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 Pairs Championship 2001
The game between Christie Miller and Cambridge Park was a real cliff hanger, with both sides in the latter stages feeling that they had won the game. Christie Miller took a four on the seventeenth end, to make the score 14 - 13. Then with Christie Miller having won the next two ends to lead 16 - 13, Cambridge Park skip, Ian Jenkins, fought back with a three excellent drawing woods, despite the efforts of Christie's Skip Andy Moore who had playing two accurate running woods to take shots out of the head.
Playing the last end, Andy Moore dislodged the jack into the ditch only to also promote a Cambridge wood so that he lay one shot down. Having failed to dislodge the wood with his third wood, Andy kept his cool and, with his last wood and with a yard of running, neatly played the Cambridge wood into to the ditch to ensure that Christie Miller would play in the Second round on Wednesday night.
In the Second Round, despite winning the last three ends Charnwood were unable to make up sufficient ground to defeat Cumbria.
Acle and Essex County needed an extra end to decide would proceed into the Quarter Final on Thursday morning and it needed a cool response from the Acle Skip, Phillip Barr, who with his last wood on the 22nd end drew within two inches of the Jack to clinch victory after nearly four hours of play.
The Quarter Finals, played on Thursday morning, saw Cyphers win the last five ends to defeat Cumbria, 25 - 10. Grantham similarly won the last fours ends to overcome the challenge of Erewash. Chipping Norton took five of the last six ends to beat Essex County, 23 -16. In the longest game of the session, lasting nearly five hours, Lincoln took the four of the last five ends against Cotswold, to win 18 -13.
In the Semi-Finals, the English Indoor International Pairing of Gary Smith and Andy Thomson (Cyphers) were always going to have problems after dropping a six on the fifth end to go 3 - 14 down to Dale Hall and Les Gillett (Chipping Norton). Lincoln and Grantham had a much tighter game, with Billy Jackson (Lincoln), another England Indoor International, skipping his playing partner Danny Brown to a 17 -14 win against their local rivals, Martin Pulling and Dion Auckland (Grantham).
The Final saw Lincoln establish an early lead to stand 14 - 5 up after ten ends. Chipping Norton then scored 3-1-4-2-2 to lead 17 - 14. The lead then changed over the next five ends resulting in Chipping Norton going into the last end 21 -20 up. In a tense finish, Danny Brown and Billy Jackson took 2 shots to become the 2001 Greengauge National Pairs Champions.