Gary Thornton and Paul Morgan win final Friday Over-60s Merit at Dukes Park
The final Friday Over-60s merit of the season was a doubles at Dukes Park sponsored by Eastfield Garden Centre, Bridlington.
On a very hot day, just eased by a breeze, there were 22 pairs entered. Early games were played off scratch but at the quarter finals this became 3 on the card.
In the first round Sue Purcell (Whitby) & Judith Andrews (North Cliff) had a good 21-16 win over the home pairing of Geoff Price & Nadine Smyth while Geoff Oldham & Phil Todd won an all-Hunmanby game against Harry Old & Jack Richardson 21-14.
Bridlington Bay’s David Wright & Albert Beggs also pulled off a surprise by beating Tim Purcell (Whitby) & Chris Dobson (Dukes Park) 21-18 to face Billy & Sue Holdsworth (Hunmanby) who also won 21-18 against Jo Leeman & Ian Hadden (Whitby).
The round closed with another home pair, Bob & Jane Brindley, pulling of another surprise win, 21-7, against Nigel Trotter & Mally Kay (North Cliff) and Borough’s Jim & Lill Barr winning 21-17 against Robert Child (North Cliff) & Peter van de Gevel (Dukes Park).
In the second round Brenda Hensby & Mary Kenworthy had a 21-12 win against Keith Davis (Dukes Park) & Rita Bland (Borough) to face Larry Dixon (Westgate) & Tony Bland (Borough) who beat David Muir & Ashley Brunton-Douglas (Eastfield) 21-12.
Emmo Emmerson & Kenny Wale (Whitby) had a 21-20 win against Alan Landers (North Cliff) & Ian Richardson (Robin Hoods Bay) and Gary Thornton (Borough) & Paul Morgan (North Cliff) won 21-16 against Mark Richardson (Sheffield) & Ralph Myers (Hunmanby).
Jennie & Tony Allen (Hunmanby) cruised through 21-8 against Dave Moment (North Cliff) & Brian Dalby (Borough) and Oldham & Todd were almost as emphatic in a 21-10 win over Sue Purcell & Andrews.
The Holdsworths did better winning 21-5 against Wright & Beggs but the Barrs went even further crushing the Brindleys 21-2.
In the first quarter-final Dixon & Tony Bland won 21-17 against Hensby & Kenworthy for a semi-final against Thornton & Morgan who eliminated Emmerson & Wale 21-16.
In the bottom half of the draw Oldham & Todd won their second all-Hunmanby game 21-15 against the Allens to face a third pair of their clubmates, the Holdsworths who destroyed the Barrs 21-5.
Both the semi-finals were comfortable wins, Thornton & Morgan 21-8 against Dixon & Bland and the Holdsworths winning 21-10 against Oldham & Todd.
The final saw Thornton & Morgan open up an early lead of 10-4 after 5 ends which they extended to 13-7 after 9 ends.
The Holdsworths then pulled 2 back only for Thornton & Morgan to go 15-9 up. A 3 pulled the Holdsworths back to 15-12 down after 13 ends before Thornton & Morgan won 4 of the next 5 ends to stand on the brink of winning at 20-13 after 18 ends.
As is so often the case the last score proved to be elusive as the Holdsworths took the next 2 ends to trail 20-16 before Thornton & Morgan closed the game out 21-16.
On Monday in Division 2 of the Evening Singles Dukes Park B had a big 154-117 (7-1) home win against Bridlington B while Borough D won 167-80 (7-1) at home to Eastfield B.
Whitby C also had a big home win, 161-98 (7-1) against Westgate B, Robin Hood’s Bay won 150-146 (4-4) at home to North Cliff C and Westgate A won 160-98 (6-2) at home to Hunmanby B.
On Tuesday in Division 1 Borough B upset Borough A by winning 147-129 5-3 “away” while Borough C won 146-108 (6-2) at Eastfield A.
Dukes Park A won 154-119 (7-1) at home to Bridlington Bay A, North Cliff A won 166-122 (7-1) at Whitby A and North Cliff B won 149-126 (4-4) at home to Whitby B.
In the Wednesday Over-60s League Division 1 there is every chance of Hunmanby A’s near stranglehold on the title being broken after they lost 8-7 (107-105) at home to Whitby.
They now stand second, 11 points behind Borough A who destroyed Bridlington Bay A 14-0 (134-74) at home.
The remaining fixtures are interesting as next week Hunmanby are at Dukes Park A and Borough host Cliff. In the last match of the season the two teams face each other at Hunmanby.
In Division 2 Robin Hood’s Bay won 11-3 (125-65) at home to Dukes Park C, Bridlington Bay B had a 14-0 (122-71) clean sweep at home to Borough C and Dukes Park B lost 13-2 at home to Westgate A.
In the Evening Doubles League on Thursday Borough A won 71-65 (2-2) at home to Hunmanby while Borough B also won 73-65 (3-1) away to Eastfield. There were two clean sweeps in the other matches with Whitby beating Westgate 84-25 at home and North Cliff A, also at home, winning 84-43 against Borough C.
In the Saturday League Division 1 Hunmanby A had a big home win, 10-2 (205-114) against North Cliff B and Borough A also won at home against Dukes Park A 9-3 (192-156).
Whitby only lost one game winning 11-1 (206-111) at home to Bridlington Bay A and North Cliff A beat Borough B 9-3 (172-150) at home.
With two more sets of matches to go it looks as if the title could go to the wire with both Hunmanby A and Whitby having two away matches and Borough A one match, again away. Bridlington Bay A and North Cliff B are set for relegation.
In Division 2 Bridlington Bay B just won 7-5 (171-159) by virtue of the aggregate while Eastfield had a very poor day at home to Hunmanby B losing 10-3 (192-158).
With one more round of matches Westgate A are assured of the top position in the division and Eastfield look almost certain to join them in Division 1 next year.