By Stephen Helliwell
Paul Gill and Joe Bray, of Clayton, won the Sowerby Bridge Association’s Alan and Betty Brow Open Pairs, sponsored by Phillip Brown and Susan Harrison at Hill Crest on Sunday. They defeated Glenn McCafferty and Simon Page, of Asa Briggs, by 15-10 in the final.
Gill and Bray came through the early rounds comfortably, winning 15-7 and 15-3 to win a place in the quarter-finals. There they faced Julie Marsden and Brian Hildred, maintaining their earlier form to lead by 11-2 before winning by 15-7. Their semi-final, against the Elland C.A. & B.C pair of Steve Lowther and Nigel Mitchel followed a similar pattern, converting a 9-3 lead into 15-7 victory.
Page and McCafferty made a similar start with two comfortable 15-9 victories before meetin
g home bowlers Bob and Beckie Woodhead in the quarter- final. After trading singles from the first two ends, the Asa Briggs duo raced ahead with a break of 12, going on to win by 15-5. They took an early 6-0 lead in their semi-final against Aaron Bottomley and Mark Simpson, of Elland WMC and, although their opponents recovered to finish on 10, they went on to claim their place in the final by 15-10.
In the final, Gill and Bray seemed to be heading for a runaway victory as they won six of the first seven ends to lead by 12-1. When McCafferty and Page eventually won the jack they made immediate inroads into the deficit, winning the next three ends to reduce the gap to five at 7-12. Two singles took Hill and Bray to all-but and after another brief rally by McCafferty and Page to reach 10, a single from the final end secured the title for the Clayton pair.
Quarter-final scores: S. Lowther/N. Mitchell 15 J. & B. Halliday 10; P. Gill J. Bray 15 J. Marsden/B. Hildred 7; S. Page/G. McCafferty 15
B. & B. Woodhead 5; A. Bottomley/ M. Simpson 15 P. Woodhead/M. Bowe.