David Taylor

Last updated 01:00, Thursday, 12 July 2007

bowls

By David Taylor

CUMBRIA’S Middleton Cup side is once more top of the northern group and has moved into the last eight.

A week on Saturday, Cumbria takes on Derbyshire for a place in the semi-final.

It was far from straightforward, however, and the county’s supporters had to endure some anxious moments before the quarterfinal place was secured.

It all began well enough on Saturday at Gosforth for the side always had too much ability for Northumberland.

Cumbria got on top from the halfway mark and the result was never really in doubt. Stuart Airey’s four had another good afternoon beating Craig Cooper 30-9 while Stephen Farish weighed in with a 25-11 win over Michael Bennet.

Neil Currie beat Stan Lant 22-12 and Rick Gallagher survived a late rally by Chris Palmer to win 27-19. John Bell went down 25-15 to Tony Kempster and the only real cause for worry for team manager John Bell was the 31-12 defeat which Richard Chandler suffered at the hands of Steve Harvey.

However a 24-shot win and 18 of the 22 points meant that Cumbria had to play again on Sunday at Houghton Dairy lane against Durham needing just four points to earn a quarter-final place.

Cumbria were well below full strength on Saturday and the team was further weakened when Neil Karge and Paul Barlow were unavailable.

Stephen Farish and Niall Currie had afternoons to forget losing 28-14 and 32-12 while John Bell also went down 19-15.

Rick Gallagher was four shots up playing the last but lost a four to draw the game and once again it was Stuart Airey’s four which proved the Cumbria saviours winning 26-11.

It was left to Richard Chandler to pick up at least one point but even this looked doubtful when he led by just three after 19 ends and faced an adverse situation playing his last bowl.

He proved equal to the task, drawing the shot and picked up another single on the final end to ensure five points and the last eight place.

The quarter final of the Middleton Cup will take place on July 21 at Kirbymoorside in Yorkshire. If successful Cumbria will meet the winners of the game between Hampshire and Devon. The other four teams making up the last eight are Gloucester, Kent, Leicester and Huntingdon.

While Cumbria were winning at Gosforth the Alsop side were also doing the business at Benfield also against Northumberland and an excellent 19-3 win took them to the top of the table just one point ahead of Durham.

Peter Metcalf’s four routed Keith Rowe 37-10 while Ian Wells won 22-14 against B. Reid. Rupert Cox finished seven ahead of W Pym. Alan McGuiness finished all square against L. Birch and Cumbria’s only defeat was suffered by Anthony Little who went down by 12 to J Curtis.

The deciding game against Durham is at Darlington on Saturday August 4.

Cumbria’s third team travels to Middlesbrough on Saturday for its final game against Yorkshire. The team is largely unchanged and is shown in full below.

If Cumbria are to take the Armstrong, nothing short of a win will do and then we will have to hope against hope that Northumberland slip up when they play Yorkshire on July 28.

While this is unlikely it is worth remembering that Yorkshire do still have an outside chance of winning the trophy as they still have two games to play and a good win against Northumberland would put them in with a fighting chance.

In the Over 55 Singles, Bob Dent will now meet Brain Gray of Clifton BC in Yorkshire. Rupert Cox faces Phil Parsons of Holgate BC Yorkshire and Dave McManus plays Neil Stoker of Northumberland in the Mixed Pairs.

Noel Christopher has a hard tie in the mixed fours as he meets Yorkshire’s Mark Walton. In the Two Fours, Appleby’s run came to an end when they went down to Gosforth.

In the Top Club, Subscription, who went all the way to the national final last year, took another step along that same road, beating High Heaton of Northumberland 4-1.

Stuart Airey and Rick Gallagher got the team off to a good start winning the Four and Two bowl Singles while John Baird skipped the fours win and Mark Nanson the pairs – the only defeat was by the minimum margin in the triples.

With arguably a much stronger side than last year Subscription must have a good chance of further success when they travel to Manchester Commonwealth for the regional finals.

The Singles semi-finals and the final of the Under 25 Singles all take place at Wigton Park tomorrow evening – Paul Wallace plays Neil Karge, Rick Gallagher meets John Crozier in the singles and in the Junior Singles Ben Sherwen plays Lewis Parker.

In the county pairs, Ian Airey and Richard Chandler who beat Arnie Wilson in the quarter finals, meet David Beattie and Tony Graham, who earned their last eight place after beating Ken Johnston.

In the other game Danny May and Stuart Airey, who beat Will Strong, play Frank McKenna and John Hodkin who had an excellent win over Stephen Farish.

The semi-final ties will be played next Thursday evening at Wigton Park.

In the County Fours Ian Williams won his quarter- final against Steven Simpson and will meet Richard Gibson who defeated the Silloth county champions.

Scott Beattie accounted for Peter Metcalf and they will play Stuart Airey. The semi-finals will be played on Monday evening.

Subscription continue to make the running and extended their league at the top of the table to five points despite losing three points at Brampton.

Edenside missed the chance to narrow the gap when they could only beat West End 6-4. Courtfield and Stanwix share third but are 17 points adrift of Edenside.

Things remain tight at the top of the Over-60 but Courtfield’s 8-2 win at Edenside sees them go two points clear at the top.

Subscription suffered a set-back when going down 8-2 to Railways and drop to third two points behind West End. Linton had a welcome 6-4 win against Dalston.

A number of people have commented to me about a deterioration in standards on the green and one the thing particularly that has been mentioned is shouting at opponent’s bowls either to miss or turn woods up.

I was always told that it is not the done thing but was always under the impression that a steely glance or a barbed comment was as much as one could do to reproach the offender.

However on reading through the current Laws of the Game, Law 35 in particular, I am not so sure.

Contained in this law, which deals with possession of the rink, is a section which states that the side in possession of the rink should not be annoyed or distracted in any way.

So next time an opponent shouts ‘hit that bowl’ or ‘run away’, you can quietly inform your opponent that it annoys you and if they persist you will call the umpire.

This could well put a stop to what is little more than an annoying habit.

Cumbria v Yorkshire at Middlesbrough Saturday July 14 at 2pm

J Barber, D Pattinson, P Pattinson, P Irving; M Hodgson, A Wilson, A Belshaw, R Dalziel; R Baxter, M Little, R Ritchie, A Baxter; M Hodgson, C Allason, M Jackman, D Baxter; Reserve R Noble.