MIDLANDS ALLIANCE RESERVE TEAM COMPETITION

 

Firstly I would like to thank Phil May who has been the South / Mid Derbyshire and Burton team manager for a number of years has stood down from the position. Phil has brought a large number of players to the Senior County team in his tenure. Our first match would be against a revamped Potteries team, at last seeing the merit of the Alliance competition as their Senior selectors had become involved in their selections for the first time. The home leg would be at Fairfield Conservative Club, where we have had good success in the past, and the away leg would be at the fearsome Birches Head Hotel, Dave Mycock opened with a win at No.1 21-16, which was followed by a solid 21-13 win for Phil Clapham before his return to the Senior County level. Chris Adams came home with 21-8 win and to cap a good first 4 as Whaley Bridge's Fran Walsh won 21-10. However,at Birches Head the reverse was happening on a superb surface. Len Robinson in as late reserve got 13 at No.1, Ed Furniss had a good match but the home knowledge of the Potteries player left him on 8. Neil Hill got a very respectable 15, and due to late withdrawal Graham Jackson who was there to measure played and lost to 13. This left us remarkably just in front, so it was just a matter of getting 4 more wins at home and hoping the away team could get at least one winner. Richard Briddon won 21-17 after being well in front, but Steve Barber lost 19-21,to give us our first reverse, news was coming in that we had had a winner away as Andy Ryder there to watch son Ben won 21-20, but Ben lost 12-21. The match was very much in the balance as Lafarge's Paul Walton won 21-19 at home, but Lee Davies struggled to get the green pace as lost 14-21, to give a home 159-125 home win. The news from away was not good as Phil May also having to play due to late withdrawals lost 6-21, but Tom Brown continuing his excellent Alliance record with an excellent 21-9 win, but not enough stop the Potteries recording a 155-109 win and a loss to Derbyshire by 12 shots. The second match saw the South play at home at the green rapidly gaining a reputation green at Holbrook MW against South Yorkshire who we had had problems beating in previous matches, and the away leg would be at Meersbrook BC, in Sheffield. Holbrook was living up to it's reputation on the green and off the green despite the bad weather in the week before the match and the heavy rain the night before, but it probably brought back bad memories for Jason Anguish as he lost 20-21 first on to the experienced Mike Reilly. However from then on the green started to show it's teeth. Tom Brown moved up the order won 21-15, Neil Hill a solid 21-20 ,and James Dennis of Rowditch making his alliance debut a 21-11 win. Away from home we had a disastrous start as Dave Mycock lost 21-4 at No.1, but Fran Walsh improving all the time at this level won 21-15, the recalled John Marshall an excellent 21-14, and as Lee Pashley got 19 the damage of the 4 -21 loss was limited. Back at Holbrook Ben Ryder won 21-12, and Ed Furniss recovered from his first match loss to win 21-11, and when the unlucky not to have been moved to the senior team so far Gareth Nash won 21-3, the home leg was well and truly in our hands .Andy Ryder learning from the loss to Furniss in the merit used the same mark he was beaten on to win 21-11 to give a stunning 167-104 win, our largest home victory so far. At Meersbrook Paul Walton who never plays badly at this level go 15 against David Mallinson, the improving Richard Briddon won 21-17,Wayne Atkinson struggled to get the pace of the green and got 11 (Wayne was later in the season involved in a bad accident ) Dominic Wheatcroft got 13, to give a 125-151 loss away but an overall 37 shot win. The final match would be against leaders Staffordshire, but the competition could be won by any one of Staffs, Potteries or ourselves but we needed to win. The home leg would be at High Lane, where we have not lost and away would be at Chadsmoor BC, a favoured Staffs green. At home we started really well against the strong Staffs unit, Dave Mycock recovering well from his mauling in South Yorkshire to win 21-12,Dave Mee on his return to the Alliance team lost 17-21,but Lee Pashley won 21-15 against a previous County Senior player Lee Cavill, and William Archbald on his debut at this level showed good resilience to win 21-18 against another County senior player in the Alliance format.So we were doing well at home. Away from home it was a mixed bag as the home side came with a strong first 4,Phil May got 18 in as late reserve.Tom Brown moved in the order again lost to 15,and when Neil Hill got only 7,we were up against it. Ed Furniss improving game on game won 21-10 and were back in the match. At home Paul Walton lost to 20,but Richard Briddon won to 19,so we were in front still but then Wayne Atkinson was out bowled by the best Staffs player on the day and only got 6, but Dominic Wheatcroft won 21-17 to give us a win 148-145. It was all down to the away side to try and conjure a win, but when Len Robinson only got 8, that was a tall order, but we had three brilliant wins at 6,7 and S.Ben Ryder won 21-20,Gareth Nash back from missing the last game won 21-14, and Andy Ryder in the team originally as a travelling spectator with Ben, kept up his 100% record with a 21-15 win over experienced Staffs Senior player and handicapper Ian Porter, However we just fell short as Staffs won the league with a 143-132 home win. The Alliance continues to be a rich source of players that move to the Senior team, but we need to move more youngsters who are over age from the Junior ranks into the set up as experience for the move to County Senior, and we have had players now asking to play in the Alliance in both the North and South and hope we can accommodate them quickly.

