ENGLISH CARPET BOWLS ASSOCIATION


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National Championships 2010
The 2010 National Championships were held at the Norbreck Castle Hotel, Blackpool, over the weekend of 13th - 14th November.

Session 1 (Saturday)
Cambridgeshire and Northumberland both made strong starts with maximum points from the session, although Essex were just a point behind the leading pair.

Durham

1

5
Essex
Sunderland

2

4
Suffolk
Norfolk

0

6
Cambridgeshire
Northumberland

6

0
South Tyneside
Hertfordshire

Session 2 (Saturday)
Cambridgeshire's 4 points took them into a clear 2 point lead, ahead of Northumberland, Suffolk and Sunderland.
Sunderland

6

0
South Tyneside
Cambridgeshire

4

2
Northumberland
Durham

6

0
Hertfordshire
Suffolk

4

2
Norfolk
Essex

Session 3 (Saturday)
Sunderland's second consecutive maximum points haul now gave them the lead, one point ahead of Suffolk and Cambridgeshire.
Suffolk

5

1
South Tyneside
Sunderland

6

0
Hertfordshire
Essex

3

3
Cambridgeshire
Durham

4

2
Northumberland
Norfolk

Session 4 (Saturday)
Maximum points for Cambridgeshire saw them climb back to the top, on 19 points, now 3 points clear of Sunderlan and 4 ahead of Durham .
Durham

4

2
Sunderland
Essex

4

2
Hertfordshire
Norfolk

5

1
Northumberland
Cambridgeshire

6

0
South Tyneside
Suffolk

Session 5 (Saturday)
With Cambridgeshire not playing Sunderland took the opportunity to take the lead, but only by a single point and having played one session more . Durham and Suffolk were tied for third, 3 points off the lead.
Northumberland

4

2
Hertfordshire
Durham

2

4
Suffolk
Norfolk

0

6
South Tyneside
Essex

2

4
Sunderland
Cambridgeshire

Session 6 (Saturday)
Maximum points again for Cambridgeshire, this time over their nearest rivals, taking them into a4 point lead over Suffolk, while Sunderland slipped to 5th.
Essex

2

4
Suffolk
Durham

2

4
Norfolk
South Tyneside

0

6
Hertfordshire
Sunderland

0

6
Cambridgeshire
Northumberland

Session 7 (Saturday)
Cambridgeshire held their lead with a win over Durham, but Suffolk's maximum over Hertfordshire reduced the defecit to just 2 points. Sunderland won again, but could not close the gap to the leaders.
Durham

2

4
Cambridgeshire
Sunderland

4

2
Northumberland
Essex

4

2
Norfolk
Suffolk

6

0
Hertfordshire
South Tyneside

Session 8 (Saturday)
In the clash between the top 2 teams it was Cambridgeshire who came out on top, re-establishing a 4 point lead over Suffolk.
Suffolk

2

4
Cambridgeshire
Essex

6

0
Northumberland
Norfolk

2

4
Hertfordshire
Durham

4

2
South Tyneside
Sunderland

Session 9 (Saturday)
Saturday's final session saw a shock result as Hertfordshire subjected Cambridgeshire to their first losing session of the weekend. However with 35 points they still held the lead over Suffolk, albeit one of only 2 points.
Sunderland had regained third place, with 28 points, from Essex who missed out courtesy of another surprise result, falling to a 6-0 defeat by South Tyneside.
Durham were in 5th, one point behind Essex, on 25 points. Meanwhile, only 4 points seperated the bottom 4 teams. Northumberland were on 19 points, Hertfordshire on 18, Norfolk on 17 and South Tyneside on 15.
Sunderland

4

2
Norfolk
Suffolk

4

2
Northumberland
Cambridgeshire

2

4
Hertfordshire
Essex

0

6
South Tyneside
Durham

Session 10 (Sunday)
Cambridgeshire maintained their slender 2 point lead over Suffolk, while Essex and Sunderland were now tied for third, although they were 9 points off the lead
Durham

