Nottingham under 25's completed a remarkable double win today at Northampton, taking both the club under 25 double rink and the county under 25 double rink titles.

 

6 members of Nottingham helped clinch the County under 25 double rink trophy, beating Sussex 48-33 in the first national final of the day.

 

 

The 6 members from Nottingham above, along with Helen Mason & Adam Pearce, then followed up their morning victory by outclassing a hotly-tipped Wey Valley side in the David Cornwell under 25 club double rink in the afternoon.

 

 

The day proved a fitting finale to Philip Broughton and Phil Bowles' under 25's careers. Both players will be over-age for next year's competition but, with good strength-in-depth, Nottingham will be hoping to clinch the title for a third year in 2008-09.

 

Congratulations to all the players involved on what is a truly fantastic achievement.

 

To view Nottingham's route to the final, click here.

Congratulations to Simon & Derek Skelton who today made it 3 titles out of 3 in the National Father & Son pairs.

 

Simon & Derek comprehensively defeated Alan & Rob Paxman from Exonia 21-3 in today's final.

 

Right from the off, the Skelton's always looked in control of the game, leading 5-1 at 5 ends and 11-1 at 10 ends.

 

Simon & Derek kicked off their campaign against Egerton Park's Colin & Kevin Carrie, winning 20-12. They followed that win up with a 26-13 win against Jim & Neil McKee of Kingsthorpe.

 

A quarter-final against Martin & Chris Gale (Blackpool Newton Hall) promised to be a tough encounter with the Blackpool pair having only dropped a total of 8 shots in their previous two games but Simon & Derek ran out comprehensive 25-13 winners.

 

Arguably Simon & Derek's best performances were saved for the final two games, with a 24-3 win against Paddington in the semi-final, followed up by today's 21-3 win.

 

Our congratulations go to both Simon & Derek on a historic win, repeating their feats of 2006 (whilst at Erewash) and 2007 (Nottingham). Well done!

 

Duncan & Sue, playing together for the first time, lost out in the final against Tim Stone and Melanie Haylett from Acle 23-14.

 

After trailing 15-4 down at 10 ends, Duncan & Sue looked to be making a comeback, getting back to within 5 shots at 15 ends (17-12), but the Acle pair held off their efforts and made sure of their victory. Congratulations to Tim & Melanie.

 

Our congratulations go to Duncan & Sue, however, for their sterling efforts in the mixed pairs - well done!

 

To see a gallery of photo's taken by Chris Holmes during the mixed pairs final, visit his Photobox site (links to external site).

 

Commiserations also go to Keith Burton, David Baird and Phil Dickens, who lost 22-18 to the eventual winners from Barking in the quarter-finals of the over 50's triples on Monday.

 

Our support now turns to Simon & Derek Skelton in the Father & Son pairs, looking to make it their 3rd Father & Son title in a row!

Best of luck Simon & Derek.

Members of Nottingham IBC make up 7 of the 8 places in the area finals of the national singles, pairs, triples & fours qualifiers in Area 8.

 

Simon Skelton defeated fellow Nottingham member Dave Adams 21-12 on Saturday 9th February to take his place in the singles final and will face Brett Morley.

 

Brett Morley, competing with Matt Vickery and Duncan Robinson, led his triples team to victory over Russ Pearce, Alistair Hansen and Trevor Lee on Sunday 10th February.

Brett, Matt & Duncan now face Gedling's Trevor Taylor & co in the triples area final. Taylor & co are the only non-Nottingham team to reach the area finals of this year's competitions but will have their work cut-out to beat Brett Morley's triple, who qualified in the triples in 2006-07.

 

Mark Roe, Stuart Smith, Matt Kime & Ronnie Cowan (Nottingham) beat Erewash's John Arnett & co 21-6 in their fours semi-final on Wednesday evening, setting up the area final versus Keith Burton, Dave Adams, Trevor Lee and Russ Pearce (also Nottingham).

 

Phil Dickens & Tim Mitchell (Nottingham) beat twice-former National Pairs winners Duncan Robinson and Brett Morley in their pairs semi-final and now face Simon Skelton & Michael Bowley (Nottingham) who will both be full of confidence after their recent good form in front of the TV cameras in the Potters World Singles (Simon Skelton) and Welsh Open (Michael Bowley) respectively.

 

Best of luck to all competitors. The winners of the games below will represent Area 8 in the EIBA/EWIBA National Championships at Nottingham Indoor Bowls Centre from 4th - 13th April 2008.

 

Singles:

Brett Morley v Simon Skelton (both Nottingham)

 

Phil Dickens/Tim Mitchell v Simon Skelton/Michael Bowley (both Nottingham)

 

Brett Morley/Duncan Robinson/Matt Vickery (Nottingham)

v

Trevor Taylor/Richard Button/Brian Subden (Gedling)

 

Matt Kime, Stuart Smith, Ronnie Cowan, Mark Roe (Nottingham)

v

Keith Burton, Dave Adams, Trevor Lee, Russ Pearce (Nottingham)

Congratulations to the following players from Nottingham that have qualified for the upcoming National Championsips (so far!):

 

16th Feb, 9.30am - Sue Mart & Duncan Robinson - Mixed Pairs

17th Feb, 9.30am - Keith Burton, Dave Baird & Phil Dickens - O50s Triples

19th Feb, 9.30am - Derek & Simon Skelton - Father & Son Pairs

20th Feb, 6.30pm - Jackie Turner, Angela Porter, Wayne Tomlinson & Duncan Robinson - Mixed Fours

23rd Feb - Nottingham under 25's club double rink

23rd Feb - Nottinghamshire under 25's county double rink (includes 6 members of Nottingham IBC)

 

1-2 March - Phil Bowles - Under 25 singles

3-5 March - Trevor Cutts - Over 60's singles

1-9 March - Sue Mart & Pam Cutts - Ladies Pairs

 

7th April - Sue Mart, Pam Cutts & Audrey Pinder - Ladies Over 50s 2-wood Triples

4-13 April - Men's singles, pairs, triples & fours (Qualifiers TBC)