​Harry Old and Peter Van de Gevel soar to Borough Over-60s Open Doubles win

All first games were played off scratch meaning that everyone had the chance to play one full game although there was four on the card for subsequent games, writes David Muir.

As quite a few of the early games were one-sided affairs this did not lead to an overly protracted day’s bowling although two games did go to 21-19 and another to 21-18.

In the quarter-finals Brian Whitehouse (Dukes Park) and Geoff Oldham (Hunmanby) just beat Whitby’s Geoff Watson and Steve Dover 21-20 while Hunmanby pair Harry Old and Peter Van de Gevel cruised through against the home pairing of Tony Bland and Gary Thornton 21-6.

Another home pair, Dave Pryce and Les Ramm fared better in beating Whitby’s Eddie Maxwell and Geoff Leatherland 21-8 while North Cliff’s Alan Lee and Dave Moment eliminated another Whitby pairing, Sue Green and Alan Boland by the same score.

After coming all the way through from the preliminary rounds North Cliff’s Lee and Moment booked their place in the final coming from 10-4 behind to beat Pryce and Ramm 21-15 in the first semi-final

The other semi-final was a more one sided affair with Old and Van de Gevel beating last year’s winners Whitehouse and Oldham 21-9

Again the final was a one sided affair with some great precision bowling from Old and Van de Gevel racing into a 17-6 lead before Lee and Moment staged a brief comeback to win two ends on the trot

However it was to be Old and Van de Gevel’s day finishing the game in style with a 21-8 victory.

Forty bowlers entered Dukes Park’s Open Singles sponsored by Williamsons (Solicitors), Bridlington.

The preliminary round saw quite a few convincing wins on a green that was already rather tricky being made even more awkward by the breeze.

Gary Thornton (Borough) had a notable 21-9 win against Whitby’s Geoff Watson while Watson’s Whitby clubmates Josh Emmerson and Steve Dover fought out a 21-20 win to Emmerson.

Other significant results included Linda Armstrong (Castleford) beating Lisa Watson (Hunmanby) 21-19 and Kevin Siddle (Doncaster) eliminating Alan Landers (North Cliff) 21-16.

In the first round clash of clubmates Callum Malone (North Cliff) beat Ian Richardson 21-16 while another North Cliffer, Allison Roe beat Whitby’s Peter Harvey, also 21-16.

In the second round North Cliff’s Robert Child beat Steve Lonnia (Borough) 21-17 to set up a quarter final with Tom Silcock (Barnsley) who had a 21-13 win over Sue Green (Whitby).

Home bowler Kevin Gates had a 21-11 win against Tony Chambers (Castleford) while Malone had a 21-14 win over Simon Walker (Borough).

In the bottom half of the draw Mo Chambers (Castleford) beat Roe 21-8 while Richard Lonnia ended Borough bowler Gary Thornton’s run 21-12, Doncaster’s Kevin Siddle beat Dave Moment (North Cliff) 21-10 and Daz Cookson edged past his Doncaster compatriot Danny Sillitoe 21-20.

In the quarter-finals Silcock had a 21-18 win over Child while Gates put an end to Malone’s hopes by 21-12, Lonnia brushed Mo Chambers aside 21-6 and in another all-Doncaster clash, Siddle beat Cookson 21-14.

In the first semi Gates beat Silcock 21-17 to set up a final of two Kevins as Siddle had a 21-11 win against Lonnia.

The final, played off scratch, started quite evenly with Siddle leading 6-5 after eight ends. He then extended this lead to 10-5 after 11 ends only for Gates to level it with five singles at 10-10.

Gates then scored three to one to lead for the first time only for Siddle to score two 2s to regain the lead 15-13.

Gates scored a single but then Siddle scored eight in the next four ends to wrap the game up 21-14 and qualify for the Mick Jessop Cup and, probably, for the Summer Champion of Champions.