2

4
Essex
Sunderland

2

4
Suffolk
Norfolk

2

4
Cambridgeshire
Northumberland

2

4
South Tyneside
Hertfordshire

Session 11 (Sunday)
Suffolk's 5 point haul brought them to within a point of Cambridgeshire while Sunderland were in a clear third spot.
Sunderland

4

2
South Tyneside
Cambridgeshire

4

2
Northumberland
Durham

4

2
Hertfordshire
Suffolk

5

1
Norfolk
Essex

Session 12 (Sunday)
Essex handed out Cambridgeshire's second losing session of the event (making them the only county to have a winning record against Cambridgeshire across the weekend). Sunderland could only manage a draw and so could not close on the leaders.
Suffolk

4

2
South Tyneside
Sunderland

3

3
Hertfordshire
Essex

4

2
Cambridgeshire
Durham

3

3
Northumberland
Norfolk

Session 13 (Sunday)
Cambridgeshire took advantage of Suffolk's missed session, taking all 6 points to establish a 5 point lead.
Durham

2

4
Sunderland
Essex

4

2
Hertfordshire
Norfolk

4

2
Northumberland
Cambridgeshire

6

0
South Tyneside
Suffolk

Session 14 (Sunday)
Cambridgeshire's missed session should have been Suffolk's opportunity catch up, but a 6-0 clean sweep by Durham meant that not only did they remain 5 points back, but Sunderland overtook them.
Northumberland

3

3
Hertfordshire
Durham

6

0
Suffolk
Norfolk

5

1
South Tyneside
Essex

0

6
Sunderland
Cambridgeshire

Session 15 (Sunday)
Of the top 3 only Cambridgeshire managed a winning session, taking them to 55 points, six clear of Sunderland and 7 clear of Suffolk.
Essex

4

2
Suffolk
Durham

2

4
Norfolk
South Tyneside

2

4
Hertfordshire
Sunderland

2

4
Cambridgeshire
Northumberland

Session 16 (Sunday)
Cambridgeshire were now firmly in the driving seat. While Suffolk and Sunderland were now level on points, the leaders had now moved 7 points clear of them both.
Durham

2

4
Cambridgeshire
Sunderland

3

3
Northumberland
Essex

2

4
Norfolk
Suffolk

4

2
Hertfordshire
South Tyneside

Session 17 (Sunday)
The penultimate session saw this year's title decided. With Sunderland taking their missed session tet were now level with Durham. Meanwhile Suffolk had the chance to close to just 1 point behind the leaders if they could take all 3 games from them. As it was Cambridgeshire won 2 of the 3 games, giving them a 9 point lead and making the final session immaterial.
Suffolk

2

4
Cambridgeshire
Essex

4

2
Northumberland
Norfolk

6

0
Hertfordshire
Durham

6

0
South Tyneside
Sunderland

Session 18 (Sunday)
Having been out of the lead for just a single session across the whole weekend Cambridgeshire finished as worthy winners on 67 points. Theirs was a dominant win in comparison to recent years, finally winning by a margin of 9 points.
Suffolk held on to second place, 2 points clear of Sunderland. Meanwhile a resurgent Durham just edged Essex by a matter of only 5 shots, to take 4th place.
Norfolk's 6th place could have been much better if not for a poor Saturday. Their 28 point haul on Sunday was only bettered by Cambridgeshire.
Northumberland stayed ahead of Hertfordshire to take 7th spot, while South Tyneside were unable to improve upon their overnight position.
Sunderland

