Kevin Gates and Andy Deighton win first Summer Merit at Whitby

The players enter as a team but play as individuals, the scores being aggregated to determine the winner and, if the scores are equal when both games are completed, there is a short play-off. All first games can be played to completion but later games are terminated when one team cannot win.

The first two sets of games on saw North Cliff pairs pitted against Whitby pairs with both visiting pairs winning, Nigel Trotter beating Alan Boland 21-11 while Scott Wardman just made it 21-20 against Craig Hoos for an aggregate of 42-31 and Callum Malone beating a sadly off-form Jo Leeman 21-5 with his partner Paul Morgan finishing early at 14-15 against Ian Hadden.

Billy Holdsworth (Hunmanby) & Robert Child (North Cliff) won 21-13 and 21-14 respectively against Barrie & Caroline Watson (both Borough).

The home pair of Kenny Wale & Sue Emmerson played Tony & Mo Chambers (Castleford). Wale beat Mo Chambers 21-16 but Tony Chambers could only win 21-19 meaning they went out 40-37.

The Eastfield duo of David Muir & Ashley Brunton-Douglas took on Whitby pairing Tommy Roberts & Ian Harland.

Muir beat Roberts 21-11 and the other game ended early with Brunton-Douglas leading 16-7.

Adam Chilvers & Justin Trotter (both North Cliff) played Borough’s Ronnie Noble & Simon Walker and both won 21-16, with Chilvers playing Walker and Trotter playing Noble. Kevin Gates & Andy Deighton (both Dukes Park) won 41-31 against home pair Emmo Emmerson & Peter Harvey with Deighton winning 21-1 against Harvey while Emmerson had a fine 21-20 win against Gates.

Richard Jackson (Thongsbridge) beat Denise Dobson (Dukes Park) while partner Amanda Hagen (Alverthorpe) lost 21-20 to Chris Dobson (Dukes Park) for an aggregate of 41-39.

Liam Massey (Castleford) won 21-15 against Andy Webb (Alverthorpe) and his partner David Knights (Sheffield) holding on to lose 21-19 to Stuart Thompson (Pontefract) for a 40-36 win.

The two youngest bowlers in the competition Connor & Leela Chilvers (both North Cliff) were eliminated in short order by, respectively, Peter & Joyce Harland (both Whitby)21-7 and 21-5.

Danny Cooper (North Cliff) & Andy Adamson (Borough) were almost as brutal against, respectively, Brian Dalby & Rita Bland (both Borough) winning 21-10 and 21-9.

The Brid Bay pairing Mary Kenworthy & Bernard Chalk faced Josh Thomas & Darryl Harrap (both Castleford). Thomas won 21-11 while Harrap had a 21-4 win.

Home pair Geoff Watson & Steve Dover won 42- 24 against Larry Dixon (Westgate) & Tony Bland Borough) while North Cliff’s Alan Landers & Ian Richardson beat the Borough twins Jo & Lynn Gates 42-28, Lynn giving Richardson a hard time only losing 21-20.

Hunmanby’s Geoff Oldham & Phil Todd had a 37-33 win over Allison Roe (North Cliff) & Sue Purcell (Whitby) in an early terminating game when Purcell was 19-16 up against Todd. Finally Jennie & Tony Allen (both Hunmanby) beat, respectively, Tim Purcell (Whitby), 21-17, & Sue Holdsworth (Hunmanby) 21-14.

In the second round Malone & Morgan beat Cliff clubmates Nigel Trotter and Wardman 41-27 while Wale & Sue Emmerson won 37-34 against Holdsworth & Child. Justin Trotter & Adam Chilvers had an emphatic 41-24 win over Muir & Brunton-Douglas to face Gates & Deighton who had almost as big a win, 39-27, against Jackson & Hagen.

Knights & Massey won 34-24 against Joyce & Peter Harland while Cooper & Adamson had a fine 37-29 victory against strong pair Harrap & Thomas. Landers & Richardson eliminated Geoff Watson & Dover 36-14 to face Oldham & Todd who won 38-19 in an all-Hunmanby game against Jennie & Tony Allen.

Morgan & Malone beat the home pair of Sue Emmerson & Wale 37-25 to set up a semi against Gates & Deighton who eliminated Justin Trotter & Adam Chilvers 39-32. Knights & Massey won a close game against Cooper & Adamson 40-38 while Landers & Richardson completed the line-up with a 38-33 win over Oldham & Todd.

The first semi-final was decided when Deighton beat Malone 21-13 and Gates managed to score 14 against Morgan’s 20 for an unbeatable aggregate score of 36-33.

In the other semi Landers & Richardson both won for an aggregate of 42-28 against Knights & Massey.

In the final Gates faced Richardson and, after a fairly even start, 9-8 to Gates after 8 ends, Gates pulled away to win 21-12.

The other game was a tougher contest, Landers opening up a 13-8 lead after 8 ends only for Deighton to score an unanswered 9 in the next 5 ends to lead 17-13. Landers scored 3 but the damage had been done and an irrelevant single for Deighton made the score 18-16 for an aggregate win of 39-28.