W.Y.S.M.B.A
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The 2025 Annual NEMSBA Championships commenced over the weekend for everyone in the NESMBA zone at the York Indoor Bowls Centre.
Report as follows from a West Yorkshire perspective:
SATURDAY MORNING [FOURS]
Of the 5 fours that made it through to York, only 2 unfortunately made it through the group phase, Mel, Tom, Royston & Darren as 1 four, and John, Andy Miles, Joanne and Dave the other four. John Packer's four made it through the 1st KO round but fell to Martin Grange's Staffordshire 4 In the next round.
Darren's four faired better by getting right to the final before coming unstuck to Martin Simcock's Staffordshire's team.
SATURDAY AFTERNOON [SINGLES]
Darren, Royston, Daniel Sands and Matthew would qualify from the group phase with John Packer just missing out. Royston was then narrowly beat by Dave Newsome in the next round which also saw Daniel Sands bow out too. Darren and Matthew would go onto the QF phase before both eventually losing. Peter Roberts would beat Adam Lamb in the final in a repeat of last year's finale too.
SUNDAY MORNING [PAIRS]
All 4 of our participants made it through the groups in this one. In the next round Dave & Matthew and Royston & Darren were beaten. Daniel Sands & Robyn fell in the next round leaving just Tom Morris & John Packer remaining, cue a great run... cutting through Peter & Steve Roberts, then Chris and June Crowther in the semis to win the whole damn thing against Darren Kerr and Janice of Staffordshire to a rapturous WY ovation! Excellent
SUNDAY AFTERNOON [TRIPLES]
4 from 5 of our entrants qualified with Angie, Mel and Hannah unfortunately not making it through.
Daniel Sands, Tom and Steve Briggs were beaten in the QF stage, as too were Joanne, Royston and Darren. An all (and only one all weekend) WY Clash in one of the semi finals saw Andy Miles, Dave Fletcher and Matthew Leaf pip Kathryn Jones, Andy Jones and John Packer on the last end for a spot in the final. Despite a great effort throughout, a costly 5 count cost WY dear as Clint and Chris Crowther with Gary Williamson would go onto win the triples for Stockport.
3 participants from the 4 final disciplines is superb and how the results unfolded just shows how we've done as both a squad and some fantastic individual performances, The pairs was a standout, John and Tom couldn't really of gone through many more tougher opponents to record what will be a famous win for these guys and a memory that they'll keep for a lifetime and how they did it too which made picking up the county shield as West Yorkshire captain a proud moment for me too.
I think it goes (rather undeservedly) that we are sometimes overlooked compared to Staffs and Stockport's firepower but as results have shown over this weekend, we can still match them and can have our way with them too. So a huge thankyou and well done to all those that gave as good as they got!! Exceptional!
The County shield winners were WEST YORKSHIRE for their combined performances from the Knock Out stage onwards too!!!
[1]WY 17pts
[2]Staffs 16pts
[3]Stockport 14pts
NO EASY BREEZE
FOR TORNADOS!
NY Tornados v West Yorkshire A
The first trip up to Easingwold for our guys and girls in our local Derby as we played against the Tornados.
SINGLES [0/10]
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Jonathan Dawson and Peter Sayer would record 2 wins apiece in this discipline over myself and Dave Fletcher despite myself and Dave having 2 improved games in the afternoon, but neither of us played horrifically, Jonathan and Peter just played that much better than us.
PAIRS [7/10]
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Robyn and Daniel Sands had a win and a draw in their pairs as Andy Jones and Andrea Banham had a loss and a win, the pairs aggregate went our way though.
TRIPLES [6/10]
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Tom, Matthew and Andy Miles had a win and a loss in their games as Darren, Angie and Joanne recorded good 2 wins in their games. But the aggregate got away from us.
FOURS [3/10]
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A loss and a draw for Daniel Twist with B team help from Tim and Janet Pearson and Tony Farrar, as John Packer's four with Hannah, Mel and Midge had a loss but finished with a win in their second game.
