Whitby’s Paul Morgan crowned as Champion of Champions

This cup is named in honour of Mick Jessop who, although originally from West Yorkshire, played in this area for quite a long time until his early death in 2009 at the age of 61.

He won all the major local competitions including the Gambart Baines Challenge Cup.

Entry to the competition is restricted to bowlers who have won a singles merit in the previous 12 months.

There is also a Tea & Biscuits (T&B) competition for non-qualifiers which precedes the main competition.

In the preliminary round of the T&B Sue Wilkinson (Borough) had an easy 21-9 win against Larry Dixon (Westgate). Her clubmate Lynn Gates had a far harder time before winning 21-18 against Peter Harvey (Whitby).

Brian Dalby progressed with a 21-13 win against Ashley Brunton-Douglas (Eastfield).

Scott Wardman (North Cliff) beat Sue Purcell (Whitby) 21-12 and Denise Dobson (Dukes Park) had a 21-13 win against Mally Kay (North Cliff).

In the 1st round Gary Thornton (Borough) had an easy 21-9 win against Steve Dover (Whitby) and his clubmate Andy Adamson beat Alan Lee (North Cliff) 21-15.

Emmo Emmerson won 21-12 against Mary Kenworthy (Brid Bay) to face David Knights (Sheffield) who neat Bernard Chalk (Bridlington Bay) 21-17.

Jo Gates (Borough) was merciless against Peter van de Gevel (Dukes Park) winning 21-6 and Wilkinson beat Judith Andrews (North Cliff) 21-13.

Dalby had a good 21-9 win against Lynn Gates and Dobson just made it through with a 21-20 win against Wardman.

In the first quarter-final Adamson gave what Thornton later described as a lesson in a 21-11 win while Emmerson progressed with a 21-17 win against Knights.

Jo Gates made the other semi-final with a 21-18 over Wilkinson while Dalby’s good run continued with a 21-12 win against Dobson.

Adamson’s progress continued with a 21-10 crushing of Emmerson to set up an all-Borough final against Jo Gates who ended Dalby’s hopes with a 21-14 win.

Adamson dominated the early stages of the final running out to a 16-7 lead after 10 ends. Gates then pulled back to 16-11 down and then to 18-13 after 14 ends.

Two singles put Adamson on 20-13 but Gates managed to win the next 2 ends to make the score 20-16 before Adamson edged to a 21-16 win.

The main competition started with a very tight game between Whitby players Kenny Wale and Tim Purcell, Wale taking the honours 21-20 to face David Walker (Scholes) who had a good 21-11 win against Andy Webb (Alverthorpe).

In the other preliminary ties Stuart Thompson (Pontefract) won 21-14 against Josh Emmerson (Whitby) and Alan Landers (North Cliff) beat Chris Dobson (Dukes Park) 21-11.

In the 1st round Kevin Gates (Dukes Park) survived a string comeback from Darryl Harrap (Castleford) to win 21-16 to face Callum Malone (North Cliff) who managed a 21-19 win over Geoff Watson (Whitby).

Barrie Watson (Borough) had a comfortable 21-12 win against Ribert Child (North Cliff) and Jo Leeman had a fine 21-20 win against Andy Deighton (Dukes Park).

Paul Morgan had a good 21-9 win against Tony Throup (Cleckheaton) while Ian Richardson (North Cliff) beat Phil Todd (Hunmanby) 21-14.

The quarter-final line-up was completed when Wale beat Walker 21-14 and Landers won 21-16 against Thompson.

Gates and Malone fought out a close first quarter-final with Gates taking the honours 21-20 while Barrie Watson won 21-10 against Leeman.

Morgan also won 21-10 against Richardson to face Landers who beat Wale 21-14. Gates had another 21-20 game against Watson and again came out on top while Morgan beat Landers 21-15 with a good late run.

The final proved to be one worthy of the premier singles competition in the area lasting 34 ends.

Gates took a small early lead of 6-3 after 7 ends before Morgan built up a 14-8 lead after 17 ends. Gates then pulled back to 15-13 down after 22 ends only for Morgan to open his lead out to 17-13.

The next 4 ends were shared leaving the scores at 19-15 to Morgan.

A single to each player left Morgan on the cusp of winning at 20-18 only for Gates to win the next 3 ends to level at 20-20.

In the deciding end Morgan managed a good enough first wood to win 21-20 and claim the cup, presented by Association President Emmo Emmerson.

Next Sunday there will be a Drawn Pairs at Eastfield starting at 9.30am. Entries in advance to the Merit Secretary.

The second week of the Summer League programme saw the two Evening Singles Divisions, 2nd Division on Mondays and 1st Division mainly of Tuesdays, start up.

Om Monday the two teams relegated last season, Dukes Park B and Westgate A started with wins, Dukes Park 150-140 (4-4) at Whitby C and Westgate 140-113 at North Cliff B.

In the other matches Brid Bay B had a 151-81(7-1) win at home to Dukes Park C, Hunmanby B beat Westgate B 147-128 (5-3) at Westgate and Robin Hood’s Bay won 138-120 (5-2) at home to Borough D.

In Division 1 promoted Eastfield A lost 160-102 (7-1) at Whitby A.

Elsewhere Borough A went down 155-116 (4-3) at Dukes Park A, Borough B also lost, 141-130 (5-3), at home to Hunmanby A while Brid Bay A beat Whitby B 138-130 (5-3) at home and in the other match North Cliff A had a predictable home win over North Cliff B 163-113 (7-1) to top the table.

In the Thursday Evening Doubles League Borough B had a home win against Hunmanby 61-54 (2-2) by virtue of two big wins with Dukes Park doing much the same at home to Eastfield with a 70-51 (2-2) win, while Borough C won 77-70 at Westgate.

Whitby won their first match with a clean sweep, 84-52, at North Cliff B and Cliff A had a 82-78 (3-1) win, at Bridlington Bay.