Greetland win close bowls final

Greetland won the Halifax Association's Ewart Lord Trophy bowls competition, sponsored by The Tower House Hotel, at West End BC last Friday.

The result was in doubt until the last few ends of the final game before Greetland emerged victorious by 219-212.

Greetland were conceding 10 start but were soon ahead after George Simpson’s 21-7 result against Peter Ashton.

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Andy Speechley and Peter Lea put Greetland further ahead with 21-18 and 21-13 victories against Garry Plane and Brian Winrow respectively.

Speechley led Plane 9-1 but the Ripponden player recovered to draw level at 15 and was only one behind at 18-19 before Speechley won the last two ends.

Lea and Winrow were tied at eight before Lea gradually pulled away and finished with a break of five.

Mick Skwarek was Ripponden’s only winner from the first four games, recovering from 12-15 and 16-18 to win by 21-18 against Michael Shaw.

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Fortunes swung dramatically in Greetland’s favour when Andy Balmforth beat Paul Turner 21-0 but Ripponden countered by winning the other three games.

Dougie Hamilton and Peter Webb were level at 14 but Hamilton conceded only one more pair while Mike Robertshaw, ahead by 10-3 and 16-7 against Ken Fleming, resisted a late rally by the Greetland player to win by 21-13. John Sharp trailed Peter Walker by 11-15 before running out.

With two games to be completed, Greetland led 159-130 but victory was by no means certain with both Ripponden players holding commanding leads at one stage.

Ian Hodges led by 18-6 and 20-8 before winning 21-11 against Justin Harris while his team-mate Malcolm Griffiths led by 10-0 against Gordon Bradford.

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With only their game to be completed Bradford needed to reach 17 to win the game for Greetland. Griffiths had led by 18-7 but a break of eight by Bradford reduced the gap to three at 15-18 and, after a single by Griffiths, Bradford ran out to win by 21-19 and clinch victory for Greetland.

Full scores (Greetland namses first): M. Shaw 18 M.Skwarek 21; A.Speechley 21 G. Plane 18; P. Lea 21 B. Winrow 13; G.Simpson 21 P.Ashton 7; P. Webb 16 D. Hamilton 21; P. Walker 15 J.Sharp 21; K. Fleming 13 M. Robertshaw 21; A. Balmforth 21 P. Turner 0; J.Harris 11 I.Hodges 21; G. Bradford 21 M.Griffiths 19.

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