By Stephen Helliwell
Simon and Bev Clayton won the Halifax League’s Over 50s Mixed Pairs, sponsored by John Hamer and Pam Robinson, at West End on Sunday. They defeated Ian Crossland and Sandra Cooper by 15-7 in the final.
The Clayton’s made an impressive start to their first game, racing to a 14-0 lead against Terry and Cathie Ness before winning by 15-4. In their quarter-final, they trailed Geoff Jaskolski and Margaret Holt by 3-7 but recovered to lead by 9-8 and finished strongly to win by 15-13. Their semi-final opponents were Mark Holden and Trish Austin, who were ahead by 5-0 but could not score again as the Claytons ran away to a 15-5 victory.
Crossland and Cooper made an uncertain start to their opening game, falling behind by 1-7 to Steve Clifford and Marcia Crossley but dominated the rest of the game to win by 15-9. They trailed by 0-3 to John Hamer and Pam Robinson in their quarter-final but after fighting back to draw level at 7-7, went on to win by 15-8. In the semi-final they faced Alwyn and Muriel Guide, who held an early 4-1 lead. Crossland and Cooper again came back to level the scores at 8-8, then ran out to win by 15-8.
In the final, Crossland and Cooper edged the early exchanges to lead by 4-2. The Claytons responded to level the scores at 5-5 then put together a decisive break of seven to lead by 12-5 and restricted their opponents to only two further singles, claiming the title by 15-7.
Quarter-final scores: J. Hamer/P. Robinson 8 I Crossland 15; R. & P. Woodhead 6 A. & M. Guide 15; M. Holden/T. Austin15 J. & A. Horsley 3; G. Jaskolski/M. Holt 13 S. & B. Clayton 15.