David Cornwell House, Bowling Green, Leicester Road, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire LE13 0DA
Fax: 01664 - 482888
S.A.Rodwell e-mail: sar@eiba.co.uk
REPORT
ON FINALS"Greengauge" National Fours Championship 2001
The First Round games started on Saturday morning with easy wins for Hartlepool, Ipswich, Crystal Palace, Sleaford, Whiteknights and Stanley. In the remaining games, Gallow recovered from being 12 - 5 down after nine ends to stand all square at 17 - 17 with two ends to play. Taking a three and a single Gallow continued their good run, winning 21 -17.
Blackpool Borough held off the late challenge of Acle to win 22 -18, having initially established a lead of 20 - 3 after ten ends.
The remaining First Round games were played on Saturday afternoon with easy wins for Torquay United, Barking, Worthing, Avon Valley and Falcon.
Chipping Norton ran out of ends to lose 17 - 16, having been at one time 13 - 7 down after thirteen ends.
City of Ely recovered from being 14 - 8 down at ten ends, by taking nine of the remaining ends and win 19 -17.
Kingsthorpe took the lead in the sixteenth end with a count of 3, which gave them the confidence to lose only one more end and move into the Second Round on Saturday night.
In the Second Round games played on Saturday night, Sleaford pulled away from Crystal Palace in the last third of the game to win 21 - 13.
Worthing took eight of the last eleven ends to defeat Avon Valley, 26 -12.
Whiteknights scored eleven shots in the last half of their game against Blackpool Borough to easily win 21 -10.
Gallow must have thought that they had reached the Quarter-Finals when they were leading 17 -12 at eighteen ends against Stanley. In the last game to finish at nearly 11 p.m, Stanley achieved a count of 3 on the last end to win 19 - 17.
Sunday morning saw the players return to Melton to play the Quarter-Finals. Kingsthorpe established a match winning lie of 16 -2 at ten ends, eventually defeating Worthing 20 - 10.
Whiteknights recovered from being 6 - 15 down at eleven ends, winning the last eight ends to win 24 - 15.
City of Ely had effectively beaten Rushcliffe when they stood 20 - 5 up at fourteen ends, eventually winning 23 -13.
Sleaford were the last team to confirm their place in the Semi-Finals on Sunday afternoon, when they held off a late challenge from Ipswich, to win 16 -12.
The Semi-Finals saw Whiteknights easily beat Sleaford, winning 12 out of the 18 played ends. In the other game, Kingsthorpe won 11 of the 20 played ends against City of Ely to win 23 - 12.
The Final, played on Monday afternoon provided a display of excellent bowling. Whiteknights had early success, to lead 8 - 2 after eight ends. Kingsthorpe, fielding three players with International experience, took a four on the ninth end to make the score 8 - 7 to Whiteknights. For the next eleven ends no side scored more than two shots. Entering the final end, the scores were all square at 15 - 15. The first attempt to find a Champion was unsuccessful, with Whiteknights killing the end. Eventually the stalemate was broken after over four hours of play, with Kingsthorpe taking one shot to become the 2001 "Greengauge" National Champions.
D N Brown S A Rodwell