Isle of Man County Crown Green Bowling Association

Wow, crown green bowlers are hardy. 17 pairs braved storm Hannah on Saturday for the Cringle Fours held at Castletown. Between the entry fees, raffle money and donations £200 was made for Manx Blind Welfare Society. Despite the horrendous weather there was a great atmosphere on and around the green. The green was running really well and considering the amount of rain that had fallen no puddles developed.

Losing semi-finalists were Wayne Roberts (Port St Mary) and Lee Dawson (South Ramsey) who went out to Marown pair Neil Withers & Paul Dunn. Also losing out in the semi-final were another Marown pairing Colin Kelly & Juan Killip who had a close game against the eventual winners Sam Clague (Castletown) and Glenn Boland (Noble’s).

The young pairing of Clague & Boland would have been outside favourites to overcome the experienced Marown pairing of Dunn & Withers, however they stormed into a 15-8 lead, and then led 18-12 only for the Marown men to pull the score back to 16-18 before the young pair dug deep to take a well deserved 21-17 win. Both pairs won eight ends in the final, with the difference being that the winners scored a three and four early in the game, whilst the opposition were limited to scoring no more than two throughout the game.

The presentation was done by Phil Taubman, club Chairman, who thanked Noel Cringle, the sponsor of the competition, and Shoprite for their voucher. Sam and Glenn accepted the trophy, thanked everyone and congratulated the amount raised for the charity. It was great seeing the young pair win, especially Sam who is coming back after been very poorly.