Saturday February 17
At the end of the day, we had a new women’s and men’s Club Champion for 2024.
Starting off with the semi-finals in the morning games, Cliffe Vagg showed fine form when he defeated Peter Forrester 25-17. And on the alternate rink Jayson Pinnock accounted for Graham Meaney after a long hard tussle with a 25-16 win leading to a Cliffe and Jayson stand-off for the afternoon final.
Showing fine form on the women’s rinks, Julie Coulter and past title holder Helen Atkinson went to battle and after a long hard game Helen came out triumphant with a 25-17 win.
No less a tough battle was the clash between Wendy Ballantyne and Cathryn Aitchison both of whom who had achieved the title in the past – but after lagging in the scoreline at the beginning of the game it was Wendy who came through and skipped over the line for a 1 shot win – 25-24 with superb bowling from both contenders.
I can’t speak highly enough of the standard of play in these morning games – it was exciting on all rinks and a joy to watch. But little did we spectators know what was ahead of us in the afternoon finals.
Social Committee on the job again and players and spectators alike enjoyed a good old sausage sizzle aided and abetted by chefs Graham Brown and Marty Woods. Thanks guys – you did a sterling job on the tongs – not forgetting Graham’s lovely daughter Charlotte who rolled up her sleeves and chipped in to help.
Back on the greens after the break with a burning hot sun to make conditions a little uncomfortable for all – but it certainly didn’t affect our finalists as they all produced a standard of bowls we would expect to see from world-class players.
Cliffe and Jayson got off to a fairly even start rounding off 11 all on the 11th end. Not much in it but Cliffe managed to keep ahead until scores levelled again on the 16th end – 14 all. Cliffe again edged ahead over the next few ends and hung on to a slim lead until he picked up a 3 on the 20th end. From then on, he held on to that lead even though Jayson fought back with some very entertaining and precision bowls to be 1 behind on the 24th end. But Cliffe rallied and picked up 4 shots over the next 2 ends sealing the deal at 25-20.
No less exciting on the women’s rink as Helen and Wendy got off to a very odd start with Wendy not scoring a shot for the first 7 ends – but then the tables turned, and Helen was scoreless for the ensuing 7 ends with the score on end 14 being 10 all. Then it was a neck and neck game until Wendy picked up 6 shots over 3 ends bringing the score on end 21 to 17-14. It looked like the cat was in the bag for a while as Wendy stretched the score out to 20-16 by the 26th end. But Helen countered with 8 shots over the next 4 ends and with her score at 24 in reach of the Championship by 1 shot. But amazingly Wendy countered back and pinned Helen to her 24 shots as she sailed through to the winning post with 5 shots over the next 3 ends.
Amazing games all round from all players.
Congratulations to our new Club Major Singles Champions 2024 Cliffe Vagg and Wendy Ballantyne. And to the runners-up Jayson and Helen – what a battle you put up – and thanks to all players for keeping us all entertained on a hot February afternoon.
Heartfelt thanks to all the Markers and Umpires too – as you ably performed your various tasks.
Jude Pryor