Chris Dobson defeats Harry Old in Hunmanby Open Singles merit

The day started cool and showery but then became sunny.

There were originally 64 entries, reduced to 63 with a late withdrawal, which meant games were played with 4 on the card throughout the competition.

Even so the first round was not completed until well after 1pm.

In the first round Ray Leeman pressed his Whitby clubmate Geoff Watson very hard but eventually lost 21-18 while Adam Chilvers (North Cliff) had a very good, and unexpected, win 21-15, against Andy Deighton (Dukes Park).

Another upset saw Brian Dalby (Borough) win 21-20 against Robert Child (North Cliff) and this score was repeated when Kevin Gates (Dukes Park) beat Sue Emmerson (Whitby) and again when Nigel Trotter beat home bowler Lisa Watson.

Another home bowler, Jack Richardson, had a good win against Boyes Cup winner Callum Malone (North Cliff) and Pauline Allison (Borough) sprang a surprise beating Whitby’s Steve Dover 21-18.

On the second round Watson had another close game but his time came out on the losing end, 21-19, to home bowler Harry Old who went on to face Andy Webb (Alverthorpe) who beat Paul Morgan (Whitby) 21-15.

Emmo Emmerson (Whitby) won 21-12 against Ronnie Noble (Borough) while Jennie Allen (Hunmanby) beat another Borough player, Gary Thornton 21-13.

Richard Jackson (Thongsbridge) had a 21-15 win against Hunmanby’s Brian Whitehouse to face Alan Landers (North Cliff) who went through 21-13 against Tony Allen (Hunmanby).

Sue Holdsworth (Hunmanby) had the better of Chilvers by 21-14 while Jo Leeman (Whitby) won 21-15 against Hunmanby’ Geoff Oldham.

In the bottom half of the draw Alan Kynaston (Hunmanby) won 21-10 against Sue Wilkinson (Borough) while Jo Gates beat her Borough clubmate Dalby 21-14.

Kevin Gates showed his sister Lynn Gates (Borough) no mercy in a 21-4 win while Ian Hadden (Whitby) beat Phil Todd (Hunmanby), who had had a very long wait for his first game because of the withdrawal, 21-15 to face Dave Moment (North Cliff) who won 21-16 against Josh Emmerson (Whitby) and Nigel Trotter had a 21-13 win against David Birch.

Finally in this round Chris Dobson had a close, 21-19, win against Richardson while Scott Wardman (North Cliff) crushed Allison 21-8.

In the first quarter-final Old had an emphatic 21-6 win over his clubmate Jennie Allen while Sue Holdsworth scraped through 21-20 against Landers.

In the other half of the draw Kynaston won 21-17 against Hadden while Dobson beat Moment 21-16. The first semi-final saw Old win comfortably, 21-10, against Holdsworth while Dobson was taken a bit further, 21-13, by Kynaston.

The final was a close-fought affair, Old taking the first end only for Dobson to go to 11-6 ahead after 7 ends.

Old then pulled back to 12-11 down after 12 ends and to 14-13 down after 15 ends.

After 10 ends the scores were level at 16-16 before Dobson opened up a 19-17 lead at 22 ends. After that the ends were shared as alternate singles meaning that Dobson won 21-19.

This Friday there will be an Over-60s Doubles Merit at Borough and on Sunday there is an Open Singles at Westgate.

Entries for summer merits must be made in advance with the appropriate Competition Secretary for the host club.