The Balcomb Trophy regional finals took place yesterday at Dunnington, York – where the 4 counties were Northumberland, Yorkshire, Cumbria and Derbyshire.
In the morning under very hot conditions (29c) we took on our hosts Yorkshire – both rinks got of to a great start, especially the rink skipped by Chris Yeomans scoring a 5 on the very first end, and followed with a double, and we led 11 – 4 at 5 ends. In the meantime Craig Cooper who arguably took on Yorkshire’s best player Mark Walton, and again we got of to an okay start winning 4 – 2 at the same 5 end stage. However Yeomans would get stuck on 11, and dropped 10 shots in the next 4 ends, to trail 14 – 11 at 9 ends and 14 – 12 at 10. Cooper’s rink was doing well and increased his lead to 7 – 3 after 8 ends, but dropped 2 2’s to make it 7 all at 10 ends. Therefore approaching the half way stage we were 2 behind.
Dan Targar
Yeomans rink score line chopped and changed, as over the next 4 ends each team conceded 2 shots per end, and at 15 ends Chris was 16 – 19 behind. At this same stage Cooper was doing well and led by 3, 11 shots to 8, which meant there was nothing between the sides at 15 ends.
Craig Cooper (with rink watching on!)
Cooper’s rink continued his good run of scoring (as from 10 to 17 ends) Cooper had scored on 6 of the 7 and led 13 – 8 at 17 ends, and Cooper’s rink was always ahead of Yeomans as in ends played with Cooper always being 2 ends ahead. So at 18 ends on Cooper’s rink we led 13 – 11, but Yeomans had only played 16 ends and we were 18 – 19 behind. So only 1 up overall. As the last couple of ends on Cooper’s rink were played out, Craig managed to score the vital shot on the 21st end which meant Yeomans with 2 ends to play was 5 up. Yorkshire’s skip Gary Bunce scored the shot on the 20th end to put us 4 shots up playing the last end. With a long 3/4 length jack in play the Yorkshire team tried to turn the jack in the ditch (but missed), and although with them lying, Jimmy Curtis with his 2nd bowl ditched the jack and sealed the win to the delight of his team mates.
Northumberland 39 Yorkshire 34
C Yeomans 24 G Bunce 21
C Cooper 15 M Walton 13
In the afternoon in the Regional Final we took on Cumbria, who had defeated Derbyshire earlier. In the opening exchanges both games were tight – with Craig Cooper being 3 all against England International David Forster, and Chris Yeomans 6 – 4 ahead against Stu Urwin. Yeomans like in the morning, then scored a 4, 1 to lead 11 -4, but then dropped 6 shots in next 3 ends to only lead 11 – 10 at 10 ends. At the same point Cooper was 7 – 6 ahead. So we were 2 up at 10 ends. Yeomans then scored a 3 and a 2, to open up a 6 shot lead and overall we were 8 shots ahead.
On the 12th end with Cooper lying 2 on a full length jack, Forster somewhere took both bowls of the rink (as they were either side of the jack) and scored a count of 3 to take the lead 9 – 8. Cooper in determined to get these back scored a great 4 on the very next end to lead 12 – 9. But on the next 3 ends we lost 3 singles – so Cooper was level again at 12 a piece at 16 ends and Yeomans who was slightly behind in ends played was 17 – 14 up at 15 ends, so again we were up but the deficit had been reduced to only 3 up.
The next end for Cooper (18th end) was possibly the decisive end, with Cooper lying one, Forster drove for the bowl as he had 5 seconds, but there was danger if he hit the jack we had all the back bowls. Forster (unfortunately) connected with the bowl perfectly, removing it from the head and with no jack movement Cumbria scored a big count of 5, to take the lead overall by 4. As the ends were played out we found ourselves being 3 behind with 3 ends to go, 1 for Cooper and 2 for Yeomans. Cooper’s final end was being played out and Cooper with his last bowl drew the shot, and at the same time Curtis removed the Cumbrian shot bowl on the next rink to lie 2 shots. Forster then played his last bowl against Cooper and was tight but he wicked of a front bowl, continued to run and lay to rest against the jack, and scoring a vital one – so instead of being 2 down overall we were 4 down. To make matters worse on the next rink Cumbrian skip and team manager Stu Urwin then drew the shot on the 20th end, which meant we needed a count of 5 to force an extra end, or 6 for the victory. Despite our efforts to turn the jack, and then kill the end it was not meant to be and we unfortunately lost.
Northumberland 33 Cumbria 40
C Cooper 14 D Forster 19
C Yeomans 19 S Urwin 21
The Northumberland rinks were – Michael Cymber, Gary Myerscough, Phil Harvey and Craig Cooper; and the other rink was Dan Targar, Josh Minto, Jimmy Curtis and Chris Yeomans.
Our lads did very well, under difficult and hot conditions and with one or two different results in ends we could have easily gone through. I would like to thank all of the players for their play, performance and commitment, not just yesterday but in the first game against Lancashire at Appleby last month.
We wish our conquerors Cumbria the very best of wishes in the National Finals at Royal Leamington Spa in September.