Benfield this afternoon lifted the Edwardson Cup at Gosforth BC for the first time in their history.
2021 Edwardson Cup Winners – Benfield BC
At the start of the day, the semi-finals saw Cramlington BC take on Rothbury BC, and in the other semi-final it saw the holders St. Georges BC play Benfield. Both game easily could on have gone either way and with only handful of ends left it looked like a Rothbury St. Georges final. Before this there was a heavy downpour at 11 ends, which took the players off for approximately 40 minutes. On resumption Cramlington held a slender 2 shot lead, mainly down to the rink skipped by Bob Harrison leading by 27 – 2 over Rothbury’s Graeme Donkin. But this was just about cancelled out as Rothbury’s Mark Heron was 23 – 1 up against Cramlington’s John Sutherland. And the other rink of Fantozzi playing Bolton was level at 15 all, this after Fantozzi being 11 – 1 down after 7 ends. Over the next few ends Rothbury reduced the deficit and took the lead as Donkin scored on the last 4 ends, collecting 7 shots. So with 3 ends to play Rothbury were 3 ahead, but Cramlington’s Sutherland scored a 5 on the 17th end to put them 2 up with 2 ends to go. Fantozzi and Bolton finished (tying 16 all) with the Rothbury quartet scoring a single to leave the match delicately poised with Cramlington 1 ahead on the very last end. Cramlington secured the shot mainly with Paul Thomas ditching the jack, Cramlington drew another shot and won the game by 3 and took their place in the final (56 – 53).
In the other semi-final Benfield got off to a strong start, mainly with Benfield’s Jonny Morgan winning 10 nil at 5 ends against Darren Parkes, with overall score 18 – 9. St. Georges slowly reduced the deficit with Phil Harvey collecting a count of 5 on the 9th end, and Benfield’s Morgan led 12 – 7 up and with St. Georges’ Myerscough edging ahead 9 – 4 against Stan Lant – it let the overall score at 10 ends being 28 – 26 to St. Georges. This pattern continued but St. Georges lead was no more than 5 or 6 shots, Singles Champion Benfield’s Jonty King hit back and scored a 5 on the 13th end to reduce this deficit to only a couple of shots. As the final few ends were played out and the Benfield rink of Jonny Morgan scoring on the 17th and 18th end, and at the same time King scored a double on his last end, which suddenly with one rink in play saw St. Georges 1 behind. The rink in progress was double county champion St. Georges Gary Myerscough against Stan Lant, and with Lant lying one as well, Myerscough could not turn the head round and Benfield collected the vital shot, victory and they took their place in the final against Cramlington BC.
In the final Benfield got off to a great start, scoring 4, 4 and 2 across the 3 rinks on the 1st end to lead 10 nil. This proved decisive as Cramlington were always or seemed to be playing catch up throughout. This is despite Bob Harrison scoring a 6 to level his game 7 – 7 against Jonty King at 5 ends, but the Benfield lead was still 7. This was possibly the closest Cramlington got, as the rink of Stan Lant slowly edged ahead 12 – 4 at 10 ends against Tony Fantozzi (despite the many watsits!!), and Jonny Morgan was 5 ahead at the same stage. Overall 35 – 23 in Benfield’s favour. The Bob Harrison Jonty King game was nip and tuck until the 15th end, where King scored a 7, not so magnificent for Cramlington as this put Benfield 25 up. The ends were played out and with no reduction in the score, Benfield took the win and lifted the cup for the very first time. Well done!
Rink Scores:
Semi Final: R Harrison (CN) 27 G Donkin (RY) 9; A Fantozzi 16 D Bolton 16; J Sutherland 13 M Heron 28 (56 – 53)
Semi Final: P Harvey (ST) 17 J King (BD) 18; D Parkes 11 J Morgan 17; G Myerscough 14 S Lant 9 (42 – 44)
Final: R Harrison (CN) 18 J King (BD) 24; J Sutherland 9 J Morgan 19; A Fantozzi 11 S Lant (48 – 63)
Finally I would like to thank all the players today, for how the games were played, rain delays and well done to everyone and of course congratulations to Benfield BC. I would like to thank the host club, this year Gosforth BC, in particular to Brian Duell (Green Ranger) for his help, work and support all day, and to Peter Duffy. Thank You very much.
2021 Edwardson Cup Runners Up – Cramlington BC