Portsmouth & District Bowls League cup winners – all the final action

The morning session saw the finals of the Men’s Over-60s Singles, Triples and Fours competitions and the Mixed Ivan Robb Memorial Trophy.

In the Over-60s Singles, Fareham’s Charlie Bailey was aiming to retain the silverware against Rowner’s Phil Pinder.

Both players would also be on the green later in other finals, so were hoping the game wouldn’t be a lengthy one.

Though Charlie picked up a two on the first end, it was Pinder who picked up the line better as he won the next five ends to lead 7-2.

He continued to maintain the pressure, leading 16-8 after 15 ends.

The next seven ends saw Bailey making his opponent fight hard to win the game as each of the ends took excellent bowls from both players to win a single shot.

However, by the 22nd end, Pinder led 20-11 with a match bowl that Bailey needed to disturb. His last bowl just failed to do that, giving Pender a 21-11 win.

In the semi-finals at Fareham, Pinder had a long struggle to get the better of Lee-on-the-Solent’s Martin Ellis.

It took him four ends to find the correct lines, by which time he was 7-1 down. He then fought back to level after 10 ends.

Each of the next 11 ends saw only a single shot being scored by either player, at which point Pender was 16-13 ahead. The next end proved crucial as Pender picked up a four and then won the match 21-13 on the next end.

At the same time, Bailey was taking on Purbrook Heath’s Mark Berry, making his local knowledge pay off with a 21-12 success after 17 ends.

The Ivan Robb Memorial Trophy is named after the long-serving and well-respected former League secretary who passed away in 2013, and is open to the secretaries and treasurers of all P&D affiliated clubs.

The 2022 final was between Lee-on-the-Solent’s Kim Francis-Ellis, making her second appearance in the final, and Gosport’s Simon Batcheler.

Francis-Ellis started quickly, picking up a four on the first end, but then lost her length and line as Batcheler opened up a 15-6 lead, an advantage he kept up to the finish of the 21st end when he led 19-10.

At that point, Francis-Ellis made a stunning comeback, and four ends later she only trailed by a point, 19-18.

The next end saw Batcheler remembering what to do as he picked up a double to win 21-18.

In the semis, Batcheler claimed an easy 21-4 win over Portchester’s Debbie Sowrey, making his grass experience tell, whilst Francis-Ellis beat Denmead’s Brian Goldacre 21-13.

The Fours final - between Alexandra’s Keith Jones, George Madgwick, Carl Baggott and Don Lilley and Southsea Waverley’s Dave Watts, Phil Drewball, Barry Starks and John Biggs - was a great example of a ‘game of two halves.’

After eight ends, the Waverley team were 11 shots up, 14-3. The next end, though, saw Alex pick up a shot and this proved to be the turning point.

Alex immediately put up a long jack and proceeded to control the game to such an extent that the Waverley team scored just one further shot, whilst the Alex team picked up 19 to run out 23-15 winners.

In the semis the Alex team had defeated Star & Crescent’s Steve Greenwood, Paul Huntley, Steve Sprake and Alan New 27-13, whilst Waverley beat Priory’s Steve Smith, Andy Chadwick, Adrian Snook and Roly Bloy 20-14.

The last trophy decided in the morning session was the Triples, which was between Milton Park’s Bryan Cherry, Tony Hall and Dave Brown and Purbrook Heath’s John Burrowes, Nathan Hanley and Lewis Voysey.

The Milton trio had just got back from their trip to the National Finals at Royal Leamington Spa, where they played their only match on the same rink that was used for the Commonwealth Games finals.

The final was the longest game of the session and the third that had swings in fortunes.

By the completion of the 10th end, Milton were 16-5 up. But the next six ends saw a complete turnaround as Purbrook scored 12 shots to lead 17-16 with two ends to go.

Those last two saw the Milton team knuckle down again to pick up pick up five shots to win 21-17.

In the semis Milton Park had defeated Lee-on-the Solent’s Martin Ellis, George Doig and Peter Gentry 18-10, whilst Purbrook Heath beat Fareham’s Cyril Friend, Bob Scottow and Tony Cole 20-15.

