ENGLISH CARPET BOWLS ASSOCIATION


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National Championships 2009
The 2009 National Championships were held at the Norbreck Castle Hotel, Blackpool, over the weekend of 14th - 15th November.

The event has each of the 10 competing counties putting up 6 rinks (teams of 4). These rinks play one rink from each of the other counties, three rinks at a time, so that half of each county's team is playing at any one time.

There are 9 sessions on each of the 2 days. The teams are awarded 2 points for a win and 1 for a draw.

Session 1 (Saturday)
Cambridgeshire's 5 point haul against Northumberland made them the early leaders, with Durham, Sunderland, Suffolk and North Tyneside just behind on 4 points.

Durham

4 - 2
Hertfordshire
Essex

2 - 4
Sunderland
Norfolk

2 - 4
Suffolk
Cambridgeshire

5 - 1
Northumberland
South Tyneside

2 - 4
North Tyneside

Session 2
Cambridgeshire moved on to 11 points (out of a possible 12) to extend their lead to 3 points, ahead of Suffolk who were now in a clear 2nd place. Meanwhile, Durham, North Tyneside, Sunderland, Hertfordshire, Essex and South Tyneside were all tied for 3rd on 6 points.

Essex

4 - 2
Northumberland
Cambridgeshire

6 - 0
Norfolk
South Tyneside

4 - 2
Durham
Hertfordshire

4 - 2
North Tyneside
Suffolk

4 - 2
Sunderland

Session 3
Cambridgeshire maintained their 3 point advantage, moving on to 15 points, still ahead of Suffolk. Third place was now down to just Durham and Essex, each of whom had 10 points, leaving them 5 points behind the leaders.

Suffolk

4 - 2
South Tyneside
Sunderland

3 - 3
Northumberland
Essex

4 - 2
North Tyneside
Durham

4 - 2
Norfolk
Cambridgeshire

4 - 2
Hertfordshire

Session 4
Cambridgeshire faltered for the first time as they only managed to pick up 2 points against Suffolk, despite that they still had a 1 point lead over Suffolk. Meanwhile a perfect session for Sunderland saw them move up to third place on 15 points, just 2 off the lead.

Essex

4 - 2
Hertfordshire
Durham

2 - 4
North Tyneside
Suffolk

4 - 2
Cambridgeshire
Sunderland

6 - 0
South Tyneside
Norfolk

2 - 4
Northumberland

Session 5
It was a session which saw 4 teams take maximum points, including Cambridgeshire, who were now on 23 points, Suffolk who were still 1 behind, and Essex who moved back up to third, on 20 points. The session was also significant for Norfolk who managed to double their points tally in one fell swoop, moving off the bottom of the standings for the first time.

Cambridgeshire

6 - 0
North Tyneside
Norfolk

6 - 0
South Tyneside
Hertfordshire

2 - 4
Sunderland
Suffolk

6 - 0
Northumberland
Essex

6 - 0
Durham

Session 6
Despite unexpectedly dropping 2 points to last placed South Tyneside, Cambridgeshire not only maintained the top spot, but increased their lead back up to 3 points as Suffolk could only manage to take 2 points from Hertfordshire. And despite only managing to get 2 points out of Durham, Sunderland were able to resume their 3rd place. They were now on 21 points, 6 off the pace, thanks to another impressive performance from Norfolk who took maximum points again, this time off Essex.

Durham

4 - 2
Sunderland
Suffolk

2 - 4
Hertfordshire
Northumberland

6 - 0
North Tyneside
Essex

0 - 6
Norfolk
Cambridgeshire

4 - 2
South Tyneside

Session 7
Cambridgeshire's advantage was once again cut back to a single point as Suffolk took a maximum points haul against Durham. It was a better session for Sunderland as they took 6 points to move on to 27 points, closing the gap to the top to just 4 points. Fourth place now went to a Norfolk team who had been languishing in 10th just 3 sessions ago. They took 5 points from Hertfordshire making it 17 out of a possible 18 points from those 3 sessions.

Northumberland

4 - 2
South Tyneside
Hertfordshire

1 - 5
Norfolk
Essex

2 - 4
Cambridgeshire
Durham

0 - 6
Suffolk
Sunderland

6 - 0
North Tyneside

Session 8
Despite taking 4 points from their game with Durham, Cambridgeshire lost the top spot for the first time, in Saturday's penultimate session. Suffolk now movedinto a 1 point lead, on 36 points, having taken the maximum from North Tyneside. Sunderland were now comfortably in third place, 5 points beind the leaders, but 5 points clear of 4th placed Essex.

Norfolk

2 - 4
Sunderland
Cambridgeshire

4 - 2
Durham
Suffolk

6 - 0
North Tyneside
Hertfordshire

2 - 4
Northumberland
Essex

4 - 2
South Tyneside

Session 9
The final session of Saturday's play saw the top 4 teams playing amongst themselves. But despite having the opportunity to overturn the points advantage that the top 2 had held all day, the chasing teams were unable to capitalise.