 

INDIVIDUAL COUNTY MERIT FINAL

 

For the first time since the County Cup final a few years ago. we went to the impressive Holbrook MW green, which thankfully was not as quick as it had been for that County Cup final.The Ladies provide one of the best spreads of food you will see at a bowls competition, and a superb green made for an interesting day. First matches saw the players amazed by the difficulty of the green, Andy Milsom made light work of annual qualifier Nigel Armstrong with a commanding 21-4 win. Burbage's Simon Shaw gave Andy Spragg a fright leading 17-12, before Spragg found a mark and run out on 21-17. A large number of the qualifiers had never seen the green, so were learning as they went along. Littleover's Neil Gibson had Paul Chamberlain at 11-0, and he never relinquished that lead winning 21-12. Dale Spragg had a surprisingly easy win over Brian Smith 21-10. Two players failed to turn up so there were byes for Andy Rushforth of Alvaston & Boulton and Alan Lewsley of Winshill. Dave Parkin of Marehay made his green knowledge tell and beat Alan Johnson of Stretton Anglesey 21-18, and Steve Barber of New Mills beat one of the fancied players in Mick Bacon of Rowditch. His fellow clubmate Ed Furniss beat A&B's Tim Glasby in a tense battle 21-12, and Andy Ryder took out previous winner Steve Allen 21-11. Probably the best match of the round was Jon Guess 21-20 win over Darren Smith. Neil "Naz" Worthington saw off Ady Howard from Eastwood Park easily 21-8. The bottom half was wide open, Jason Anguish beat Neil Hill 21-7.and Phil Clapham beat first time qualifier Steve Rogers of Derby Co-op 21-8. Rowditch's James Dennis beat Shireoaks Wayne Atkinson 21-18, another player having been on the green. Calvin Jackson had a comfortable win 21-12 over Brackens Jeff Tatem. The second round saw Andy Spragg behind again to Andy Milsom, at 11-5 but Spragg as in the first round found a mark and moved through with a less than comfortable 21-14 win. Surprise package Steve Barber beat Dave Parkin 21-13. The strangest match of this round was Andy Ryder, 11-2 up at one stage, then 16-6, for Furniss to get in and run out playing a % corner up and down the hill, to leave Ryder shell shocked. Naz Worthington moved up a gear and beat fellow County player Jon Guess 21-11. The bottom half saw Dale Spragg just managed to get home in a quality match 21-18 over Neil Gibson. Andy Rushforth won the battle of the walkover men as he saw off Alan Lewsley 21-6.Jason Anguish also moved easily through beating Phil Clapham 21-10.Calvin Jackson playing the pace of the green very well beat James Dennis 21-13. The hard work for some players began now as we had to whittle the last 8 down to 7, as for the first time in a number of years we only has 7 qualifiers for the All Britain at Merseyside's Northern Club. Spragg had now got the measure of the green and moved comfortably through to the semi-finals 21-13 over Steve Barber. Ed Furniss using the mark he had beat Ryder on, used it to good effect again in beating Worthington 21-18. Rushforth was now playing the green well, and in a cracking game beat Dale Spragg 21-20. Calvin Jackson's encounter against Jason Anguish was a classic encounter. both players playing at the top of their game. However at 20 across Anguish led a superb 3 inch bowl on the fastest downhill part of the green, Jackson played, ran into the back of Anguish and the both bowls turned over and Anguish's bowl was now at the side of the jack. lnexplicably, Jason played up to the head instead of laying up  which would have forced Calvin to play up again, to the shock of everyone now watching they watched Jason's bowl now playing up. The inevitable happened as he bowl hit Jackson's which then hit Anguish's bowl knocking it out to leave Calvin on. The playoffs for the last place at the All Britain saw Anguish never recover from that last bowl and become the unlucky player to lose out. The semi-finals of the main competition now saw Spragg up against Furniss, and Furniss was 5-4 down when he got onto the favoured mark, and went 16-12 up, but Spragg was now in winning mode and keeping Furniss off the mark won 21-17. The other semi saw clubmates Andy Rushforth up against Calvin Jackson, and in another excellent match for the spectators Rushforth won 21-20. The final had Spragg in normal territory, looking to win major competitions, Rushforth in his first, started well went 5-2 up but soon found himself 15-7 down and Spragg was in no mood to give away his title now and ran away 21-10. This was Andy's 5^th  Derbyshire County Merit Title. equalling the great Charlie Garside's record,6 next year who knows? At the All Britain on the superb greens at the Northern Club in Crosby, not so much the host club's provision of refreshments Steve Barber lost his second game as did Dale Spragg.Calvin Jackson lost his 3^rd match, and Andy Spragg went out in the semi finals to Glynn Cookson who had earlier beaten Dale. Callum Wraight of Shropshire became the youngest player ever to win the All England in beating Shropshire's Cookson.

