Busy time for Waverley bowler Gary Starks in National Championship finals – Portsmouth & District area round-up

That followed their success in the County Championships and Bowls England competitions.

The most successful were the Men’s Pair of Gary Starks and Danny Smith (Southsea Waverley).

John Biggs should have been partnering Gary, but his son had set his wedding date for when the Men’s Pairs were going to be played, so Smith played as a substitute (a role he had also filled during the early rounds).

The pair had a bye in the preliminary round before wins against a pair from Hertfordshire (21-8) and a pair from Oxfordshire (17-15).

Starks and Smith’s run was ended in the quarter-finals when they agonisingly lost by one shot, 16-15, to a pair from Warwickshire.

Molly Firth and Keira Patel (Milton Park Ladies BC) competed in the Junior (Under 25) Pairs event.

They beat a pair from Bedfordshire 24-6 before losing their second round tie 20-10 to a Hertfordshire pair.

All the other Portsmouth & District area bowlers lost in the first matches they played.

*In the Ladies Triples, Rosemary Bailey, Sheena Mack and Sandy Pullin (Fareham BC) lost their preliminary round match 25-9 to a Suffolk trio.

*In the Men’s Triples, Bryan Cherry, Tony Hall and David Brown (Milton Park BC) were beaten 21-16 in the first round by a Gloucester trio. However, they did have the privilege of playing on the rink used in the televised Commonwealth Games finals!

*In the Men’s Pairs, Steve Smith and Adrian Snook (Priory BC) lost their first round match 18-12 to a Hertfordshire pair.

*In the Ladies Pairs, Joan Dawkins and Caroline Cuerden (Lee-on-the-Solent BC) lost their preliminary round match 29-8 to a Suffolk pairing.

*In the Ladies Junior Singles, Molly Firth - making her second appearance of the finals fortnight - lost 21-8 in the preliminary round to a Kent opponent.

*In the Men’s Junior Singles, Alfie Smith (Portsmouth Water BC) lost his first round match 21-15 to a Cumbrian opponent.

The last weekend of the National Finals was a busy time for Gary Starks.

First, he was paired with Tina Chambers (Milton Park Ladies BC) in the Mixed Pairs. After reaching Leamington via wins against pairs from Surrey and Sussex, they lost their quarter-final 20-14 to a Northumberland pair

Starks’ final appearance was as a member of Hampshire’s Balcomb Trophy team that had reached the semi-finals for the second year running.

Starks played skip in Hampshire’s second rink (the Balcomb Trophy is a National County 2Rink competition).

To get there, Hampshire had beaten the Isle of Wight 43-37 in the area round, meaning they had reached the regional finals.

In the regional semi, Hampshire beat Kent 37-28 and then defeated Berkshire 42-36 in the regional final to progress to the National Finals. There they were beaten 42-32 by Yorkshire.