STOCKPORT METRO LEAGUE

 

 

versus

 

 

WEST YORKSHIRE

 

 

VENUE:                     ARMLEY LEISURE CENTRE, ARMLEY, LEEDS,                                             WEST, YORKSHIRE.

 

MATCH RESULT:   STOCKPORT:                         4 POINTS.

                                    WEST YORKSHIRE:           36 POINTS.

SHOT SCORES:       STOCKPORT:                       142

                                    WEST YORKSHIRE:           202

 

 

West Yorkshire welcomed Stockport to the Armley Leisure Centre on Sunday 1st February, 2009. The match commenced at 10.45am.

 

Representing Stockport in the singles games was:

 

Adam Smith (Avons) and Lesley Fennell (Hazel Grove)

 

The singles contest got under way with Adam taking on Kevin Siddle. Kevin is a handful when you are on top form and sadly, Adam couldn’t match the Yorkshire lad and by the 10th was trailing Kevin 4 shots to 17. Adam then showed us a touch of what he is really about by taking the next four ends, but only four singles came his way as Kevin matched him bowl for bowl. A 2 to Kevin in the 14th saw a tie in the 15th with both players having a bowl resting against the jack; Kevin strolling home by 19 shots to Adam’s 7.

Adam’s second game was against the very aggressive Darren Cookson, this lad can and does strike with some ferocity and very accurate he is with it too. A three in the 1st to Darren saw Adam take the next three ends to lead 4 shots to 3. Darren came back with a 2 but Adam showed his class and took the next 4 to lead by 10 shots to 5 at the 10th. Darren then made a tremendous come back scoring 8 shots and going into the last end 15-13 in the lead. The last end proved a real struggle with both bowlers showing their class with Adam just failing to force a draw, taking the end with 1 shot. This was an excellent contest that was much appreciated by the spectators.

Lesley’s first game was against Darren and we saw a see-saw contest with first one and then the other taking a grip on the game. At the 10th Lesley held a 1 shot lead. Darren then took a firm hold on the game and at the 14th held a 17 shot to 11 lead. Lesley took the 15th scoring 1 with Darren taking the game 17 shots to 12. Lesley then faced Kevin in her second game where she found that Kevin was still in excellent form and by the 9th end had opened up a 14 shots to 3 lead. Then Lesley came back very strongly over the next 2 ends, scoring an excellent 4 and a 3 to pull back to 10-14. Then Kevin staged his own come back taking 8 shots over the next three ends, and the final end saw Lesley take another very good 3 shots but lost out with the final score of 22 shots to 13 in favour of Kevin.

 

Representing Stockport in the pairs matches was:

 

1. Win Thompson (Woodley Sports A) and Billy Burn (Bramhall Village A)

2. Rhona Mason (Poynton A) and Scott Smith (Avons)

 

 

Winnie and Bill opened up their first game against Doreen Chadwick and Keith Worrall. The score card indicated a pretty lop-sided game where, after 6 ends the Yorkshire pair was 7 shots to 1 in the lead. Over the next 7 ends Win and Bill attacked very strongly and at the 13th they had scored 9 shots to Yorkshire’s 1 shot and led by 10 shots to 8. The game then entered its tightest phase with Doreen and Keith taking 2 shots in the 14th to enter the 15th all square at 10-10. Win and Bill made a valiant effort to take the last end but finally had to give way as the Yorkshire pair scored the winning shot to take the game 11 shots to 10.

Their second game was against Hazel Cookson and Royston Lewis and it started with a crash, bang and wallop as both pairs scored good fours. The game then settled down as both pairs decided that a touch of commonsense was needed, and a tight affair began to take shape. Most ends were taken by single shots and at the 12th end Win and Bill had a 1 shot lead at 11-10. The 13th and 14th saw Yorkshire take 5 shots with Win and Bill taking a single in the 15th. The Yorkshire pair had got home 15 shots to 12. Two excellent efforts by Winnie and Bill, a touch of luck here and there might have got them at least a share of the points.

Rhona and Scott started against Hazel and Royston with the first game following the same format as Win and Bill’s. At the end of the 6th Rhona and Scott had opened up a 7 shot to 3 lead and were looking quite comfortable. Hazel and Royston then woke up and took 10 shots without reply to lead 13 shots to 7 at the 12th end. Rhona and Scott then took an excellent 4 shots at the 13th and then we saw both teams each taking a single to leave the Yorkshire pair winners by 14 shots to 12.

Rhona and Scott then faced Doreen and Keith in their second game and into the 7th it was pretty tight with Stockport 1 shot down at 4-5. But some very good play by the Yorkshire team saw them increase their lead to 12-4 by the 11th. Although Rhona and Scott attempted a come back Doreen and Keith got over the line 13 shots to 9.

 

Representing Stockport in the triples was:

 

1. Bernie Thorley (GMMC), Graham Edwards (Woodbank A) and                                                       Bernard Fennell (Hazel Grove A)

2. Ron Hamilton (Woodley A), Paul Mason (Poynton A), and John Metcalfe (Europa A)

 

The two Bernie’s and Graham opened their account against Graham Oliver, Barry Cookson and Paul King with the Stockport trio taking an early 7 shots to 3 lead at the end of the 6th. This was followed by 5 shots from the Yorkshire trio and Stockport replied with a single that saw the game all square 8-8 going into the 10th end. Despite a great effort from the Stockport trio they had to concede four shots over the last two ends and went down by 12 shots to 8.In their second game they were matched against Dave Fletcher, John Manson and Andy Miles. At the end of the 7th Stockport were in control and held a 3 shot lead at 6-3. Then, as we had seen in other games Yorkshire just seemed to change up a gear, and that was evident here as they took 6 shots from the next four ends; which gave them a winning total of 9 shots to Stockport’s 6.

