Isle of Man County Crown Green Bowling Association

Marown A sealed their first Ellan Vannin Fuels division one title since 2013 taking their tally to 13 overall. The Crosby men stormed to a 9-1 victory over Onchan A on Monday night and followed this up with a 3-7 away win against Douglas A at the Villa. Marown have been the team to beat this season going undefeated with 20 wins and one draw coming at home early in the second half of the season against South Ramsey A with the visitors winning five games, however Marown took the aggregate on the night to snatch a draw and preserve their unbeaten record. Marown have been relentless this season especially in the second half of the season with some big wins to ensure they never gave the chasing pack any hope.

Three time champions South Ramsey A had a good week and confirmed their runners up spot with two good wins over Peel A (9-1) and Onchan A (8-2) with both teams they faced missing key players. Whilst it was slightly disappointing to not take the title to the last match of the season, the South Ramsey men can be pleased to have taken the Rayner Shield this season defeating Marown A in a superb final.

Onchan A will have to go back to the drawing board if they are to build on their 22 league titles, will finish the season in third place having suffered two heavy defeats with a 1-9 away loss to Marown A, followed up by their 2-8 defeat to South Ramsey A. Matthew Quirk was the only Onchan player to win both matches last week, whilst a left handed Jordan Cain did brilliantly losing out 15-21 to Colin Kelly, then beat Chas Grills 21-17 with his weaker hand.

At the other end of the table Castletown B are destined for a return to division two, whilst South Ramsey B need a minor miracle after a mixed week following a 7-3 home win over North Ramsey A and a 4-6 away defeat to Port St Mary A. Next week South Ramsey B host Castletown A needing a big win, whilst hoping Marown can record a whitewash against Noble’s A.

In division two Ballaugh A are making hard work of their quest for a return to division playing their second game in hand away to Onchan B with the Ballaugh men suffering a 4-6 defeat. There was a first league defeat of the season for Mike Thomas by the finest of margins 20-21 to Edgar Cowin, however this defeat did not prevent Thomas from taking the second division merit.

Second placed Ballaugh need a big win over third placed Port Erin A who themselves need a big win over their opponents to stand any chance of promotion.

League leaders Peel B have a tricky looking away fixture against fourth placed Finch Hill A, so there could be a shock or two in the last round of fixtures.

At the bottom of division two it is all decided with North Ramsey B and Ballaugh B too far adrift to catch the teams above them.

In division three South Ramsey C won the league weeks ago in reality, could afford to give players up to their B team, paying the price for this with bottom of the league Douglas C taking full advantage to record a 6-4 home win over the league winners.

Individually Harry Minor capped a fine season by claiming the third division merit with 17 wins from 19 games, winning his last game of the season to ensure he couldn’t be caught. 11 year old South Ramsey D player Ryan Hargraves finished the season strongly with three wins from his last four games, whilst Peel D Junior Ryan Tate who isn’t much older improved on his previous seasons tally to win nine games from 16 played. Another Junior who plays for South Ramsey C is Toby Hart who is now ready for the step up to division two having won 12 games from 17 played. Other juniors who have started to feature in league games are Young Manx Masters Winner Alex Hampson, Harley Cowley and Clark Kelly. Leading the way for juniors in the top division are Glenn Boland whose first season in division one has gone well with a respectable 12 wins from 21 played , whilst Austin Hart improved considerably with eight wins from 19 played, following on from three wins from 21 in his first season at the top level. Sam Clague is another whose game has come along well winning nine games out of 17 for Castletown A.