 

JUNIOR INDIVIDUAL COUNTY MERIT

 

The venue was to be Barton under Needwood on the hottest day of the year,when a good cross section of Juniors turned up to play,with an entry of 28.Match of the round from the open draw would be winner for the last two years against the runner-up James Glasby against Conor Chamberlain. Chamberlain overcame his nemesis for the last 2 years winning 21-11. ln the top round of the draw, Josh Hall made quick work of fellow County player Tom Yeowart 21-6. William Mosley won the battle of the younger players beating Callum Briddon of Peakdale 21-14, Darrell Matkin beat Lewis Johnson 21-7. Littleover player Aaron Gibson beat Rolleston's Adam Morritt 21-15. Matt Fearn won 21-15 against the first of the girls Jessica Robinson. Adam Stones overcame the second girl Shelby Howard 21-5 in a much better game than the score suggested. Blaine Howard beat Aaron Dunbar 21-9.Lewis Belcher saw off Nathan Broom in a master class of how to play a running green 21-4. Matt Bradwell of Tideswell showed his undoubted potential to beat the fancied Luke Skittrall 21-8.Victoria Mosley never got to grips with the weight change on the green and lost to Elliot Laboure 8-21. ln the final game of the first round Marehay's James Pickering won beat Euan Yates 21-3.The second round saw an impressive start for Josh Hall as he beat William Mosley 21-7.Darrel Matkin saw his experience at Junior County level come to the fore as he beat Aaron Gibson 21-8. Matt Fearn showed his intentions as he beat the consistent Adam Stones 21-16.Blaine Howard of Bolsover Colliery saw off the dangerous Lewis Belcher 21-17. The bottom half of the draw saw Matt Bradwell win comfortably 21-9, quickly followed by an equally comfortable 21-12 over James Pickering Jack Riley in the matches where the players had byes in the first round beat Matt Farmer rather easily than everyone expected 21-ll,and Liam had a much harder task in winning 21-17 over Ashley Bonner. The quarter finals showed a quality field of Junior County players with the exception of Jack Riley, Darrel Matkin put paid to Josh Hall's chances with a really good performance 21-9. Matt Fearn showing good green craft on the fast running down hill part of the green was always in control in beating Biaine 21-10. The match of the round saw Conor Chamberlain give a master class of corner play in beating the fancied Matt Bradwell 21-10.Liam Anguish also in fine form never had a bowl outside 2 feet on the slick downhill part of the green and beat Riley 21-4. In the semi-finals Matt Fearn now in total control of the weights on the green beat Matkin 21-11, and Chamberlain again in the favoured corners showing his experience to beat Anguish 21-7. The final was going to be a battle of who could get on their respective marks on the green and score heavily when they could. Fearn started off well across the green leading 5-1 but when Conor got in he scored heavily to lead 12-5 on the corner mark he had played so well. Any mistake with a lead was being punished and the match was back in the mix as Matt came back to 11-12,and the match continued to be tight, up to 18-16 to Chamberlain. Conor then moved swiftly onto 20,needing just one, Fearn then won the next end, but again it was the lead and Chamberlain won that end and the match 21-17. At the BCGBA finals day at the Canberra Club in Blackburn, Conor lost disappointingly to James Cosgrave of Warwicks & Worcs, and Matt Fearn 7-21 to Jonathan Copeland of Greater Manchester. The phenomenon that is Wayne Ditchfield of the host County North Lanes & Fylde won the event for the 4^th time, a record that will never be beaten, it would have been 5 if he had not been available the year before.

