Home advantage gives hosts theedge in Inter District semi-final

Skipton District where in a group with East Coast and Wakefield and played their matches at Almondbury Liberal Club.

The first match in the group saw East Coast losing to Wakefield 184-179.

Skipton faced East Coast and it turned out to be a very tough test. The first two games went the way of Skipton through Andrew Tate 21-12 and Phil Dowgill 21-10.

From then on it was all East Coast. Only Peter Clark 21-20 stopped the rot before Neil Hargreaves picked up a good 21-11 win in the last game.

Skipton did manage some good scores, so although it was a 179-168 defeat, they still had a chance if they could produce a good performance against Wakefield.

It was always going to be a tight match with both teams needing big points to overhaul East Coast.

The first four matches were close fought with two winners a piece. Skipton’s victories came from Robbie Ellis and Andrew Tate who both won 21-19. David Cadwallader 21-17 and Dowgill 21-16 were beaten, it meant Wakefield had a slight lead.

The next four games all went to Skipton through Richard Hargreaves 21-2, Peter Clark 21-17, Graham Reay 21-11 and David Scott 21-8. Those results just about put Wakefield out but Skipton still required points to overhaul East Coast.

David Smith picked up 18, but Neil Hargreaves did the job with a 21-10 win.

Skipton won the match 198-149 and gave them a points total of 366, East Coast 358, Wakefield 333, so Skipton topped the group and progressed to the semi final.

The green for the semi-final was Meltham where the opposition were the hosts Huddersfield.

Huddersfield were on top from the start with Dowgill’s 18 the best score in the first four games.

Clark picked up 20, before Reay came off with a 21-19 win.

Scott once again put up a good effort with a 21-18 win but the match had long gone, as Huddersfield moved into the final 205-144, and of course they went on to win the final.

Cononley A held onto their lead at the top of the Walker Foster Division One despite only playing one game.

They picked up a good win at Sutton A 7-5 to give them 199 points, then the home game against Crosshills B was called off by Crosshills due to shortage of players.

Keighley A (198) moved into second spot after two 8-4 wins, away at Settle A and at home to Silsden.

Crosshills A (195) suffered a 9-3 loss at Silsden, but picked up a 11-1 home win over Colne Legion A to slip into third place.

Colne Cricket Club (182) lost at Devon A 9-3 and won at home 10-2 at home to Gargrave A.

Barry Driver, who was the only unbeaten player in the league before last week, suffered two defeats.

Lund Park A look on course for the James Pye and Son Second Division. They won their only game 8-4 away at Rolls Royce to give them 185 points, a lead of 13 over Devon B with a game in hand.

Devon B (172) got past Cononley B into second place, with an 8-4 loss at Keighley B, then a 9-3 home win over Addingham A.

Cononley B (169) won 7-5 at home to Whinfield A then called off the match at Lund Park A to leave them in third with a game in hand on Devon B.

Sutton B(165) had a good week with a 9-3 win at Lund Park B and a 10-2 home win over Whinfield B moving them into fourth place.

The Skipton Building Society Third Division saw Broughton Road B take top spot, a 8-2 home win over Sutton C followed by a 7-3 win at Gargrave C, put them on 171 points.

Grassington (170) had just one game winning 7-3 at Settle B are now in second place but have a game in hand.

Steeton B (154) secured third place with a 9-1 home win over Settle B and a 7-3 win at Addingham B.

Roy “Rocky” Stephenson, best known for his great form at Whinfield Bowling Club, has died.

He was a renowned short mark bowler which suited the Whinfield green when it was very quick and difficult

He moved to Devon for his later years and still bowled his 20 metre straight marks, which had folk wondering how they could be getting beat on such a simple little mark.

Roy will be missed by his many friends in the Skipton League.