Report By Craig Carlson, Dover & Deal Competition Secretary 

 

Sunday 8th May was Kent Knockouts day, hosted by the Alma pub in Deal.  There were four main competitions - the Alternate Rules Singles, Kent Pairs, Over
50s and Under 22s - with Plate competitions for first round losers in the Alternate Rules, Pairs and Over 50s.

The Alternate Rules Singles were played using triangles, and all shots from off the spot.  The semi-finals featured two Dover & Deal vs Medway ties, and the local players emerged triumphant in both, as Kevin Pringle defeated Jackie Peckham and Alan Farra beat Kent chairman Dave May.  In the final, Kevin Pringle did enough to edge Alan Farra to take the title.

The Kent Pairs semi-final line-up saw three of the same teams as last year, with similar results.  In a replay of one year ago, Mike Callanan & Chris Saville played Steve Purkiss & Gary Speller.  In the first leg, Speller ran-out the table with a 14.5k break, with Callanan potting the final ball down the 100.  Saville took the break in the second, and handled the pressure well to play the table out with 15.5k and a final berth, with the unlucky Purkiss a spectator throughout. 
The other semi saw Russell Milford and Garry Newman beat Craig Carlson & Derek Latham, the victors outscoring their opponents in both legs.  This is the second successive year Carlson & Latham have lost at that stage.  In the final, Callanan & Saville continued their good form the beat Milford & Newman and successfully defend their title.

The Over 50s semi-final saw Mike Callanan beat Alan Farra and Garry Newman defeat Alan Smith, to set up another final clash between Callanan and Newman.  In the event, Callanan again emerged victorious as he denied a Medway victory again.

The Under 22s saw a close fought competition, with the finishing order identical to a year ago, with first Phillip Skillen, second Nick Wren and third Anthony Skillen.

The Plate competitions saw further success for Dover & Deal players, but also saw Medway break the local sweep of the titles.  The Alternative Rules Plate semis saw Derek Latham eliminate Nick Wren and Craig Carlson beat Chris Gent, setting up not only an all Dover & Deal final, but also an all Market Inn, Sandwich final.  In a fairly high-scoring (for alternate rules) final, Carlson beat Latham 2,200-1,600.

The Kent Pairs Plate semis pitted an all Dover & Deal clash and an all Medway clash.  In a shock result, the Dover & Deal match went to Rick Cowdrey & Paul Garlinge as they defeated the Kent Pairs champions from two years ago, Alan Farra & Daniel Jackson.  The Medway match went to Gerry Peckham & Jackie Packham as they beat Les Earl & Liz Earl.  In the final, the Peckhams defeated Cowdrey & Garlinge to hoist the Medway flag.

In the Over 50s Plate semi-finals, Kevin Pringle defeated Jean Baker, and Ann Keen knocked-out John Richardson.  Keen played well in the final and took the trophy after out-scoring Pringle in both legs.

B Interleague
The previous day, the Dover & Deal team began an extremely successful weekend for the local players to win the B Interleague.  The team of Craig Carlson (capt), Mark Graves, John Higgens, Ted Hogben, Daniel Jackson, Steve Lake, Derek Latham and Roger Oldfield won all their four matches, with Graves, Higgens and Oldfield maintaining 100% records.