 

COUNTY CUP

 

The competition entry was the lowest ever figure with just 40 teams entering ,a worrying figure. The final day was to be at Clowne MW, the final event for the County to be played at one of our premier venues. The semi-finals would be Belvedere Park against surprise package Henhurst, and heavy favourites Stretton Anglesey (fresh from winning the South Derbyshire league without losing a match) against previous winners from 2 years ago Burbage. The green was playing well, and the players were all enjoying the pace of the green. Belvedere Park started nervously losing the first 2 matches ,Graham Jones 21-17 over Kev Kelly-Walley, and John Jones 21-19 over Paul Stretton. The batting order was crucial , and Belvedere then came hard as Steve Adams beat Clive Gascoigne much more easily than expected with a superb 21-5 win, and Simon Mills a 21-11 winner wrestled the advantage their way, which was never really threatened. Neil Hines won 21-11 and with Jason Quinn's 21-11 victory over Tony Ellam to 11, the match was all but over. Geoff Fairbrass won 21-14  and Dave Tubey win 21-13 over Tony Richardson closed the game out, despite Dave Brennan's 21-9 win over John Dewey. This was negated by Matt Kelly-Walley’s 21-10 over Malc Cheese to give a 193-145 victory for Belvedere Park. The second semi started with a win for both teams, Burbage's Phil Clapham beat Dave May 21-19,and this was matched by Anglesey's Neil Worthington as he beat Chris Adams 21-18. Brian Smith then beat Willie Owen 21-19, for Burbage to level the score at 79 each as Andrew Edge beat Darren Carter 21-18. The strength in depth of Anglesey came to the fore as Jason Anguish saw off the hero of Burbage's last title win Bill Adams 21-11, which was matched by Kev Tilling also winning 21-11 over Craig Shore, saw a winning lead established which would not be challenged despite Pat Heaney winning at No.7 21-17 over Anglesey captain Alan Johnson. The tie was finished off in style as Paul Chamberlain beat Richard Peach 21-16 and Ian Brown also won 21-16 saw the match over, and closed out with a Darren Smith 21-11 win, for a 201-165 relatively easy win. The final was a low key affair, with Anglesey dominating from the start Darren Carter beat Steve" Grizzly” Adams 21-18 and seemed to set the tone. The match was levelled with Simon Mills winning 21-18 over Brian Smith, but that was as close as it got. Dave May smarting from his loss in the semi beat John Dewey 21-13 and the ever consistent Naz Worthington beat Matt Kelly-Walley 21-15,itseemed just a matter of how many the win would be. Paul Stretton then made some inroads into that total as he beat Jason Anguish 21-14,and when Kev Kelly-Walley lost 20-21 to Paul Chamberlain the lead was reduced. However as I said earlier Anglesey's depth came to the fore, as they piled in 4 big wins Kev Tilling 21-8 over Jason Quinn,Darren Smith over previous team-mate Geoff Fairbrass 21-7. At the end Alan Johnson 21-17 over Neil Hines, and with Dave Tubey the last on the green losing 11-21 to Ian Brown saw a 201-148 win for Anglesey to take the cup for the second time.

 

REPECHAGE TROPHY

 

The final would be Netherseal against Littleover II and be played at the superb venue of Rykneld BC, on an unusually dry day. The first County final for both clubs looked to be a close affair as they both play in the same leagues in the season. Littleover started the better with club Secretary Cliff Robinson winning 21-10,but Netherseal's Roger Meadows won 21-16,and the game was on. Littleover's experienced older brigade took over the younger Netherseal team Alan Walker won 21-14 and Littleover's youngest member Matt Day won 21-9. The Netherseal middle order needed to make inroads, wins for Robert Redfern 21-13 over Norman Widdowson and Peter Swift 21-19 over Mel Day brought them closer.Errol Faulkner won 21-19 and the match was well and truly on, Ken Shawcroft stopped the rot for Littleover with 21-19 win over junior County player Matt Farmer. John Redfern beat the Littleover captain Jim Bancroft 21-18, but by now the result was out of reach of Netherseal as Graham Jackson beat past County Merit winner Ian Woodward 21-18, leaving Littleover II winners by 190-174.

 

VETERAN’S INDIVIDUAL MERIT

 

The finals day was at Terminus BC in Chesterfield,with 2 late withdrawals on the day due to illness. John Evans of Bolsover Colliery beat Henhurst's John Jones 21-18 in one of the two matches left,and also from Henhurst's Clive Gascoigne beat Pilsle/s Phil Stone 21-16. Graham Jackson had received a bye in the first round and that showed as Evan's green time saw him comfortably beaten despite the 21-17 score line. ln the other semi-final Ray Walker of Egstow was well beaten by Gascoigne 21-9. Jackson beat Walker 21-12 in the 3^rd place play off. The final saw Evans use his superior green knowledge to beat Gascoigne 21-12. In the National finals day at Prees BC,in Shropshire the Grocontinental sponsored event saw Evans and Jackson lose their first games, whilst Gasgoigne won his first 21-10 against as Shropshire player, but lose the second round match. The event was won Rodney Ross of South Yorkshire.

