Bowls By David Taylor

Last updated 11:15, Thursday, 28 February 2008

CUMBRIA’S hopes of reaching the final of the Inter County knockout for the Liberty Trophy were dashed on Sunday at West Denton IBC when the county side was beaten by five shots by Durham.

Manager: Stuart Airey

The match always looked likely to be a hard-fought semi-final and for much of the way the two sides were closely matched.

It was not until the three-quarter mark that Durham made the vital break picking up 33 shots to 11 from the 14th to 17th ends, in the process opening up an 18-shot lead which looked likely to give them a comfortable win.

Cumbria, however, as they had in the quarter-final against Norfolk again showed a good attitude and fought back in the closing stages to such an extent that with just three ends left to play the Durham lead had been reduced to just a single shot.

Team manager Stuart Airey played his last end but despite playing two good bowls both within inches of the target he dropped a single to leave Craig Docherty to pick up two on his two last ends.

On the penultimate end Docherty faced a difficult position on a hand which was none too responsive and once he was unable to change that head and lost a further two shots the position had gone beyond recall and eventually Durham made it through to the final at Nottingham and a game against the holders Hampshire.

Overall it was a good game on a surface which was none-too-easy to play though not favouring either of two well-matched sides and when there is so little in the game it really could have gone either way.

True, there were some players who failed to come up to expectations on the day but in a 24-man team that is almost inevitable and though there are always recriminations when sides lose so narrowly, the Cumbria side did not do at all badly on the day.

If one has to be critical, competition for places in the side is not so strong as it was 10 years ago and preparation for such matches sometimes leaves something to be desired.

It has to be remembered of course that all the players give up their time to represent the county and as such should still be regarded as a good effort even though it could still have been better.

Ian Gallagher’s four, for whom Kevin Harrison and John Baird provided good performances, produced Cumbria’s best result in beating Glenn Skipp 19-14 while Stephen Farish was a four-shot winner against Gary Smith. Stuart Airey showed true fighting spirit to come from 18-9 down to share the spoils against David Bolt while Craig Docherty for whom Neil Karge played well went down by two to John Thurlbeck.

After a slow start Gavin Taylor edged ahead against Andrew Kirtland but was eventually beaten by four whereas Trevor Taylor always looked likely to lose out against Robert Chisholm and was eventually beaten 22-14.

The area final of the national pairs was completed on Saturday when Danny May and Trevor Taylor played Eddie Murray and Gavin Taylor and it produced an exciting finish.

May and Taylor looked the likely winners from half-way when they scored 10 shots between the 12th and 15th ends to take a 20-9 lead but Murray and Gavin Taylor struck back with nine shots in the next three ends and after the loss of a two on the next picked up a decisive five on the penultimate end to lead by one.

May and Trevor Taylor levelled the match with a single on the 21st end but on the extra end it was Murray and Gavin Taylor who scored the vital shot to take them to the national finals at Nottingham in April.

Gavin Taylor is also involved in two national finals this weekend. On Saturday he plays Rae Graham in the fours final at 10am while on Sunday the singles final also takes place at 10am when Taylor will play Mark Nanson.

The Annual Friendly match against Wetheral B.C. took place on Sunday and resulted in an 18 shot win for the home side.

The winning margin was largely the result of a big win for Simon Kerridge’s four as the visitors did manage to win on three of the six rinks.

The match between Cumbria B and Copeland was postponed and will be played later. Cumbria A strengthened their hold on the league title when beating Dalston A 7-4.

John Brew went down by a single shot to Ian Ramsay after what was a close game throughout but Alan Carruthers beat Joe Thomlinson 26-12 after picking up 13 shots in a four end period in the middle of the game. Dalston B side defeated Eden 9-2. John Douglas beat D Thompson 28-20 while Joe Douglas scored an 18-11 victory over Alan Dalzell.

News last week that the national association is to introduce an Over 60 national fours competition is followed this week that they will also be introducing a Liberty style competition for over-60s.

The competition will follow the lines of the Liberty Trophy except that it will be played initially on a league basis with counties allocated to four or five team sections depending on entries and three rinks will play at home and three away.

The winner of each section will then proceed to the quarter-final. Cumbria’s executive committee are expected to meet shortly to make a decision regarding entry but in view of the response which I received when considering the over-60s northern league I would imagine that it will be positive.