Cumbria's Middleton Cup team get back in the groove with a win over Lincolnshire

The game got off to what can only be called an amazing start for, after just five ends, Cumbria led 51-11 – yes a 40-shot lead after five.

All six rinks were ahead and, though Lincolnshire did improve in the next quarter, Cumbria still had a 37-shot lead at the halfway mark and all six rinks continued to lead.

By 15 ends, the lead had reached 61 shots but Ian Gallagher, who led 8-1 early, was now a single shot adrift.

At the 18-end mark, Cumbria still had a 41-shot cushion but Gallagher was now four shots down and Stuart Airey who had led 15-10 had lost 11 shots without reply and was now 21-15 behind.

In the end, Airey lost 26-18 and Gallagher finished 20-18 behind.

The overall winning margin was 60 shots and with such a huge difference between the sides it was a pity that the overall score was just an 18-4 win for Cumbria.

Overall, the game was a little disappointing.

The Wigton green, which looked extremely well, seemed rather tricky which was a shame in view of the great efforts of the Wigton green staff who were reported to have given the surface a quadruple cut on the morning of the match.

The general standard of play was rather below what one would expect from Middleton Cup players but, having said that, a blustery cross wind did make conditions rather difficult at times.

Most of the players would, I’m sure, have settled for an 18-4 result at the start of the game, so it was not too bad.

For Cumbria, Stephen Farish won 23-15 and this margin would have been even greater had it not been for some very good bowls in the first half of the game from Lincoln skip W Phoenix.

On the next rink, Ben Sherwen romped home to a 34-12 victory, while Stuart Irwin’s four was even more clinical when winning 33-6, the opposition failing to score in the last eleven ends.

Andrew Baxter completed the winning fours with a good 30-17 win.

In Cumbria’s group, Northumberland also won their opener 18-4 against Lancashire.

Northumberland have not been anywhere near the force of old in recent times but to defeat Lancashire by 23 shots suggests that they may be on the up again. We will no doubt see when Cumbria travel to Gosforth on Saturday, June 17.

This could well be the game which decides the section winner and a place in the national quarter-final.

Of the other northern counties, Durham beat Notts by 31 shots and rather surprisingly Derby beat Yorkshire by 34 shots.

Further afield, likely Middleton favourites Devon were beaten 16-6 by Wiltshire though there were only five shots in the aggregate.

For the game against Northumberland, team manager John Baird has made several changes and the selected side is shown below.

Cumbria’s top players are in action this Sunday when the first round of the Top Double Rink for the Balcomb Trophy is being played at Keswick Fitz Park. The opposition will be provided by Yorkshire and the game commences at noon.

The Cumbria side is shown below.

Alsop Cup

Cumbria’s Alsop side was also in action for the first time this year when taking on Yorkshire at Whitehaven.

Yorkshire’s Middleton side failed to impress but the Alsop side made a much better fist of things at Whitehaven.

It was a well-fought affair with each side winning three rinks.

Cumbria’s winners were Craig Phillips 20-11, Steven Watson 29-21 and Peter Metcalfe 18-14.

John Barber lost 23-13, Henry Stewart 20-16 and Paul Bannister had the misfortune to go down by just a single shot to Yorkshire stalwart Tony Horobin 20-19. Could have been better but 16-6 is still a very satisfactory result overall.

The Alsop team’s next game is on Saturday, June 17 at Courtfield when Lancashire will be the visitors.

Courtfield BC

Courtfield’s Annual Race Week Tournament commences on Monday, June 26 and with something in the region of £500 sponsorship, it should be another good week.

The format is very much as last year, the only real change being that the fours on Monday will be an any combination round-robin event, and the club hopes that this will increase the numbers taking part.

Anyone wishing to enter any of the competitions should contact the club or Anthony Little.

Junior Singles

Twelve of the county’s up and coming youngsters took part in the Junior Singles Championship at Cockermouth Croft on Sunday, and there were some interesting and good quality games.

Callum Hodgson, last year’s winner, beat Harry Creighton 21-11 but the 13-year-old from Aspatria was far from disgraced in defeat.

Lewis Parker pushed Lewis Baxter all the way before going down 21-17 and Keanan Baxter was another to play well despite losing to James Park 21-13.

In the second round 14-year-old Ryan Corkhill, of Cleator Moor, was another to show promise, leading for much of the game before losing out 21-17 to the more experienced Liam Connor.

Matthew Hodgson, of Workington, looked all set to pull off a great win against Adam Hocking but faltered in the closing stages and went down 21-15.

Chris Williams who had a walkover in the first round was 20-12 against Lewis Baxter but took the next six shots before Baxter secured the winner.

The other game was a repeat of last year’s final and the result on Sunday was the same.

Callum Hodgson confirmed his good form of late when beating James Park 21-14. Hodgson continued in good form and defeated Liam Connor 21-18 in the semi-final while Lewis Baxter also played well to defeat Adam Hocking 21-13.