 

JAMES BIRKS MEMORIAL MIDLAND MASTERS

 

The finals day were at the Dunlop Sports BC in Coventry, on lightning fast greens on a very hot day in North Midlands. We had three players unfortunately fail to turn up for the event, but out of the ones who did Old Whittington's Andy Spragg and previous winner Stuart Smith both lost in the 3^rd round.Trevor Byatt of Burbage played reasonably well but when coming up against a North Midlands player in the first round and got 9. William Archbald beat the fancied Gareth Herbert of Warwicks & Worcs in the first round 21-19,but in the second round he came up against Staffs County player and previous winner Chris Ward and lost 4-21.Anthony Jones of Henhurst making a welcome return to this level of competition for the first time in a number of year's won his first game against Cedric Bancroft of Shropshire 21-16 only to lose in a really good match 18-21 to Staffs Nick Newey. Phil Clapham was drawn against 3^rd  favourite Ant Aldridge, but struggled with the weight change on the fast running greens and lost 14-21.North Midlands Steve Pratt was the 4/1 favourite at the start and whilst never really thrashing anyone,but with his green knowledge he always had the edge on both greens. Littleover's Mark Fearn started well against 2^nd  favourite Potteries Kerry Morris and lead 11-6 at one stage but was level at 13 across, before Morris took control and won 21-14. Conor Chamberlain became the youngest player to take part in the James Birks Midland Masters, but came up against the experienced home County player Les Haylor and duly lost 10-21.Pratt continued with his expertise on the greens and won the event beating Potteries Joe Melvin in the final 21-16 in a match in the dark as the floodlights would not work.

 

UNDER 16's

 

The under 16 competition came back to life this year as the Northern Sections began to put more effort into the lifeblood of the sport. Burton would play Buxton in one game, and Chesterfield would play South & Mid Derbyshire in the other match. Burton had a strong team as always and all their team from the season before when they won the competition, so it was they who started favourites, In front of a large and noisy crowd on a cool windy day at Ashbourne,on the top green.. Lewis Belcher of Stapenhill carried his improvement from the Junior County team into this level and beat Burbage's Luke Guess 21-4.The class of Conor Chamberlain showed through as he beat the improving Whaley Bridge's Adam Hawker 21-16.Swadlincote Catholics' Matt Fearn had an easier passage against another Whaley Bridge player James Golpin winning 21-8.Darrel Matkin did not have things all his own way against Peakdale's Callum Briddon before getting home 21-17. The other match was much closer affair, Alvaston & Boulton's Dan Hartley struggled against Oxcroft's Kelly Hill just getting home 21-20.Josh Hall had what looks like an easy win at 21-6 which was far from that as Hillstown's Becky Bonner showed what a good player she will become in the next few year's. Brimington's Rebecca Hancock had Rolleston's William Mosley in all sorts of trouble as she showed how to play the green winning 21- 4.However,probably the best payer in the Junior County away team this season Adam Hartley beat Ashley Bonner 21-8 for a 67-55 win for the South In the final Burton would play the Mid and South,whilst the 3rd and 4th places would be between Chesterfield and the North. Adam started well and 6-1 up. but Conor got the jack and went 12-7 up, and never relinquished the lead winning 21-2, Matt Fearn was looking for an easy win over William. but credit to William as the match was level at 14 across before Fearn managed to get his lead bowls going and won 21-15.Lewis Belcher came up against Dan Hartley in very good form and Dan won 21-16.Darrell Matkin was in impressive form leading 14-3 at one stage before Josh decided that he could get back into the game which he duly did ,but the gap was just a little too much as Darrell won 21-16,to give the Burton team a back to back win 79-64. In the third & 4^th place play off, the North started very well indeed, Adam Hawker beating Kelly 21-15 ,and James Golpin coming back from 9-2 down to beat Becky 21-11. Rebecca Hancock beat Luke Guess 21-8,and in the final game Ashley Bonner stood at 16-12 down, before finding an uphill/downhill edge mark and lead very well and run out on Callum Briddon 21-16 for a 68-66 win. The junior sections throughout the County continue to grow with the help of Dave Brown and Clive Thornhill who put a tremendous amount of work for the under 16's and the County Juniors at under 18 level.

 

 

GLYNN HOLMES

 

Secretary’s Report (page 2)

DERBYSHIRE COUNTY CROWN GREEN  BOWLING  ASSOCIATION