On a glorious night the last 32 of the Men’s Singles was played and the players involved were looking for glory and the field contained no fewer than 6 former champions in action.
In particular at Gosforth tonight there were 6 ‘mouth-watering’ ties, including England International Chris Yeomans took on club colleague Simon Richardson. Richardson who had beaten Yeomans back in 2019, when last time competitions were played, and Simon managed to get the better of Chris again in a high quality contest with the game swinging both ways, and Simon got over the line by the smallest of margins 21 – 20. Another all Gosforth affair saw Josh Minto take on Steve Harvey; and Steve won 21 – 10. On the next rink to Steve, his son and former champion Phil (St. Georges) was taking on home player and another former champion Gosforth’s Michael Cymber, and it was a good night for the Harvey’s with Phil winning 21 – 12. The fourth game at Gosforth saw home player Mark Dickinson lose to Portland’s Simon Taws 21 – 11. The fifth game at Gosforth saw a very good contest and standard of bowling with Gosforth’s Mick McGreevy edging out St. Georges’s Karl Jameson 21 – 16.
There were a few comebacks this evening, but possibly the biggest one was the last game at Gosforth, where home player Chris Brown recovered from an 18 – 8 deficit to win 21 – 19 against Forth’s Ian Kidd. The other notable comebacks were both from St. Georges’ players – firstly Michael Barrass took on home player John Watson from Seaton Sluice. Michael found himself 16 – 12 behind but Michael won the last 5 ends to take the tie 21 – 16. Michael will now face holder Gosforth’s John Harthen, who had a walk-over tonight, as unfortunately his scheduled opponent Seaton Sluice’s Richard Hopwood suffered an injury the end of last week. The other comeback was from St. Georges’s Neil Aitchison beat Cramlington’s Keith Miller 21 – 17, where Neil (like Michael Barrass) scored on the last 5 ends to take the tie.
The rest of the results proved there is no place like home – with all home players recording wins. In particular at Seaton Sluice Iain Dickinson recorded an impressive win against 2019 runner up Alan Stewart (St. Georges), Benfield duo of Jonty King and Jonny Morgan defeated Eddie Young (Forth) and Jimmy Askwith (Walker St. Peters), Rockcliffe’s Darryl Illingworth beat Tynemouth Ralph Coates and the final result was a win for Health & Security’s Rory Adamson over St. Georges Kevin Blaylock.
Two games were played yesterday and saw Gosforth’s Michael Bennett beat Steve Miller 21 – 20, and Benfield’s Matthew Bishop defeated Backworth Welfare’s Roy Stephenson 21 – 11.
The last 16 is scheduled for next Monday – 5th July.