The afternoon session saw the finals of the Men’s Singles and Pairs, as well as the Mixed Pairs and Triples.

Phil Pinder, Charlie Bailey, Don Lilley, Phil Drewball, Bryan Cherry, Nathan Hanley and Lewis Voysey were all back in action again.

That proved a logistical headache for the organisers, who had to ensure those bowlers didn’t play on the same rinks they had in the morning.

In the Men’s Singles, Pinder took on Priory’s Martin Eggleton in what proved to be a tense affair.

By the start of the 16th end, Pinder led 13-10. At that point, he took a stranglehold on the game, picking up seven shots over the next four ends to be 20-10 up.

Eggleton did manage a two on the next end but that only delayed the inevitable as Pinder picked up the shot he required on the next end to win 21-12

In the semis, Pinder had beaten Rowner clubmate Bill Ross 21-12, while Martin had a long struggle over 25 ends before beating Pembroke Gardens’ Dave Brookes 21-18.

The Men’s Pairs final was between Southsea Waverley’s Phil Drewball and Danny Smith and Fareham’s Keith Young and Charlie Bailey.

Smith had just returned from the National Finals where, partnering Gary Starks, he had agonisingly lost in the Men’s Pairs quarter-finals by just one shot.

The Waverley duo got off to a strong start, winning the first seven ends to take an 8-0 lead.

Although the Fareham pair won the 8th end, Drewball and Smith took seven of the next eight, by which time they were 21-3 in front. At that point, the Fareham duo conceded.

In the semis Drewball had to bring in a substitute as Smith was at Leamington, calling on the services of ex-England bowler Matt Marchant to help him beat Alexandra’s Keith Jones and Don Lilley 18-15. Young and Bailey beat clubmates Bob Scottow and Tony Cole 23-13.

The Mixed Pairs final was between Lesley Somersgill and Don Lilley and Bryan Cherry and Alex Tymon.

A strong start by the former saw them lead 6-0 after three ends, which Cherry and Tymon reduced to 6-4 by the end of the fifth.

The next eight ends were shared so that Somersgill and Lilley led 12-11 after 13 ends.

The next six ends saw them extend their lead so that after the 19th they were 22-12 in front.

Though Cherry and Tymon won the last two ends, they could only pick up four shots, losing 22-11 – giving Lilley has second cup winners medal.

In the semi Somersgill and Lilley beat Kim Francis-Ellis and Martin Ellis 16-13, whilst Cherry and Tymon defeated Mary and Phil Pinder 24-12.

The last trophy decided was the Mixed Triples, between Sue Brightman, Nathan Hanley and Lewis Voysey and the family trio of Jim, Sue and son Jamie Ward.

Over the first five ends the Wards made use of home green knowledge to build a 7-4 lead.

However, the seventh end saw them implode as they dropped a seven, from which they never recovered.

The match ended on the 17th end with the Wards leading 24-12.

In the semis the Voysey trio had defeated Joan and Rob Dawkins and Graham Hillier 25-7, whilst theWards defeated Alec Deller, Kim Francis-Ellis and Martin Ellis 18-14.

*The mixed semi-finals weekend in July had also seen the final of the Mixed Fours between Tracy and Andy Hibberd, Kath Patrick and Adrian Snook against Wendy and Ian Homeyard, Mandy Wilde and substitute Simon Batcheler (regular team member Jason Wilde being unavailable).

This was a tight affair throughout, with the Snook ensemble often forging ahead only to be reeled back by the Homeyard quartet.

By the 21st end, the Snook team held a three shot lead but, again, the Homeyard side fought back to take a three and force the extra end.

With one bowl left in that extra end, the Snooks held at least one shot, if not more, which meant that Ian Homeyard HAD to trail the jack to have any chance of winning the match.

This he did and it looked like the jack would nestle in a group of Homeyard bowls, only for it to travel just that bit further to what had looked, before he bowled, an innocuous heavy wood delivered by Tracy Hibberd - thereby winning the match for her team!

In the morning semis, the Snook team had beaten the Betty and Brian Horn and Jane and Bryan Franklin quartet 19-10, whilst the Homeyard quartet were given a walkover as their opponents couldn’t raise a team.