Isle of Man County Crown Green Bowling Association

Noble’s Bowling Club hosted the Nobles Cup Men’s Doubles on Saturday with 29 pairs taking part, on a superb playing surface with the entries matching 2023.

Losing out in the quarter finals were home greeners Grahem Moore and Phil Salmon 20-21 to clubmates Mark Bradshaw and Alex Yates, whilst Marown pair Paul Kelly and Matthew Keggen lost 19-21 to Les Brookes (Finch Hill) and Eddie Carlyle (South Ramsey).

In the other half of the draw Phil Dunn (Marown) and Brian Lindsay (Peel) recovered from a 9-19 deficit to Noble’s Steve Hampson and Juan Drinkwater, only to agonisingly lose out 20-21. The final game also went to the wire as South Ramsey’s Glynn Hargraves and David Bradford lost 20-21 to Villa men Keith Rise and Andy Cannell, with the latter pair whitewashing Marown’s Glenn Boland and Peter Jones in the previous round.

At the semi-final stage Brookes and Carlyle won 21-16 against Bradshaw and Yates to end the home green hopes of a win, whilst Rise and Cannell won to single figures (21-9) against Hampson and Drinkwater to take their place in the final.

The final was over in just 12 ends as Rise and Cannell dominated the game scoring a four on the first end and the penultimate end to rack up eight points, scoring seven singles throughout the match, only conceding three chalks on consecutive in the early part of the game to run out with a well deserved 21-9 victory to lift the cup for the first time.

The presentation was made by Tina Hampson, with prizes paid down to the quarter finals. Club Chairman Phil Salmon was introduced to present the prizes.