Kevin Gates and Callum Malone earn Hunmanby Drawn Pairs Merit win

The weather was very chilly, with some rain early in the day and again just after midday although the sun did break through later and there was a full field of 64 entrants.

The first round opened with Sue Purcell (Whitby) & Alan Landers (North Cliff) winning 21-13 against Simon Walker (Borough) & Allison Roe (North Cliff) and Adam Chilvers (North Cliff) & Bernard Chalk (Bridlington Bay) cruising through 21-8 against Judith Andrews (North Cliff) & Emmo Emmerson (Whitby).

The all-Hunmanby pairing of Lisa Watson & Geoff Oldham were even more ruthless in a 21-6 win against Lyn Gates (Borough) & Pam Moment (North Cliff) while Nigel Trotter (North Cliff) & Mike Scott (Dukes Park) were pressed hard by Tony Flynn (North Cliff) & Harry Old (Hunmanby) before scraping through 21-20.

Sue Holdsworth (Hunmanby) & Sue Emmerson (Whitby) also had a close game against Robert Child (North Cliff) & Billy Holdsworth (Hunmanby) but held on to win 21-19 and set up a game against Graham Knott (Bridlington Bay) & Larry Dixon (Westgate) who beat Tony Bland (Borough) & David Birch (Hunmanby) 21-16.

Stuart Thompson (Pontefract) & Pam Watson (Hunmanby) won 21-16 against Tony Chambers (Castleford) & Ian Hadden (Whitby) and Tony Allen (Hunmanby) & Ronnie Noble (Borough) beat John Cooper (North Cliff) & Kenny Wale (Whitby) 21-17.

Katie Gates (Dukes Park), one of last week’s winners, & Ed McCormack (North Cliff) had a comfortable 21-13 win against Malcolm Dobson (Bridlington Bay) & Mally Kay (North Cliff) to face Denise Dobson (Dukes Park) & Mo Chambers (Castleford) who won 21-18 against Pauline Allison (Borough) & Tim Purcell (Whitby).

Home bowler Phil Todd & Jo Gates (Borough) eased through 21-19 against Andrew Walker (Bridlington Bay) & Barrie Watson (Borough) to face Ian Winning (Bridlington Bay) & Scott Wardman (North Cliff) who had an easier time winning 21-11 against Peter van de Gevel (Dukes Park) & Rita Bland (Borough).

Geoff Watson (Whitby) & Jennie Allen (Hunmanby) won 21-15 against Alan Hynaston (Hunmanby) & Mary Kenworthy (Bridlington Bay) while Danny Cooper (North Cliff) & Jo Leeman (Whitby) were pressed hard by Paul Morgan (Whitby) & Dave Moment (North Cliff) but held on for a 21-20 win.

Andy Deighton (Dukes Park) & Brian Dalby (Borough) had a comfortable 21-13 win against Ian Richardson (North Cliff) & Ashley Brunton-Douglas (Eastfield) while the strong pairing of Kevin Gates (Dukes Park) & Callum Malone (North Cliff) eased through 21-11 against David Muir (Eastfield) & Chris Dobson (Dukes Park).

The second round opened with Sue Purcell & Landers crushing Chilvers & Chalk 21-8 while Lisa Watson & Oldham just held on to win 21-20 against Trotter & Scott.

The two Sues, Holdsworth & Emmerson also had a big win, 21-8, against Knott & Dixon to face Thompson & Pam Watson who had a 21-12 win against Tony Allen & Noble.

Katie Gates & McCormack were eliminated 21-13 by Mo Chambers & Denise Dobson while Todd & Jo Gates won 21-17 against Winning & Wardman.

Danny Cooper & Leeman put Geoff Watson & Jennie Allen out 21-17 while Kevin Gates & Malone completed the quarter-final line-up by beating Deighton & Dalby 21-14.

Sue Purcell & Landers had another comfortable win, this time21-13 against Lisa Watson & Oldham while Pam Watson & Thompson crushed Sue Holdsworth & Sue Emmerson 21-7.

Mo Chambers & Denise Dobson beat Todd & Jo Gates 21-14 and Kevin Gates & Malone put Danny Cooper & Leeman out of the competition 21-16.

Pam Waeson & Thompson proved too much of a hurdle for Sue Purcell & Landers who went down 21-9 while Kevin Gates & Malone.

The final turned out to be a very close affair. Gates & Malone won the first 2 ends but Pam Watson & Thompson levelled matters at 6-6 on the next end only for Gates & Malone to score a 3.

Watson & Thompson then won 3 successive ends to lead 11-9 before Gates & Malone struck back with two 2s for a 13-11 lead.

Pam Watson & Thompson levelled again and then led again 15-14 only for Gates & Malone to win 3 ends for to lead 18-15.

Thompson & Watson pulled level again at the 17th end but Gates & Malone scored a 2 to make it 20-18.

Watson & Thompson were not done and replied with a 2 f their own to make it 20-20 before Gates & Malone scored the decisive point for a 21-20 win.

This was the third successive win in this competition for Gates, all with different partners.

The cup and prizes were presented by Hunmanby Secretary Lisa Watson.

Sunday will see the Mick Jessop Cup, the East Coast Champion of Champions, for which entry is limited to bowlers who’ve won a singles merit in the previous year.

There will be a Tea & Biscuits competition starting at 9am. Entry for this is on the day so please try to be there by 8.55am at the latest to enable the draw to be made and a prompt start.

This week saw the first Evening Doubles (Thursday) League games.

This league, as is the Monday/Tuesday Evening Singles League, is decided purely on the aggregate scores in matches rather than games won.

This means that it is very important for players to score as many points as possible because in these two leagues a 21-20 loss is almost as good for the team as a 21-20 win whereas in the other two leagues, the Saturday Singles and the Over-60s Doubles, the only benefit in scoring well in defeat is that it might help the team win bonus points for the aggregate score.

The first match was played on Wednesday between Borough C and Borough B as Borough only have one green and the C team have to play their home matches on Wednesday. The B team won 72-56 but did lose one game (3-1).

Hunmanby won at home to Dukes Park 64-61 (2-2), Borough A had a clean sweep 84-37 victory over North Cliff B, Brid Bay won 75-66 (3-1) at Eastfield while North Cliff A only dropped a single point winning 83-45 (3-1) at home to Westgate.