Page 8 - Spring 2012

British Isles 5:Layout 1 16/05/2012 09:17 Page 1

8 TRIPLES CHAMPIONS ENGLAND ENGLAND WIN

THE TRIPLES TITLE
England’s Darren Beardmore, Alan
Jones & Nick Tideswell opened their
account with a superb 25 - 8 victory
over Scotland after having raced to
a 17 - 2 lead over the first five ends
of their twelve end game. The
Welsh trio of Andrew Evans,
Jonathan Gladstone & Robert
Hughes started with a 13 - 7 victory
over the Isle-of-Man.
In the second round the Welsh
triple came upon the very good Irish
trio and this ended with a 19 - 3 demolition of Wales at the hands of Richard Martin, Derek J.
Wilson & Jonathan Wilson. In the other game of second round, the Scottish triple of Jock Black,
Wattie McTier & Yvonne Hiddleston bounced back from their opening defeat with a 17 - 4 win
over the Isle-of-Man.
The third round saw the Irish triple in great form again speeding away from 6 across with
13 shots over the closing four end for a 19 - 6 victory over Scotland. The English triple also sped
away from 6 across against the Isle-of-Man, taking six shots over the last three ends for a 12 -
6 win.
The fourth round threw up a cracking match between England and Wales that ended up
as a nine shots apiece draw. Wales led 7 - 3 after 7 ends but a four and two singles gave England
a 9 - 7 lead with two ends to go but the Welsh trio fought back with two singles to level the match
and share the points, although the Welsh trio actually won seven of the twelve ends. In the other
match of the round the Isle-of-Man came up with one of the shocks of the tournament, clipping
the wings of a good Irish trio. The IOM triple of Jayne Smith, Seamus Whelan & Josh French
surprised their Irish opponents by taking TRIPLES FINALISTS
a 6 - 0 lead after three ends but the Irish WALES
team fought back to level the match at 6
all. Back came the IOM with a three for
a 9 - 6 lead. The Irish then struck with
two two’s for a 10 - 9 lead but another
three gave the IOM a 12 - 10 lead. The
Irish trio fought hard but could only score
a single and thus suffered a huge shock
defeat by 12 shots to 11.
In the final round of triples event,
Ireland faced England next round. This
was a winner takes all match. If Ireland
beat England they would be the champions, if they failed then England would win. A titanic match
ensued and by end nine of the twelve end Ireland led 9 - 6. The English then scored a two and
a four for a 12 - 9 lead going into the last end and try as they might, Ireland could only score two
and went down 12 - 11 for the second successive match and England were the champions.
Wales the ensured their second place with a romping 32 - 2 victory over Scotland, having taken
a 32 - 0 lead at one point.
This was a special tournament for English Skip Darren Beardmore, who was a member of
the winning championship teams in 1992 and was glad he saw English winning again after such
a long time. Darren also won the Pairs event in 1997.