Smith stars in singles as titles head North

"North East bowls received a major boost as two national titles returned north as the national championships came to a close at Nottingham.

Former Sunderland star Gary Smith erased the disappointment of losing the National Singles title eight years ago 21-20 by going one step further to lift this year's title.

Now playing out of Stanley, the 46 year old opened up his title charge with an impressive 21-5 win over Carterton's Andy Wise before defeating Newquay's Duncan Hayne 21-13 to set up a quarter final against Lincoln's current England international Billy Jackson.

A 21-12 win over Jackson set up a semi-final tie against Wellingborough's Paul Broderick, and, at one stage looked in trouble when trailing 16-9. But he showed his class and fought back to 18-18 before clinching a second singles final appearance with a 21-18 win.

In the final Smith faced another local bowler in Hartlepool's Glenn Skipp and both players produced some quality bowls. But it was the relentless stream of draw bowls by Smith which set up a magnificent 21-12 win.

Smith will now represent England at next year's British Isles Championships.

The second title to return North was the Liberyt Trophy after Durham defeated holders Hampshire 133-99 to clinch the title for the ninth time.

The early exchanges went to Hampshire as they led 26-24 after five ends but, over the next set of five ends, a Durham surge saw them collect a 37-17 return to lead 61-43 and they never looked back.

By the 15th end, Durham's lead was 21 shots and by the 18th it was still 20 and the writing was on the wall for the holders.

Out of the six rinks, Durham returned four winning cards. Robert Chisholm's quartet fought back from 14-6 down to sneak an 18-17 win and even had to withstand a 20 minute lighting failure on their rink.

David Bolt's rink, which included Sunderland's Wayne Funnell at second, eased to a 27-13 win while Gary Smith fresh from his singles success, cruised to a 26-11 win.

Durham's most capped player John Thurlbeck in his 85th appearance, recorded a 26-11 win while Glenn Skipp went down 23-21 and Andrew Kirtland went down 24-15.

With another influx of players defecting from Yorkshire and Northumberland expected during the summer months, this young talented Durham squad could go on to dominate this competition for many years to come".

Richard Mckie
Bowls Notes, Sunderland Echo
Saturday, 19th April 2008