Isle of Man County Crown Green Bowling Association

The Plumbmaster Rayner Shield got underway last week, this gives teams from the lower divisions the opportunity to test themselves against stronger teams, with preliminary and first round losers going into the draw for the Rayner Plate.

Just one first division team went into the Rayner Plate as Castletown A suffered a heavy 8-0 defeat away to South Ramsey A, in what was a replay of the Rayner Shield final from last season. The visitors scored just 65 chalks, with David Quayle the highest scoring Town player with 13 chalks, whilst Jordan Drewett was the only other Castletown player to reach double figures, scoring 12 chalks. A subject that seems to get raised every year if first division teams suffer heavy defeats like this, this begs the question should lower division teams automatically go into the Rayner Plate?

Marown A hosted Ballaugh A at Crosby, the home team recorded an 8-0 win with four of the Ballaugh men reaching double figures, with Richard Hainge losing out 14-21 to Peter Jones.

Onchan A crushed Division Two league leaders Marown C 8-0, however the visitors passed the 100-chalk mark losing out 168-106. Three of the games were close with two losses to 18 and a defeat to 19. Just one game didn’t go to double figures as Will Penhallurick beat Steve Rough 21-3.

A much-changed Peel A team didn’t have it all their own way away to Onchan B, as they won 2-6 on the night with 15 chalks between the teams (124-139). Mike Kelly beat Phil Clarke 21-8, whilst Neil Richmond won 21-5 against Michael Kavanagh. For the visitors three of the Peel men had to battle for their wins as Pip Pemberton won 21-17 against Mike Thomas, whilst Tommy McMeiken and Harry Kelly won 21-19 against Colin spence and Bernie McPhee respectively.

Douglas A beat seven-man Castletown B 7-1 at the Villa, with green keeper Ian Moore the recipient of the walkover. The Town men were probably not expecting a result against a first division team, especially away from home.

Division Four side Peel D hosted North Ramsey A in the Sunset City, with Adam Kelly the only winner on the night 21-6 against Junior bowler Landon Allison, with the latter given the opportunity to make his A team debut against a lower league team.

South Ramsey B were in a tough game away to Noble’s D, with the score 2-2 at the half way point, only for the visitors to win 3-1 in the second half of the match to secure a 3-5 win. Winning for the home team were Alex Hampson, Grahem Moore, and Michael Johnson.

Marown B just missed out on an 0-8 away win against Breagle Glen C as they won 1-7, with Arran Dunn fighting back from a huge deficit against Alan Crebbin, only to cruelly lose 20-21. The Crosby men had the return of John Gelling, who made his first appearance of the 2025 season.

Of all the first division teams to progress to the second round Breagle Glen A had the toughest test, as they won 3-5 away to Finch Hill A, with just 10 chalks separating the teams (138-148). Two of the games that could have swung the result the other way had the scores been reversed were Pat Maher losing 19-21 to Pat Maher, whilst Paul Dougherty just lost out 20-21 to David Cain.