4

2
Norfolk
Suffolk

4

2
Northumberland
Cambridgeshire

4

2
Hertfordshire
Essex

4

2
South Tyneside
Durham

Pts For Agst
1 Cambridgeshire

67

433

301
2 Suffolk

58

464

345
3 Sunderland

56

423

350
4 Durham

52

391

376
5 Essex

52

386

360
6 Norfolk

45

403

355
7 Northumberland

38

365

457
8 Hertfordshire

36

369

458
9 South Tyneside

28

300

532

Camb

Durh

Essex

Herts

Norfk

Nland

STyne

Suffk

Sund

Pts

For

Agst

Pos
CAMBRIDGESHIRE

8 - 4

5 - 7

6 - 6

10 - 2

8 - 4

12 - 0

8 - 4

10 - 2

67

433

301

1st
DURHAM

4 - 8

3 - 9

10 - 2

4 - 8

7 - 5

10 - 2

8 - 4

6 - 6

52

391

376

4th
ESSEX

7 - 5

9 - 3

8 - 4

6 - 6

10 - 2

4 - 8

6 - 6

2 - 10

52

386

360

5th
HERTFORDSHIRE

6 - 6

2 - 10

4 - 8

4 - 8

5 - 7

10 - 2

2 - 10

3 - 9

36

369

458

8th
NORFOLK

2 - 10

8 - 4

6 - 6

8 - 4

9 - 3

5 - 7

3 - 9

4 - 8

45

403

355

6th
NORTHUMBERLAND

4 - 8

5 - 7

2 - 10

7 - 5

3 - 9

8 - 4

4 - 8

5 - 7

38

365

457

7th
SOUTH TYNESIDE

0 - 12

2 - 10

8 - 4

2 - 10

7 - 5

4 - 8

3 - 9

2 - 10

28

300

532

9th
SUFFOLK

4 - 8

4 - 8

6 - 6

10 - 2

9 - 3

8 - 4

9 - 3

8 - 4

58

464

345

2nd
SUNDERLAND

2 - 10

6 - 6

10 - 2

9 - 3

8 - 4

7 - 5

10 - 2

4 - 8

56

423

350

3rd

 

Chairman's Report

It is hard to believe that this was the 19th time we have held this event, for many years the event was played at Seacroft in Hemsby.

We did hold the event at Scarborough on one occasion but for the last five years we have been at the Norbreck Castle Hotel in Blackpool.

This is the highlight of the season for county bowlers and the event where they get to play all of the other counties.

The competitive part of the weekend started on the Friday evening with the Inter County League match, this was between Cambridgeshire representing the Southern league and Durham representing the Northern league.

In a keenly contested match both counties were level on points with five games completed, Durham needed to win the last game as Cambridgeshire had a good shots for advantage and a draw would have done for them.

This game was nip and tuck and could have gone either way on the last end but Cambridgeshire held their nerve and ran out winners for the third year in a row.

The Inter County match has only been contested for 17 years and this was the seveth time Cambridgeshire have won it.

The main event as always is the County Championship and this started on the Saturday morning by the end of play that day the usual front runners were in the frame but there wasn't a huge gap between them and the following pack.

On Sunday it was all to play for but it soon became clear that there were only four real contenders and that was Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Durham and Sunderland. As the afternoon wore on Cambridgeshire gradually moved ahead and had already won the event before the last session started but there was still pride at stake for the remaining counties and the battle for the runner up spot became the focal point of the last session.

Suffolk had to play Northumberland and could afford to lose one of the games because they had the shots for advantage over Sunderland who really needed to win all of their last three games against Norfolk.

Suffolk were struggling against a dogged Northumberland side that were determined to finish on a high and with two of the games completed Suffolk had only won one and lost the other and Northumberland were two shots up with just the last end to play in the remaining game.

Although Northumberland were lying shot Suffolk had all of the back woods and with his last bowl of the competition the Suffolk skip Neil Jolly took the jack back to lie about five shots but the Northumberland skip Dave Gair still had a bowl to play, when his bowl stopped it looked as though he had done enough to get at least a draw but following a measure it transpired that Suffolk had completed a great comeback in that game and secured the runner up place in the County Championship.

Sunderland secured third place and are becoming consistent challengers in this event.

Congratulations to Cambridgeshire for winning this event for the 13th time and well done to all of the other counties some of who we know struggle to get enough players to compete we do appreciate the effort they put in every year.

Unfortunately we only had nine counties competing as North Tyneside were unable to get enough players to form a team, we hope that by next year they will be back with us and it is possible that Bedfordshire could also have a team.

This event will be held at Potters Leisure Resort in 2011 and we could potentially for the first time have eleven counties competing.

Tony Cuthbert

Updated 8th December 2010