Whitby's Paul Morgan wins opening winter merit at Dukes Park against clubmate Kenny Wale
The winter bowling season commenced, as the summer season had concluded, at Dukes Park and with similar weather.
The day started sunny but cool and then rain came along for the finals of both the main competition and the consolation Drawn Pairs Tea & Biscuits (T&B).
In the main competition, Alan Landers (North Cliff) won 21-6 against Judith Rose (Bridlington Bay) while Kenny Wale (Whitby) beat Larry Dixon (Westgate) by the same score.
David Muir (Eastfield) fared only slightly better losing 21-7 to Ian Richardson (North Cliff) and his Eastfield clubmate Eileen Greenwood went down 21-9 to Cliff’s Adam Chilvers.
Pauline Allison had a good 21-12 win against her partner and Borough clubmate Ronnie Noble and Jo Leeman won 21-10 against Allison Roe (North Cliff).
Home bowler Chris Dobson added another 21-6 result against Mally Kay (North Cliff) while Geoff Price won an all-Park game against Nadine Smyth 21-12.
Scott Wardman (North Cliff) won 21-16 against Emmo Emmerson (Whitby) while Paul Morgan won an all-Whitby clash against Tim Purcell 21-12.
A new bowler, Mike Ross (Dukes Park) had a good start to his merit career winning 21-14 against Ian MacGregor (Bridlington Bay) while Andrew Walker won an all-Brid Bay game against Albert Beggs 21-17.
Dave Knights (Sheffield) went through 21-13 against Steve Dover (Whitby) to face Kevin Gates who won 21-14 against Park colleague Denise Dobson. Sue Purcell (Whitby) beat home bowler Phil Rippingale and Andy Deighton won another all-Park game against Katie Gates 21-16.
At the top of the draw Landers beat Richardson 21-9 to face Wale who won 21-13 against Chilvers.
Leeman had a comfortable 21-12 win against Allison to face Price who beat clubmate Chris Dobson 21-15. Morgan crushed Wardman 21-8 while Ross came up against the harsh realities of merits going down 21-4 to Walker.
Kevin Gates won 21-15 against Knights while Deighton cruised through 21-6 against Sue Purcell.
In the first quarter-final Wale had a big 21-10 win against Landers while Price had a surprisingly comfortable 21-5 win against the in-form Leeman. Morgan also had a big, 21-6, win against Walker to face Deighton who disposed of Park clubmate Kevin Gates 21-10.
The two semi-finals were rather more competitive with Wale being taken to 21-19 before going through against Price while Morgan got revenge of Deighton for his defeat on the same green in the Summer Championship final winning 21-13.
The string of quick games meant the final could be played off scratch.
The score was 6-6 after six ends but then Morgan took control winning 2 of the next 3 ends to lead 8-5 before running off 6 successive ends before Wale took another single to trail 15-6.
Morgan then took 4 ends to beat his Whitby clubmate 21-6.
There were 20 entries in the T&B, 15 first-game losers plus five others.
In the final Tim Purcell and Muir opened up a 15-8 lead against against MacGregor and Emmerson, before the latter battled back to lead by 16-15 after 11 ends.
At this point Purcell & Muir rallied and won 3 of the next 4 ends to lead 20-17. MacGregor & Emmerson scored a 2 on the next end before Purcell & Muir eased over the line to win 21-19.
The prizes for both competitions were presented by Dukes Park President Dave Hanson.
Next Sunday sees another Open Singles at Whitby.
Entry is on the day with the draw being made at 9am.
There is also a Drawn Pairs T&B for first game losers and “late arrivals”.
To ensure entry for this it is advisable to arrive no later than 11am.