Isle of Man County Crown Green Bowling Association

The Rayner Plate got underway last week with one preliminary round match to be played between South Ramsey B (+30) hosted Marown C (+40) with the visitors taking the win by 23 chalks with two single figures winners from Jamie Joughin & Stephen Rundle being the difference on the night.

Onchan B (+38) hosted Finch Hill B (+52) with the Onchan men easily overturning the 14 chalk deficit to win by 41 chalks (197-156). Peel B (+20) who would have been competing in division one this season were too strong for home team Noble’s A (+18) taking the win by 33 chalks (135-168). Port St Mary A (+10) overturned a 24 chalk deficit against local rivals Port Erin A (+34) to crush them with an 8-0 win on games and winning by 51 chalks (178-127). Ballaugh A (+22) also whitewashed Peel D (+76), yet the match ended up fairly close with the Ballaugh men taking the win by 19 chalks (190-171).

The following evening (Tuesday) had South Ramsey C (+50) hosting Peel C (+48) with the Peel men claiming a comfortable win by 39 chalks (171-210). The closest match of the week was between Ballaugh B (+60) and Castletown A (+12) who despite winning 7-1 on the night lost the match by just nine chalks (178-169) with the 48 chalk deficit proving too much to pull back on the night. Castletown B (+32) made the short journey south to take on Port St Mary B (+42) with the town men taking a good victory by 22 chalks to progress to the next round. A new signing was also in their ranks with Glenn Boland surprisingly turning out for Castletown.

The final match of the last 16 was held on Friday evening with Marown C (+40) at home to Douglas B (+44). The Crosby men made no mistake with a 28 chalk victory (194-166) to progress to the next round, as they look to retain the title they won in style last season.

The mixed team group stages continued with six fixtures taking place. Port Mary A made sure it was a worthwhile trip to take on South Ramsey B, with the visitors crushing their opponents winning by 131 chalks (58-189), with only three of the home team reaching double figures.  Travelling to the opposite end of the island on the same evening South Ramsey C took on Port Erin A with the home team winning by 50 chalks (175-125), however the C Team did manage to claim four wins on the night with Steve Kelly performing well to beat the experienced David Cain 21-19. Captain Tony Hart won 21-15 against Jacqui Elliott, whilst son Austin Hart got home 21-18 against Voirrey Curphey, a score matched by Kim Hargraves against Harry Minor. Megan Hargraves made her competitive debut at the tender age of 9 for South Ramsey, losing out 8-21 to Seamus Whelan. Port Erin have recently taking over the maintenance of their green, it is great to see the condition of the green moving in the right direction.

Castletown A look to have strengthened their mixed team this year, they hosted Finch Hill at the Crofts with the home team winning by 35 chalks (164-129), however the Finch men did manage to get four winners on the night losing 5-4 on games. Onchan A made no mistake in their away tie taking on Marown B claiming the win by 75 chalks (114-189) with no home team winners, however highest Marown scorer was Celia Joughin who lost out 17-21 against Maureen Payne, whilst Helen Withers did well to score 16 against Reginald Temporaza.

Nobles who generally perform well in the mixed competition claimed a home win over Peel by 32 chalks (172-140) with Debbie Leece winning 21-5 over Sue Jones, whilst for the visitors Dougie Allan performed well to defeat Glenn Boland 21-16. Marown A visited Mooragh Park, they made no mistake winning by 92 chalks (93-185) over North Ramsey. Lone winner for the home team was Lee Christian who beat Lil Smith 21-17, whilst Paul Cannon agonisingly lost out 20-21 to Joyce Ogden.