winners were the Marown pair of Harry Barton & Bobby Thorne who cruelly lost out 21-20, after leading 20-16 they were lying game on four of the last five ends only for secondary hits to snatch victory away from them. On the last end with Barton & Thorne lying game once again Keggen struck with his last bowl to take out the counting bowl to secure the win, with Thorne unable to find a way in. Teare & Hargraves booked their place in the final with a comfortable 21-7 win over home greeners Les Brookes & Dave Naughton.

Losing quarter finalists were Lee Dawson & Tony Hart (South Ramsey), Paddy Murphy & Dave McCabe (Finch Hill/Port St Mary), Ian Kissack & Rob Corkill (Marown) and Mike Skelly & Bernard Thackrah (North Ramsey/Port St Mary).

The presentation was made by Noble’s secretary Wendy Leece, who thanked all those who had entered the competition, the club members for their support with running the competition.