Dukes Park stars Andy Deighton and Kevin Gates win Hunmanby Open Doubles Bank Holiday competition
This was the busiest week so far in the 2025 crown green bowls season although there are busier ones to come.
On Bank Holiday Monday Hunmanby staged their annual Open Doubles competition with a full entry of 32 pairs, writes David Muir.
First round games were played off scratch but subsequent games had 4 on the card as some entrants had evening league matches.
The first game on produced a very tight finish with the North Cliff pair of Dave Moment & Alan Lee won 21-18 against the strong home pairing of Pam & Lisa Watson.
Also in the first round by some chance Eastfield’s David Muir & Ashley Brunton-Douglas were drawn against the Borough pairing of Gary Thornton & Sue Wilkinson who they had lost to in the Whitby Two Player Team the previous Sunday.
This time the Eastfield pair ran out 21-16 winners. A scratch pairing of Allison Roe (North Cliff) & Jennie Allen (Hunmanby) pulled of a big surprise beating the fancied pair of Phil Todd & Geoff Oldham (both Hunmanby) 21-11.
In the second round Moment & Lee faced another North Cliff pairing of Scott Wardman & Callum Malone 21-16 while a third North Cliff duo, Alan Landers & Ian Richardson finished the hopes of Muir & Brunton-Douglas 21-7.
Roe & Allen had another good win, this time 21-12, over the Borough pairing of Barrie & Caroline Watson to face Emmo & Josh Emmerson (both Whitby) who beat North Cliff’s Adam Chilvers & Nigel Trotter.
There was an upset in an all-Whitby game when Geoff Coleman & Kenny Rodgers beat Geoff Watson & Paul Morgan 21-11 while Andy Deighton & Kevin Gates won an all-Dukes Park game against Chris & Denise Dobson 21-11.
Finally visitors Stuart Thompson (Pontefract) & Andy Webb (Alverthorpe) won 21-9 against Whitby’s Steve Dover & Ray Leeman to set up a game against the home pairing of Harry Old & Jack Richardson who beat Robert Child (North Cliff) & Billy Holdsworth (Hunmanby) 21-11.
In the first quarter-final Landers & Richardson won the North Cliff battle against Moment & Lee 21-13 while the Emmersons ended the good run of Roe & Allen 21-17.
The two games in the bottom half both ended 21- with Deighton & Gates beating Coleman & Rodgers and Thompson & Webb eliminating Old & Richardson.
The Emmersons then won 21-17 against Landers & Richardson while Deighton & Gates went 1 better beating Thompson & Webb 21-16.
The final was for the most part a very even affair.
The Emmersons started a bit the better by opening up a 12-7 lead after 5 ends only to concede 3 on the next end.
After 12 ends the scores were level at 15-15 after which the next 2 ends were shared to make it 16-16.
At this point Deighton & Gates took control and won the next 4 ends to run out 21-16 winners.
The sixth round of the Monday Evening Singles 2nd Division saw Eastfield extend their lead at the top of the Division to 107 points winning 6 games of 8 at home for a 158-115 win against third placed Robin Hoods Bay.
Bridlington Bay B held on to second place despite losing 143-117 (6-2) away to Whitby C.
North Cliff C won 146-116 (4-4) at home to Dukes Park C to move into fourth place.
Hunmanby B had a 149-97 (6-2) home win against Westgate B while Borough C against Eastfield B had to be postponed due to problems in Borough’s clubhouse.
On Tuesday in Division 1 Borough A remain in first place after winning 135-124 (5-3) at home to Hunmanby A who remain in second place. Bridlington Bay A won 164-107 (6-2) at home to Westgate A and moved above North Cliff A into third place as North Cliff had their rest week.
Elsewhere Whitby A had a 165-108 (7-1) home win against Borough B, North Cliff B won 142-130 (6-2) at home to Dukes Park A while Whitby B travelled to Dukes Park B and had a 155-107 (6-2) win.
On Wednesday Hunmanby A were at “home” to their B team and beat them 21-0 (138-42) to remain top of Division 1. They are only 2 points ahead of North Cliff who won 10-2 (112-53) home to Bridlington Bay A and 3 ahead of Dukes Park A who won 9-4 (100-96) at Whitby.
Borough A won 9-4 (107-55) at Bridlington Bay B.
In Division 2 relegated Westgate A head the table by 8 points from Borough B after winning “away” to Westgate B 11-2 (96-84).
Borough B won 8-4 (105-70) at home to Robin Hood’s Bay to stand 1 point ahead of Borough C who had a 7-6 (87-81) win at Dukes Park B.
In the Evening Doubles League Borough A remain top in spite of losing 76-71 (2-2) at home to Hunmanby, in part because they have played 6 matches to second placed Hunmanby’s 5. In third place are North Cliff A who won 74-63 (3-1) at Bridlington Bay while Whitby stand fourth winning 75-50 (3-1) at Dukes Park. In the other matches Westgate won 75-67 (3-1) away to North Cliff B and Borough C had a clean sweep 84-50 win at home to Eastfield.
Five of our clubs were playing in Yorkshire’s Eric Hutchinson and Derrick Radley Cups.
In the former Borough played Staindale Park (Halifax) at Tadcaster Magnets and suffered a heavy 213-168 (7-5) defeat, Hunmanby played Pudsey at Colton (Leeds) and also lost 230-171 (10-2).
Whitby played Luddenden Foot (Halifax) at Castleford Town and were our only winners in this competition by 220-175 (9-3).
In the Derrick Radley Cup Bridlington Bay faced Brockholes (Huddersfield) at Pontefract and had an excellent 230-185 (10-2) win.
Westgate took on Meanwood Park (Leeds), who beat them last year at this stage, at Swillington (Castleford) (rearranged from Wayside (Harrogate)) and, sadly, lost all the games for a score of 252-113.