Isle of Man County Crown Green Bowling Association

The 2023 BCGBA Mel Evans MBE Centenary Mixed Pairs was held on Saturday 7th October at Owley Wood Recreation Club, Barrymore Road, Weaverham.

The first games of the day got underway at 10:00 with South Ramsey pair Elaine Moore and Glynn Hargraves (South Ramsey) facing Maggie and Rob Swift (North Lancs & Fylde) on the number two green with the IOM pair recovering from a slow start to build up a 19-12 lead. Their opponents scored seven chalks to level the game up at 19-19. On the following end counting for three and lying game a good bowl saved two. With Elaine and Glynn 20-19 up a measure settled the following end to put the score at 20-20. On the deciding end a good lead bowl from Maggie was unbeaten as Moore and Hargraves agonisingly lost out 20-21.

Another South Ramsey pairing featured on green two with Gill Dixon and Stefan Kelly up against Olivia and Max Jefferson (North Midlands) with the game finely poised at 11-11, before the North Midlands pair went on to claim a 21-14 victory.

On Green One there was better success for Marown duo Lyn Bolton and Peter Jones who swept aside their opponents Janet Cross and Eddie Gowen (Cheshire) 21-7. A third South Ramsey pair lost out as Jenny Moore and James Teare were beaten 9-21 by Emma Ribbons & Jeff Brown (Potteries and District).

In the second round Bolton and Jones switched to Green One as they edged a close encounter with Jodie Dickinson and Tom Wiltshire (South Yorkshire) 21-18 to go through to the next round.

In the quarter finals Lyn and Peter made light work of their opponents as they beat Louise Ollerton and David Molyneux (Lancashire) 21-8 to book their place in the semi-final.

At the semi-final stage Bolton and Jones struggled to get in as they came up against Yorkshire pair Jasmine Kendal and Craig Gant, as they were beaten 6-21. Kendal and Grant did go on to win the competition as they beat Sophie Rigney and Tom Eccles (Greater Manchester) 21-19, with the Marown pair being able to console themselves as they lost to the eventual winners.

On Sunday South Ramsey were competing in the World Club Championship at the same venue as the Mixed Pairs the previous day as they played on Green One. South Ramsey had a tough day on a tricky, yet interesting green as they had just one winner against Yorkshire team Thongsbridge, a team littered with top players. David Bradford was the lone winner as he beat Craig Gant 21-19, with Bob Clark losing out to the same score to Adam Jones. Next highest scorers were James Teare who lost out 16-21 to James Davison, whilst Jordan Cain was last game off the green as he was beaten to the same score by Richard Jackson. The overall score was 166-97, as Thongsbridge ended up going through to Finals Day at Heaton Park in Manchester this weekend as they went on to beat Bradfield (South Yorkshire) in the qualifying game by 20 chalks 160-140.