South Ramsey hosted the first crown green bowls open competition of the 2021 season, with the Jim Senior any combination doubles attracting 74 players on Sunday.

The green was in superb condition, with the weather once again being kind.

The quarter-finals had the father/son pairing of Colin Kelly (Marown) and Tom Kelly (Peel) seeing off clubmates Walter McCarthy and Darren Kerruish of Marown 21-7.

Castletown’s Sam Clague and Bob Clark ended the excellent run of juniors Alex Hampson (Noble’s) and Ryan Hargraves (South Ramsey) with a 21-10 win. The two 12-year-olds gave a good account of themselves and will be a pairing to watch out for in the future.

Losing out 6-21 were Alison Kearsley (Marown) and Nathan Cooil (Castletown) to home greeners David Bradford and Glynn Hargraves, while Derek and Lynda Cadamy lost out 10-21 to Stefan Kelly (South Ramsey) and Jordan Cain (Onchan).

In the first semi-final Clague/Clark battled well before losing out 19-21 to the Kellys, while in the other Kelly/Cain never really got going, losing out 13-21 to Bradford/Hargraves.

The final began with daylight slipping away, and the father and son duo winning the first four ends to take a 13-4 lead - scoring big with a four and a three to get off to a flier with Colin leading well at the front.

Bradford and Hargraves responded, winning the next four ends to pull the score back to 9-13 and were lying three - only for Tom to play a great length bowl on a long mark to maintain a strong lead and go 14-9 ahead.

From there, Colin and Tom stretched their lead out to 19-12 after picking up a crucial three on the 13th end - with Tom doing the damage at the back with Bradford lying one on.

Tom played the counting bowl out to lie two, compounding the damage by playing a good second bowl to count for three, followed by a single on the next end.

Bradford and Hargraves weren’t done there, scoring two doubles and a single over the next three ends to get the score back to 17-19.

Colin Kelly then played a good second bowl, which wasn’t beaten. The win was secured on the next end when Tom once again did the damage to secure the win and the £200 first prize to the winners.

Competition secretary Kim Hargraves thanked IPS Admin for sponsoring the event, club members who helped and the team that provided.

James Teare from IPS Admin presented the prizes with over £500 paid out.

In his speech, Tom Kelly thanked South Ramsey for holding the competition and added that the green was superb.