Isle of Man County Crown Green Bowling Association

With no league fixtures this week it was the latter stages of the 3R’s Limited sponsored Rayner Shield with South Ramsey A playing host to Port St Mary A on Monday evening.

The visitors were well beaten 8-0 with David Bradford performing to his absolute best as he ruthlessly took apart a fellow Top 10 ranked player Trevor Quayle, who won’t have taken a beating like this in a long time with the latter losing 21-1. A rare sight was spotted on Monday evening with John Kennish stepping in for his first team game since 2018, he wasn’t far behind Bradford as he won 21-2 against Nathan Hamilton to prove his time out of the game has not affected him. Peter Collister won 21-5 against Tim Williams and didn’t get a sniff of the team kitty. For Port Jordan Drewett fought back from a 10-19 deficit against Glynn Hargraves only to lose out 21-18, whilst the best comeback of the night – putting a bit of drama into the match was from James Teare who trailed 5-19 to Tom Collins, only to get in and miraculously run out with a 21-19 victory, scoring six consecutive doubles on the way.

The other semi-final, played on Thursday evening at Crosby between Marown A and Peel A was a bit less straightforward, but still comfortable for the home team who won 5-3. Neil Withers put a marker down for the home team as he romped home 21-1 against Dean Kinley, whilst Dean Kipling beat Peel captain Gary Smith 21-13. Peel hit back with two hard fought wins from Tom Kelly who got the better of his father Colin Kelly with a 21-18 win, as he put in a good performance throughout the game. Tommy McMeiken recovered from a 7-16 deficit to win 21-20 against Paul Kelly. With the score tied at 2-2 the chalks were heavily in favour of the home team ultimately meaning unless Peel could get some big wins themselves then they would need to win three of the four games in the second half of the match. Peter Greenlees gave them a glimmer of hope with his 21-16 win over Phil Kelly, however Harry Barton caused a mini upset as he beat Dave ‘Barney’ Kelly 21-19, Peter Jones won 21-7 against Dave Smith, whilst home captain Paul Dunn beat George Gadsby 21-11.

Marown A now face South Ramsey A on Friday 5^th August with the venue to be confirmed.

3R’s Limited Rayner Plate

Division One outfit North Ramsey A (SCR) took on Division Three Marown D (+65) at Mooragh Park with the 65 chalk head start not enough for the visitors to cling on to, despite picking up two wins from Jay Waters 21-19 against Gary Merrill, whilst teammate James Kelly beat Jimmy Moffatt 21-20. Three single figure wins for the home team from Rob Monk, Adrian Skinner and Paul Allison pulled back 50 chalks, whilst their other three wins were also comfortable to ensure the Mooragh Men won by eight chalks (165-157) to reach the final.

Noble’s A (+30) took on Finch Hill A (+35) at the park with the home advantage paying off as they won 5-3 on games with the two single figure wins helping their cause on the all-important chalks as they won by 29 chalks (178-149). Mark Quinn was their best winner as he beat Dave Jones 21-5, whilst Jim Collister wasn’t too shabby either with his 21-7 win. Both of the points gained in these two wins alone were the difference with 30 chalks gained from these victories. Noble’s now go on to contest the Rayner Plate final against North Ramsey A (venue TBC), with the club in good spirits as they continue to rebuild.

Mixed Team Championship

In Canada Life International South Ramsey A can’t be caught in Group A as they beat Castletown A at the Crofts on Wednesday evening to reach the final. The visitors won 2-7 on games and by 48 chalks (122-170).

Onchan A hosted North Ramsey A with the home team winning by a huge 73 chalks (175-102) and 7-2 on games with five single figure wins from the home team showing their dominance on the night.

In Group B Marown A also took their spot in the final, with both South Ramsey and Marown now poised to face off in both the Mixed League and Rayner Shield finals. This time out they beat Port St Mary A, the team who did the double over them last season lost out by 71 chalks (183-112) at Crosby with Trevor Quayle the lone winner as he bounced back from Monday’s heavy defeat.

Port Erin A and Douglas A had a good battle at Breagle Glen with the visitors winning 4-5 on games and edging the chalks (151-157).

Mixed Team Plate

In Group A Noble’s stayed on course to reach the final of the Plate – barring a disaster with their last match away to Peel, who would need to inflict a heavy defeat on Noble’s. Noble’s came away from Mooragh Park with a 45 chalk victory (121-166) over North Ramsey B. Peel welcomed Castletown B to the Sunset City with the host winning by 55 chalks as they game themselves a chance of winning the group.

In Group B Ballaugh booked their place in the final as they can’t be caught having won all five games in their group, following their win away to Douglas B by 24 chalks (136-160), whilst South Ramsey B picked up a good win against Marown B by 69 chalks (172-103).