Walker’s late surge in final propels him to Merit triumph

The first game saw two Eastfield bowlers drawn against each other with Ashley Brunton-Douglas winning 21-17 against David Muir to face home bowler Pam Watson, who just beat Rita Bland (Borough) 21-20.

Lynn Gates (Borough) had an easier passage to the second round, beating Allison Roe (North Cliff) while Barrie Watson had a big 21-8 win over his Borough clubmate Gary Thornton.

Tim Coyne (North Cliff) won 21-15 against Geoff Watson to face Tony Chambers (Castleford) who beat Tony Bland (Borough) 21-8.

Jo Gates (Borough) crushed Ray Leeman (Whitby) 21-6 but Robert Child (North Cliff) was pressed all the way by Emmo Emmerson (Whitby) before going through 21-20.

This was also the score when Jo Leeman (Whitby) beat Gareth Gidman (Alverthorpe) for a game against Andrew Walker (Bridlington Bay), who had a fine 21-19 win against Richard Jackson (Thongsbridge).

Tim Pucell (Whitby) put out Phil Todd (Hunmanby) 21-16 while Simon Walker (Borough) had a good 21-14 win against Geoff Oldham.

Sue Holdsworth won an all-Hunmanby game against Alan Kynaston 21-15 and Kevin Gates (Dukes Park) cruised through 21-9 against Pam Moment (North Cliff).

In the final games of the top half of the draw, David Birch won 21-18 against Mel Dale (Bridlington Bay) to face Harry Old who beat Katie Gates (Duke Park) 21-12.

In the other half of the draw, Pauline Allison (Borough) had a fine 21-12 win over Ian Richardson while Chris Dobson beat Ian Winning (Bridlington Bay) 21-9.

Stuart Thompson (Pontefract) had an even bigger win, 21-5, against Caroline Watson (Borough) to face Callum Malone (North Cliff), who just won 21-20 against Sue Emmerson (Whitby).

David Walker (Scholes) demolished Malcolm Dobson (Hunmanby) 21-6 and Steve Dover (Whitby) won 21-17 against home bowler Jack Richardson.

Peter McCrory (Whitby) went through 21-16 against Ronnie Noble (Borough) for a game against Lisa Watson (Hunmanby), who prevailed 21-14 against Mally Kay (North Cliff).

Ed McCormack (North Cliff) won well, 21-13, against Denise Dobson (Dukes Park) and Albert Beggs (Bridlington Bay) also did well to beat Adam Chilvers (North Cliff) 21-20.

Mo Chambers (Castleford) beat Dave Moment (North Cliff) 21-15 to face Derek Dale (Bridlington Bay), who won well against Scott Wardman (North Cliff) 21-18.

Sue Purcell (Whitby) had a 21-9 win against the youngest player in the field, Alix Stallard (Hunmanby), while Kenny Wale beat his Whitby clubmate Ian Gadden 21-19.

The round concluded with Larry Dixon (Westgate) pulling off a surprise, 21-17, win against Alan Landers (North Cliff) and Billy Holdsworth beating Brian Dalby (Borough) 21-11.

In the second round, Pam Watson had an easy 21-7 win against Brunton-Douglas to face Barrie Watson who beat his Borough clubmate Lynn Gates 21-14.

Coyne also had a big win, 21-6, against Tony Chambers and Child won 21-15 against Jo Gates. Andrew Walker could not repeat his first round form losing 21-10 against Jo Leeman who went on to face Tim Purcell who won 21-16 against Simon Walker.

Sue Holdsworth had a fine 21-10 win against Kevin Gates and the top half finished with Old winning the all-Hunmanby game against Birch 21-16.

Chris Dobson had a comfortable 21-10 win against Allison and Malone just won, 21-20, against Thompson. David Walker beat Dover 21-16 and Lisa Watson won 21-15 against McCrory.

McCormack won 21-17 against Beggs to face Mo Chambers who beat Derek Dale 21-18.

Finally, Sue Pursell had a very good, if close, 21-20 win against Kenny Wale while Dixon could not pull off another big win, losing 21-16 to Billy Holdsworth.

