Isle of Man County Crown Green Bowling Association

A good entry of 23 junior bowlers from all over the island entered the Junior Manx Championship on Saturday, it was 16 year old Toby Hart of South Ramsey who came through the field to win. This was a fantastic entry, which could have been higher had some of the younger bowlers who attend the club sessions entered.

Once again there were more girls entered to play than boys, which was fantastic to see, with some great bowls played by all the juniors. What impressed me the most was how well the Juniors conducted themselves on and off the green all afternoon. The experience gained from playing in these competitions will help the younger bowlers, however it was the older Juniors who progressed to the latter stages.

Losing out at the quarter final stage were Sam Colquitt (Marown), who lost 6-21 to Toby Hart, Grace Gawne (Onchan) who was defeated 9-21 by Madison McMullan (Mooragh Park), whilst Aalish Howarth agonisingly lost out 20-21 to Mooragh Park teammate Victoria Johnson, whilst Shannon McMullan (Mooragh Park) had to sit out the quarter final as her opponent went home due to feeling unwell

In the semi-finals Toby Hart was up against Madision McMullan, with Toby playing well to take an assured 21-10 win and in doing so reversing the result against the same opponent as last year at the same stage of the competition. In the other semi-final the sit out from the previous round for Shannon McMullan did not have a detrimental effect, with Shannon taking a 21-15 victory over teammate Victoria Johnson.

In the final on the balance of play over the day Hart started as favourite against McMullan, with the latter having the experience of winning the title in 2019. Hart started off well to take a 4-2 lead, McMullan played brilliantly to build up a 13-6 advantage with some great lead bowls to put Hart under pressure. Hart kept his composure really well digging in to go on to take eight of the following nine ends to jump into a 17-14 only for McMullan to hit back with two great bowls to trail by one chalk at 16-17. The match looked finely poised, with the potential of going to the wire, however Hart finished strongly scoring two doubles to win 21-16 and claiming his first Junior Manx Championship win.

The presentation was made by Association Press Officer Glynn Hargraves, who thanked all the juniors for taking part, Steve Moore for running the competition, Douglas Bowling Club for providing the refreshments and measurers and the team who had prepared the green.