Suffolk finished the day on 40 points to maintain their single point advantage over Cambridgeshire, the same position in which the 2 teams had found themselves at that same stage as last year's Championships.

Sunderland had slipped a little further of the lead, but were still in a comfortable 3rd place on 33 points, while Norfolk were back up to 4th, on 29 points, finishing the day 11 points off the lead, which was very creditable considering they had already fallen that far behind after just the first 3 sessions.

Essex were fifth on 28 points, while Durham and Northumberland were each on 24 points, just one ahead of Hertfordshire. South Tyneside were in 9th on 16 points, while North Tyneside took take some consolation from having picked up 2 points against Norfolk, putting to end a miserable run of 4 sessions in which they had failed to gain a single point.

Hertfordshire

4 - 2
South Tyneside
Essex

2 - 4
Suffolk
Cambridgeshire

4 - 2
Sunderland
Norfolk

4 - 2
North Tyneside
Durham

6 - 0
Northumberland

Session 10 (Sunday)
Sunday's first session saw overnight leaders Suffolk increase their lead to 3 points as they took 4 points against Norfolk, while Cambridgeshire could only manage one from their three games against Northumberland. Meanwhile the fight for 3rd was hotting up as Essex took 5 of the 6 points on offer against rivals Sunderland to reduce the game between the 2 teams to a single point.

Durham

4 - 2
Hertfordshire
Essex

5 - 1
Sunderland
Norfolk

2 - 4
Suffolk
Cambridgeshire

2 - 4
Northumberland
South Tyneside

2 - 4
North Tyneside

Session 11
Having suffered at the hands of Essex, Sunderland immediately hit back, taking all 6 points from their games against erstwhile leaders Suffolk, who were now second, still on 44 points, 3 points behind Cambridgeshire who had taken maximum points to regain the lead. Meanwhile Sunderland were on 40 points, just 7 off the lead.

Essex

4 - 2
Northumberland
Cambridgeshire

6 - 0
Norfolk
South Tyneside

5 - 1
Durham
Hertfordshire

6 - 0
North Tyneside
Suffolk

0 - 6
Sunderland

Session 12
Four points for Cambridgeshire saw them retain the lead as they moved on to 51 points, but the gap had been cut to just 1 point as Suffolk took all 6 points from their games. Sunderland took another 4 points to keep pace with the leaders, but Essex were once again hot on their tales, as another 6 points took them up to 43 points, just one off third place

Suffolk

6 - 0
South Tyneside
Sunderland

4 - 2
Northumberland
Essex

6 - 0
North Tyneside
Durham

0 - 6
Norfolk
Cambridgeshire

4 - 2
Hertfordshire

Session 13
Once again the critical session was the one between the two leaders and once again it was Suffolk that came out on top, winning 2 out of 3 games against Cambridgeshire and allowing them to once more leapfrog the former leaders, going from 1 point behind, to 1 ahead. Another 4 points each for Suderland and Essex saw them both keep pace with the top 2.

Essex

4 - 2
Hertfordshire
Durham

2 - 4
North Tyneside
Suffolk

4 - 2
Cambridgeshire
Sunderland

4 - 2
South Tyneside
Norfolk

4 - 2
Northumberland

Session 14
It was maximum points for all 3 front runners this time around. Suffolk were now on 60 points, Cambridgeshire, 1 behind and Sunderland 6 behind, on 54 points. Essex meanwhile could only manage 4 points and had slipped to 3 points behind third place.

Cambridgeshire

6 - 0
North Tyneside
Norfolk

5 - 1
South Tyneside
Hertfordshire

0 - 6
Sunderland
Suffolk

6 - 0
Northumberland
Essex

4 - 2
Durham

Session 15
And it was a similar story in the next round. Once again the top 3 were all matching each other point for point. Although Suffolk dropped 2 points, so too did their closest persuers. The leaders had now moved on to 64 points with Cambridgeshire on 63. Sunderland were now on 58 points and although time was running out for them to bridge the gap to the top 2 teams, third place was at least looking more comfortable as Essex faltered.