The third round started with a clash of Watsons, with Pam beating Barrie 21-9 to face Coyne who beat his clubmate Child 21-15.

The next two games were also intra-club affairs with Jo Leeman winning 21-19 against Tim Purcell and Old beating Sue Holdsworth 21-7.

In the bottom half of the draw, Chris Dobson won 21-17 against Malone while Lisa Watson pressed David Walker before going down 21-19.

Mo Chambers destroyed McCormack 21-6 while Billy Holdsworth dashed Sue Purcell’s hopes by winning 21-10.

Coyne won the first quarter-final 21-18 against Pam Watson to face Old, who beat Jo Leeman 21-16.

David Walker went through 21-14 against Chris Dobson and Billy Holdsworth completed the round with a 12-16 win over Mo Chambers.

Coyne and Old fought out a close first semi-final, with Coyne going through to the final 21-20 to face Walker who cruised through 21-8 against Holdsworth.

The final was, for most of the time, a very close fought affair. Coyne took an early 9-6 lead after seven ends only for Walker to take the next four ends to lead 13-9.

Coyne pulled back to 14-12 down after 14 ends and then took the lead 16-15 after 18 ends but Walker finished strongly and won five ends on the trot to win 21-16.

On Friday, there is no merit as the date had been set aside because of the Hickson Trophy. On Sunday, there is the final of the William Boyes Challenge Cup, a closed competition at Borough again.

In Division 2 of the Evening Singles League, Whitby C won 160-102 (7-1) at home to Borough D while Robin Hoods Bay won 147-129 (5-3) at home to Westgate A.

Eastfield B recorded their second win of the season, beating Hunmanby B 148-132 (4-4) at home, Westgate B lost 142-125 (3-5) at home to Dukes Park B and Dukes Park C had a 157-128 (4-4) home win against North Cliff B.

In Division 1, Borough C lost 158-130 (6-2) at home to Whitby B and Dukes Park A beat Eastfield A 157-98 (7-1) at home.

Whitby A won at home,148-123 (5-3) against North Cliff B and, finally, North Cliff A beat Hunmanby A 150-127 (5-3) at home.

In the Wednesday Over-60s League, Dukes Park won 9-2 (113-94) at home to Whitby while bottom of the table Eastfield put up a fine performance away against top of the table Hunmanby A, sharing games won but losing the aggregate for a score of 8-6 (116-82).

Bridlington Bay A hosted North Cliff and lost 9-6 (108-98) and Borough A won 9-5 (127-86) at home to Borough B.

In Division 2, Borough C had a 13-1 (127-67) home win against Dukes Park C, Bridlington Bay B won 11-4 (123-85) away to Robin Hoods Bay and Westgate A also won away to Westgate B 13-2 (142-73).

In the Evening Doubles League, Borough B destroyed Westgate 84-42 (4-0) away while Borough A won at home to Eastfield by a much closer margin, 78-65 (3-1), the clincher being one big win.

In the other matches, Whitby won 84-52 (4-0) away against Bridlington Bay, Dukes Park and North Cliff drew 69-69 (2-2) and North Cliff B won at home against Borough C 75 -58 (3-1).

The Saturday Singles resumed after the break for probable Yorkshire Cup matches, which ultimately did not materialise.

In Division 1, North Cliff A had a big 10-2 (196-143) home win against Dukes Park A, matched by Whitby who also won 10-2 (188-168) at home to Borough B.

Hunmanby A did even better, winning 11-1 (208-135) at home to Bridlington Bay A but Borough A put in the best performance of the day, at least in terms of numbers, winning 12-0 (210-105) at home to North Cliff B.

In Division 2, Hunmanby B had an away win at Bridlington Bay B by 8-5 (181-160) while Westgate A destroyed Robin Hoods Bay winning 11-1 (203-147) at home.

Finally, Westgate B pulled off a surprise 7-5 (171-162) home win against previously unbeaten Eastfield in a match switched for safety reasons, because of travellers camped next to Eastfield’s green.