In their first game Ron, Paul and John took on Dave, John and Andy and at the end of the 6th were faced with a deficit of 8 shots as the Yorkshire trio sailed into a 9 shots to 1 lead. The Stockport trio changed around and the tactic seemed to work as they restricted their opponents to only one more single. Unfortunately, they were only able to score singles themselves as they took five of the remaining ends; finally going down 10 shots to 5. A feature of this game was the excellent lead play of Yorkshire’s Dave Fletcher; he bowled a consistent line and length throughout.

Their second game saw them up against Graham, Barry and Paul. At the end of the 7th Stockport was trailing 7 shots to 3. In the 8th they took a good three which put them back into the game at 6-7; however, they could not maintain their effort and Yorkshire took four shots over the remaining ends to get home by 11 shots to 6.

This is the first time that the Stockport trios have failed to score a single point since the season started.

 

Representing Stockport in the fours was:

 

1. Charlie Cooper (Denton A), Bob Thompson (Woodley A) John Lax (Phillips), and Geoff Griffiths (Woodley A)

2. Jackie Lambert and Chris Bates (Gt. Moor), Louise Smith (Avons), and Allison Boulton (Denton A)

 

 

Charlie, Bob, John and Geoff started their first game against the Yorkshire four of Carol Robinson, Margaret Stockhill, Lennie Robinson and Walter Stockhill

As always, it seems to happen that these fours games usually prove to be close affairs and, up until the 5th end this was no exception. Stockport had 3 shots to 1 lead at the end of the 4th; then, in the 5th disaster struck the Yorkshire four as Stockport rattled home 5 shots; to leap into an 8 shots to 1 lead. Yorkshire then tried to make a fist of it taking three more shots to Stockport’s one, leaving Stockport easy 10-4 winners.

In their second game, Stockport met Eddie Siberry, Margaret Lavan, Arthur Roundhill and Ron Lavan. This game saw the score at 3 shots apiece at the 4th end. Yorkshire then took control scoring a further 5 shots to Stockport’s 2 leaving Yorkshire winners by 8 shots to 5.

In their first game Jackie, Chris, Louise and Allison were matched against Eddie, Margaret, Arthur and Ron. Again, another tight affair up to the 3rd end when the score was 3 shots to 2 in favour of Stockport; then, as in their colleagues 1st game and at the same end, the 5th they scored a brilliant five shots to lead Yorkshire 8 shots to 2. Yorkshire then came back very strongly taking 6 shots from ends 6, 7 and 8 that left the game all square at 8 across with one end to play. What an end the 9th turned out to be! Stockport again conjured up another 5 shots and raced home winners by 13 shots to 8; a tremendous effort.

In their second game they came up against Carol, Margaret, Lennie and Walter but it appears that their exertions in the first game left them with nothing in the tank as the Yorkshire four had a field day and powered over the finishing line by 14 shots to 2.

This was a magnificent effort by the Stockport fours as they collected the only points of this encounter between Stockport and West Yorkshire; they only missed out on the aggregate and the extra two points by a mere four shots.

 

This was a pretty shattering result for Stockport and an excellent one for West Yorkshire. Going into this encounter West Yorkshire held a 1 point lead over Stockport as both teams sought to strengthen their league title claims. Now, West Yorkshire are in a pretty unassailable position as they now lead Stockport by 33 points and a + 177 shot difference with each team having one match each to play and third placed North Yorkshire in touch only with Stockport being just 28 points adrift. So, it is all to play for on the 15th March when Stockport play Derbyshire at Wythenshawe. West Yorkshire’s remaining game is away and also against Derbyshire and as yet I do not know the date of this match. Mathematically it isn’t over yet, but Derbyshire need to do us a fantastic favour! Whilst we do ourselves one against Derbyshire!!

 

At present the NESMBA ICC - Division 1 League Table which was updated on the 3rd February 2009 and reproduced here with the very kind permission of Roger Green NESMBA League Secretary reads as follows:

 

West Yorks:   Played 7: Won 5: Drawn 2:              Points 192:  Shot Diff +382

Stockport:       Played 7: Won 4: Drawn 1: Lost 2: Points 159:  Shot Diff +205

North Yorks:  Played 6: Won 3: Drawn 1: Lost 2: Points 131:  Shot Diff + 25

Durham:         Played 6: Lost 6:                                Points   63:  Shot Diff - 330

Derbyshire:    Played 4: Won 1: Lost 3:                  Points   55:  Shot Diff – 498

 

 

I finish this report on a very, very sad note. I have just learnt that on the 16th of January this year Bernard Fennell lost his mother Elizabeth, who lived in Malta. Bernard, all the Stockport team members send you and all your family their sincerest condolences.

 

 

 

 

Ron Hamilton

Stockport

4th February, 2009.

 

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws

1