Thrilling games in Under 19s bowls open singles tournament at Daventry IBC

After a two year break due to the covid pandemic Darren Wheeler welcomed a group of under 19s to Daventry IBC for an open singles tournament, due to numbers Darren hadn’t been able to run two tournaments, one for a younger age group and one for the older group so went with a compromise.

Late dropouts due to illness and injury meant that the 30 entrants were randomly drawn into two groups of three and six groups of four to play in a round robin format, the top two in each group progressing to the knockout stage. Games were played over six ends, in the knockout stages draws were settled by a tie break end except the final which is decided by a three end tie break.

The group winners were: Olly Jeaves, Joe Simms, Jorja Jackson, Jake Pankhurst, Joshua Austin, Sam Andrews, Ollie Sloan and Haydn Chambers. They were joined by the following runner ups: Ellie Hamblett, Josh Toon, Sam Bruggnoli, Matthew Murphy, Charlie Beeton, Cauly Swift, Joshua Rowe and Freddie Trew. For full group results see end.

Joshua Rowe took the first end of his last 16 game against Ollie Sloan with a single. Sloan then scored a single and double only for Rowe to reply in kind. Sloan took the final end with a single to level the game at 4 all. A tight tie break end saw Ollie Sloan pick up a single to progress 5-4. Jorja Jackson got off to a good start with a treble, Freddie Trew took the next couple of ends with singles to cut the deficit but Jorja replied with a double and single to leave Freddie needing a last end four to force a tie break. Despite his best efforts he could only pickup a double, Jorja Jackson winning 6-4.

Jake Pankhurst and Ellie Hamblett exchanged doubles and single to reach four ends 3-3. Jake took the next end with a single and in the final end Ellie pulled out all the stops to score a double, progressing to the quarters with a 5-4 win. Ollie Jeaves saw his opening double and single against Cauly Swift wiped out in the next end, Cauly took the next end with a double, Ollie replied with a single. Cauly eased into the quarter finals with a double to complete his 7-4 victory.

Haydn Chambers scored a treble and single in the first two ends only for Sam Bruggnoli to respond with his own single and treble, all square after four ends. Haydn went into the last end with a one shot advantage and took the game with a treble, final score 8-4. Matthew Murphy booked his place in the quarter finals by scoring five singles against Joe Simms, winning 5-0. Joshua Austin and Joshua Toon exchanged singles before a brace of trebles and a double took Joshua Austin through 9-1. Charlie Beeton scored two threes and two singles in the final last 16 tie against Sam Andrews, Sam took a double on the next end but couldn’t catch up, Charlie through 8-2.

The quarter finals saw Joshua Austin beat Matthew Murphy 9-0 and Charlie Beeton win 11-1 against Ellie Hamblett to book their semi-final spots, the other two games were much tighter. Jorja Jackson’s opening single was wiped out by Cauly Swift scoring a double and single only for Jorja to restore her one shot lead with a fourth end treble. Jorja added another single leaving Cauly two behind going into the last end. He could only get one, Jorja winning 5-4. Ollie Sloan opened up his quarter final game against Haydn Chambers with a single, Haydn replied with a double. The third end saw the rare event of a tied end, Haydn scored another single, Ollie responded with a double to leave the scores level. A tense final end saw Ollie Sloan score a single to move into the semi-finals with a 4-3 win.

After an afternoon of good bowling Charlie Beeton booked his place in the final with an unusual 9-0 win against Joshua Austin. Jorja Jackson made another good start with a treble and single against Ollie Sloan, the pair exchanged singles before Ollie picked up a double to trail by two with one left. He couldn’t quite complete the comeback, taking a single, Jorja though 5-4.

Jorja Jackson opened the final with a double and single to lead by three with two ends gone. Charlie Beeton held two in the next end, Jorja opted for a heavy shot but took out her own nearest, Charlie now holding three and he added a fourth, Jorja again went with weight but missed the target, Beeton now leading 4-3. Charlie took the next end with a single and again built a good head to hold four on the last end, Jorja tried another weighted shot but it wasn’t to be, Charlie Beeton winning a thrilling game 9-3.

Tournament organiser Darren Wheeler announced that next year he is hoping to run two tournaments, one for the younger bowlers and one for the older ones.

Full group scores:

Group 1 – Olly Jeaves 7-3 Ellie Hamblett, Ellie Hodges 2-8 Olly Jeaves, Ellie Hamblett 9-0 Ellie Hodges.

Group 2 – Josh Toon 4-5 Joe Simms, Rupert Fray 1-11 Josh Toon, Joe Simms 14-2 Rupert Fray.

Group 3 – Ryan Richmond 2-12 Sam Bruggnoli, Jorja Jackson 8-3 Emily Johnson, Jorja Jackson 4-2 Ryan Richmond, Emily Johnson 1-9 Sam Bruggnoli, Ryan Richmond 1-11 Emily Johnson, Sam Bruggnoli 4-6 Jorja Jackson.

Group 4 – Matthew Murphy 6-2 Josh Sanders, Jake Pankhurst 11-0 Jacob Mills, Jake Pankhurst 9-1 Matthew Murphy, Jacob Mills 6-6 Josh Sanders, Matthew Murphy 5-4 Jacob Mills, Josh Sanders 2-9 Jake Pankhurst 9.

Group 5 – Joshua Austin 7-4 Max Magee, Charlie Beeton 3-4 Tyler King, Charlie Beeton 6-3 Joshua Austin, Tyler King 0-11 Max Magee, Joshua Austin 15-0 Tyler King, Max Magee 0-8 Charlie Beeton.

Group 6 – Lilli Murray 0-9 Josh Finch, Cauly Swift 2-6 Sam Andrews, Cauly Swift 4-2 Lilli Murray, Sam Andrews 10-2 Josh Finch, Lilli Murray 0-14 Sam Andrews, Josh Finch 3-4 Cauly Swift.

Group 7 – Kieran Chambers 3-4 Ollie Sloan, Alex Warrington 5-5 Joshua Rowe, Alex Warrington 9-1 Kieran Chambers, Joshua Rowe 2-7 Ollie Sloan, Kieran Chambers 1-10 Joshua Rowe, Ollie Sloan 11-0 Alex Warrington.

Group 8 – Haydn Chambers 8-3 Noah White, Freddie Trew 8-1 Rhianna Russell, Freddie Trew 2-6 Haydn Chambers, Rhianna Russell 3-6 Noah White, Haydn Chambers 4-5 Rhianna Russell, Noah White 2-7 Freddie Trew. Haydn Chambers won group with a better shots scored figure than Freddie Trew.