Day Fifteen Singles Battles & Day Sixteen Quarter-Final Preview!
By the Green-side Insider
Wednesday at Victoria Park brought the concluding chapters of our singles campaigns, filled with courageous battles, poignant tributes, and quintessential Leamington drama!
Day Fifteen Round-UpMen’s Singles Championship (Rink A4):
Martin Rogan (Haltwhistle) took to the green for his opening clash against the Isle of Wight’s Travis Meller (Shanklin). In a game where the final scoreline completely masked the true closeness of the contest, Rogan was desperately unlucky with the rub of the green. After moving to 2–2, a crucial turning point came when Rogan was lying 2 shots before Meller fired, sending the jack rebounding off the ditch for an IOW 2 instead. That shift in momentum proved tough to counter, though Rogan fought back with a great 3-shot haul on the 8th end to make it 11–5. Despite playing some brilliant bowls, the jack movements simply wouldn’t go his way down the stretch as Meller pulled away to a 21–6 win. A valiant effort from the Haltwhistle star!
Men’s Singles Championship (Rink C5):
Gary Myerscough (St Georges Dragons) delivered a strong performance against Hampshire’s Alan Geary (Boscombe Cliff). Walking onto the green bearing a touching photo tribute in memory of his dear friend and fellow Dragon, Alan Ord, Myerscough started like a house on fire, storming out to leads of 5–1, 10–5, and trading blows in an incredible arm-wrestle that saw the scoreboard locked level at 10–10 after 11 ends and 17–17 after 19 ends! The momentum began to tilt slightly as Hampshire edged ahead in the dying stages, closing out a heart-stopping 21–17 victory after 21 phenomenal ends. Myerscough left every single ounce of heart out there on the green.
Looking Ahead to Day 16 (Thursday 27th August): Quarter-Final Showdowns!
The national championships continue to scale new heights as we move straight into the business end of the team competitions with two massive quarter-final clashes tomorrow:
12:45 (Rinks A4 & A5) – Club Two Fours Quarter-Final: Gosforth B (Northumberland) vs Newmarket Avenue (Cambridgeshire).
16:30 (Rink C2) – Mixed Fours Quarter-Final: Paul Tait, Anne-Marie Murray, Thelma Napier, and Jonathan Morgan (Forest Hall, Northumberland) vs Hannah Smith, Iona Bird, James Fitzgerald, and Tom Holmes (Cheltenham, Gloucestershire).
Let’s get right behind our county teams as they battle for a spot in the national semi-finals!
COME ON NORTHUMBERLAND! 🍀