Durham

2 - 4
Sunderland
Suffolk

4 - 2
Hertfordshire
Northumberland

2 - 4
North Tyneside
Essex

2 - 4
Norfolk
Cambridgeshire

4 - 2
South Tyneside

Session 16
Despite an impressive performance against Essex, Cambridgeshire nevertheless lost ground to a Suffolk team that picked up all 6 points against Durham to double their tenuous lead to all of 2 points. Sunderland meanwhile lost further ground and with just 2 sessions left and 8 points adrift of the lead they were now all but out of the running. They were, however, comfortably shead of what was once again a close battle for fourth. Having been ahead of Essex at the start of the day, Norfolk had fallen as much as 6 points behind, but were now tied with them once again, on 54 points,

Northumberland

2 - 4
South Tyneside
Hertfordshire

2 - 4
Norfolk
Essex

1 - 5
Cambridgeshire
Durham

0 - 6
Suffolk
Sunderland

4 - 2
North Tyneside

Session 17
It was maximum points all around for Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Sunderland and Essex, in the penultimate round of games, leaving them on 76, 74, 68 and 60 points respectively. Suffolk's fate was in their own hands as their point and shot advantage meant that 4 point from those last 3 games would all but see them home. Only Cambridgeshire could now catch them, although they themselves were not guaranteed second place as Sunderland were 6 points behind and would be playing them in the final session.

Norfolk

0 - 6
Sunderland
Cambridgeshire

6 - 0
Durham
Suffolk

6 - 0
North Tyneside
Hertfordshire

2 - 4
Northumberland
Essex

6 - 0
South Tyneside

Session 18
Having finished in 10th spot last year on just 15 points, South Tyneside showed the biggest year-on-year improvement of any team as they finished on 34 points. It was enough to enable them to finish ahead of local rivals North Tyneside and, tantalisingly, they finished just a single point behind 8th place.

That 8th spot went to Durham, a disappointing result from a team who are used to finishing much higher. In fact overnight they had been in 6th place and were in amongst the pack of teams that were just in behind the leading three. However Sunday's play saw them only able to add 12 points to Saturday's tally, leaving them well adrift of the teams they had been fighting with after the first day's play.

Hertfordshire were able to improve one place on last year, although their points tally was identical to 2008, while Northumberland's 6th place was also an improvement on last year's finishing position.

Fifth place went to Norfolk who finished on 58 points, just 4 behind Essex with whom they had fought a see-sawing battle all weekend. Both teams finished a spot lower than they had the year before.

That was down to this year's biggest improvers in terms of position. In 2008 Sunderland had finished in 6th place on 58 points, this year they moved up to a very creditable 3rd place on 70 points, well clear of the teams that had spent all weekend chasing them.

But, as had been the case last year, the fight for the title came down to just two teams, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. In 2008 Suffolk had gone into the final set of games holding a 1 point advantage and had been overhauled, this year it was a 2 point lead and that turned out to be enough. Cambridgeshire picked up 4 points from their games with Sunderland, but Suffolk were able to match that against Essex to finish on 80 points against Cambridgeshire's final total of 78 points.

Hertfordshire

4 - 2
South Tyneside
Essex

2 - 4
Suffolk
Cambridgeshire

4 - 2
Sunderland
Norfolk

4 - 2
North Tyneside
Durham

0 - 6
Northumberland

Camb

Durh

Essex

Herts

Norfk

Nland

NTyne

STyne

Suffk

Sund

Pts

For

Agst

Pos
CAMBRIDGESHIRE

10 - 2

9 - 3

8 - 4

12 - 0

7 - 5

12 - 0

8 - 4

4 - 8

8 - 4

78

623

429

2nd
DURHAM

2 - 10

2 - 10

8 - 4

4 - 8

6 - 6

4 - 8

3 - 9

0 - 12

6 - 6

35

472

551

8th
ESSEX

3 - 9

10 - 2

8 - 4

10 - 2

8 - 4

10 - 2

10 - 2

4 - 8

7 - 5

62

580

491

4th
HERTFORDSHIRE

4 - 8

4 - 8

4 - 8
3 - 9

3 - 9

4 - 8

10 - 2

8 - 4

6 - 6

2 - 10

45

473

578

7th
NORFOLK

0 - 12

8 - 4

10 - 2

9 - 3

6 - 6

8 - 4

11 - 1

4 - 8

2 - 10

58

545

537

5th
NORTHUMBERLAND

5 - 7

6 - 6

4 - 8

8 - 4

6 - 6

8 - 4

6 - 6

0 - 12

5 - 7

48

561

544

6th
NORTH TYNESIDE

0 - 12

8 - 4

2 - 10

2 - 10

4 - 8

4 - 8

8 - 4

0 - 12

2 - 10

30

408

693

10th
SOUTH TYNESIDE

4 - 8

9 - 3

2 - 10

4 - 8

1 - 11

6 - 6

4 - 8

2 - 10

2 - 10

34

456

618

9th
SUFFOLK

8 - 4

12 - 0

8 - 4

6 - 6

8 - 4

12 - 0

12 - 0

10 - 2

4 - 8

80

635

441

1st
SUNDERLAND

4 - 8

6 - 6

5 - 7

10 - 2

10 - 2

7 - 5

10 - 2

10 - 2

8 - 4

70

598

478

3rd

Updated 24/11/09