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North Yorkshire Tornados were just ahead 10-6 at the break. For some of our side, playing on the harder surface proved an issue with pace catching them out. They have a good side do the Tornados but I feel we could of got a couple more wins, the singles for one, Was tough, very tough, Dave didn't bowl bad and indeed Jonathan said he had to work for all 15 ends in their 2nd game as Dave was nearly always within range having held a slight lead at halfway before eventually losing [11-17] myself, I had 2 games I'd rather forget, but I was well beaten with no one to blame but myself. But the team is the most important thing and the result wasn't a bad one really, it's a good thing we've come away feeling a little miffed we could of scored more too.
Tim and Janet played well in their fours and I'm glad we called on them. Darren's trio keep on winning games with Joanne and Angie proving pivotal to WY for points. 4 more points recorded today.
Next stop is York and the UK Championships followed by the NESMBA Championships in mid January after the Christmas break.
Final score from Easingwold
North Yorkshire Tornados 24
West Yorkshire A 16
STOPPING STOCKPORT!
West Yorkshire A v Stockport A
[8/12/24]
West Yorkshire A hosted Stockport A today in another belter of a game at John Charles.
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The 1st session saw the WY side
edge it despite Steve Briggs' heroic effort against Peter Roberts [4-23]
Myself and Paul Williamson, in a new look pairs had a heck of a game against Mike Anderson and Steve Brotherton which ultimately ended in a draw [11-11] Tom Morris with Kathryn and Andy Miles were in sublime mode as they cantered to a [12-5] victory in the trips and with Daniel Sands' 4 winning [9-7] capped off a good spell for WY.
Session 2 was good again for the home side, Andy Jones' beating Steve Roberts in the singles [15-8] was a fantastic result! Matthew and Andrea unfortunately lost their pairs game to June & Chris Crowther [12-17] Darren in the trips with Angie and stand in Glen Scott bowled fabulous to win [17-7] in the 4s, Daniel Twist skipping his 2nd game with Dave Fletcher, Tony Farrar and Hannah Leaf won [8-6] to cap off the second session.
WY lead 11-5 at the break.
A great team score at half way, Steve Briggs was level at 14 ends with Steven Roberts but the Stockport man scored a 3 to dash Briggsy's hopes [11-14] in the singles. Myself and Paul Williamson got the better of the Crowthers [15-8] in the pairs, Tom's trips waltzed to a [15-7] win too and Daniel Sands' 4 claimed victory with a [9-6] win. A 6 point session
The final session was very close with the pairs and fours aggregates under threat, +2 and +7 respectively. Singles 1st and Andy Jones was on the wrong of the score with a [4-32] loss to Peter Roberts, the pairs match was lost [12-14] with Mike Anderson and Steve Brotherton coming back against Andrea and Matthew. But the aggregate was at least split and not lost. Into the triples and a clean sweep was to be had with all 10points going our way thanks to Darren's trio winning narrrowly [9-8] and the 4s was won [7-5] to secure the aggregate too to conclude the day.
A fabulous day for West Yorkshire, backing up the 31-9 win v NY Tigers a week ago. There was some fantastic fight from our guys and gals, Tom settled into skipping a trips straight away, the Paul Williamson that turned up today was the version who was so hard to beat back when he was allied with the NY crew, he was on point for 90% of the game, unlike yours truly... Dave Fletcher came up with some clutch woods in the fours and even Tony Farrar bowled well (he actually did bowl well) A big thankyou to Glen Scott as well for making Angie and Darren's life a little easier in their triples.
The result was the big thing, it was a great result and proof that we CAN still compete and compete well too.
Final score from John Charles...
West Yorkshire A 26
Stockport A 14
TERRIERS TAMED!