The final will be played on the weekend of July 29-30 and will be a repeat of last year’s round two match when Hodgson surprised his better fancied opponent, should be a good game.

County Comps

In the first round of the county pairs there were not many great surprises.

David Coulthard of Subscription, who surprised one or two last year, did it again this year when he defeated Mark Irwin of Aspatria, and Ian Johnston of Dalston did well to beat Alan Prince of Whitehaven.

The second round was due to be played on Wednesday this week – results in next Thursday’s column.

In the first round of the county singles, there were no less than eight walkovers in the 35 scheduled games.

Mark Nanson had to pull out the stops to beat Mark Barlow of Maryport 21-18 and Wigton’s Bob Dalziel made Stuart Irwin battle all the way before going down 21-16.

Kevin Harrison found Callum Hodgson too good and went out while another youngster Adam Hocking played very well to beat Rick Gallagher.

Finally, Chris Horsfield is a rather under rated player as Paul Coulthard found to his cost when going down 21-16. The second round games were being played on Tuesday evening, more news next week.

Ladies County

A good week for the Ladies of Cumbria – two games played, two games won.

At Hexham, on Friday, the Stella Logan side met Northumberland and won overall by 28 shots with four of the five rinks winning. Pauline Yates led the way with a 17-shot win, Christine Southward won by 11, Sylvia Jefferies by four and Jenny Walker by three.

The only loser, Joyce Hodgson, had a real ding-dong battle and was just one down with two play before losing a two and four to go down by seven.

The win puts Cumbria in second place in the league, just one-and-a-half points behind Lancashire who have played a match more.

In the Johns Trophy, Cumbria travelled to Thirsk for the game against Lincolnshire and despite only winning on two of the six rinks still managed to collect 14 points.

Jeanette Bell won her game 21-11 but the team result was made possible by a fantastic 40-11 victory by Carol Baxter. Her four picked up a count of six on the first end and did it again on the second end.

They continued to dominate throughout and so took the 10 aggregate points along with four for the two winning rinks.

Cumbria now play Yorkshire at Keswick Fitz Park on Saturday, June 24 and a good win then would certainly put them in the driving seat.

Carliol League

Courtfield now head the Thursday table with 26 points from three games after a resounding 55 shot 10-0 win over Holme Head.

Subscription are in second place after their surprise 8-2 defeat at home to Wetheral.

Third place goes to Stanwix who had a good 8-2 home victory over West End. Brampton are in fourth spot having enjoyed a maximum home win against Dalston.

On Friday, Brampton lead the way, their 8-2 home win over Stanwix putting them on 27 points.

West End are doing really well and their 8-2 win at Dalston moves them into second spot. Wetheral who beat Holme Head 9-1 are in third place but have a match in hand of the two clubs above them.

Neither Courtfield nor Subscription have really fired this year, or perhaps that should be drawn, but their game last week illustrated that there is not much between them.

There were two close wins for Subscription and one drawn and the aggregate was also drawn leaving Subscription with a 6-4 victory.

In the Thursday handicap league, Subscription lost 51-40 against Wetheral but were giving the visitors two start anyway.

Stanwix gave West End two start but still won 68-56. Brampton and Dalston were handicapped to draw but Brampton won by 29. Courtfield had to give Holme Head 25 shot but won by 36.

On Friday, Subscription received seven from Courtfield and won by that amount. Wetheral beat Holme Head 59-42 but had to give the visitors nineteen shots and thus went down 61-59.

Dalston had a bad day losing 61-39 to West End and, as they were giving the Goschen Road side nine start, the final result was 70-39 for West End. Brampton beat Stanwix 67-50 but were able to give Stanwix thirteen shots so the final score was 67-63.

For tonight’s games the handicaps are Brampton v Subscription both scratch, Dalston v Wetheral both scratch, Courtfield v Stanwix +18, West End v Holme Head +10.

Friday's games are Brampton v Subscription + 12, Stanwix +9 v Courtfield, Dalston v Wetheral +3, Holme Head +16 v Wetheral.

TEAMS

Cumbria v Yorkshire Balcomb Trophy v Yorkshire at Fitz Park Sunday, June 11, at noon: K Harrison, D Forster, S Irwin, B Sherwen; A Hocking, P Wallace, A Baxter, S Farish

Reserves J Baird, L Baxter, P Coulthard, J Park.

Cumbria v Northumberland, Middleton Cup v Northumberland at Gosforth Saturday, June 17 2.00: R. Orchard, R. Prince, M. Nanson, B. Sherwen; A. Hocking, J. Walker Jnr, D. Forster, S. Airey; J. Park, P. Coulthard, P. Wallace, A. Baxter; R. Gibson, E. Orchard, J.N. Bell, S. Farish; K. Harrison, S. Bowman, R. Gallagher, S. Irwin; C. Hodgson, J. Baird, G. Taylor, I. Gallagher.

Travelling Reserve: L. Connor. Non-Travelling Reserve: J. Barber.