Session 2
Royston won another tough game against a highly accurate Lawrence in the singles (15-10) as Dave and Matthew, sporting new polished woods and some flashy shoes proved he wasn't all show as they won (14-11) another reversal in the trips as Darren's trips had to settle for a draw in a tough game where lady luck went missing (8-8) and John Packers four with Andy Jones, Hannah and Mel were beaten (5-8)
9-7 at half time was not was i looking for, but NY did play well...
But then if you poke the bear too much, he'll eventually wake up and lash out, and so we did...
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Session 3 and a born again Alan Taylor and Neil Birks spun their 1st game form on its head and played sublimely well to win (18-10) Tom soon followed after seeing his way through to a win with Lawrence, he didn't headbutt the wall once (!) And won (16-12) A rarity with Daniel Sands losing his 2nd trips game proves nothing other than he is actually human! (6-9) but our fours of Daniel Twist made it his 2nd win (11-5)
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Session 4, The aggregates in play for 2 of the four disciplines really, singles wasn't one of them. Despite me and Arthur exchanging scores for 5 or 6 ends, I felt I had the measure and pulled away in the last half of the game to win my singles (18-8) Matthew and Dave, looking at a +5 aggregate lead closed it out to win their game (18-13) Darren's trio had the biggest jeopardy, looking at a -4 aggregate deficit. It was another hard fought game which thankfully Darren, Joanne and Angie won by 6 shots to pinch the aggregate too (12-6) John Packer as skip had a fabulous last game where Hannah, Mel and Andy Jones all before him made his life easy as they all bowled that well and won (12-4)
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Overall -
A hell of a turnaround from the morning session. I feel no one took a backwards step and people just kept pushing forward and we eventually broke the resistance. To win to the score we did too speaks to just how well we CAN play. A few special mentions, Daniel Twist skipping his 1st four with Paul as the forcer seemed to pay dividends, 2 wins there, Maveen, in that 4 played brilliantly and although classed as a B side player, more than proved her worth and value today. Even Tony, who's returning from a nasty virus and with other things on his mind played the best he could. To be consistent is the holy grail. But the bounce-back good feeling was there today. North Yorkshire captain Chris Prendergast looked bemused at fulltime. I thought we could steamroller them but it was a tough match. Stockport come to town next Sunday.
Final score
West Yorkshire A 31
North Yorkshire Tigers A 9
West Yorkshire A v North Yorkshire Tigers Dec 1st 2024
The first game after.. that game i won't mention was FINALLY here. It has been a long time to sit and sulk for but now we could stuck in. North Yorkshire Tigers are no mugs when it comes to this game. They still pose a threat and are not to be taken lightly. The old stagers were still present with Denis Jarvis and Arthur Jackson too to provide some bite.
Session 1 saw Tom Morris in the singles win a nervy game against Arthur Jackson who just wouldn't go away (12-10) and Alan Taylor and Neil Birks (7-13) on the wrong end of the score in the pairs. The trips was a game of 2 halves with Daniel Sands'trio with Andrea and Robyn racing out to a lead before dropping 6 shots in 2 ends and eventually lost (10-11) New look fours with Daniel Twist at the helm with Paul Williamson, Maveen and Tony played good stuff to win (9-3)
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DEVASTATED..
Well.... Not a lot I can say really, this was as annus horribilis as it gets under recent years. First things first... Karl Jones, Yvonne Coppin and John Coppin were drafted in from the B side to help out and all played their parts and none of them got truly hammered. Indeed, John Skelding later said its nice to see some B side players want to play for the A side and all 3 looked to have promise in them. Staffordshire is undoubtedly a hell of a place to go. Even at full strength, in recent times we have notched up 13, 11, 7 + 12 points at Staffs.
"We didn't play that badly" is the phrase that was banded about amongst us WY players that made the trip down and I have to agree in terms of how we played. The kicker was time after time after time, their skips would come up and do so much damage to make 2s and 3s and when we did scored on some ends they were invariably in singles. That was a common theme throughout the entire day.
Final score:
Staffordshire 40
West Yorkshire A 0