THE culmination of the 2010 Grimsby Open Bowls Tournament provided some high quality games on Finals Day.

At the beginning of the day local players had an interest in all four competitions but, in contrast to June's Cleethorpes Open when all the titles were won by local players, only one of the four titles was taken by a player from the area.

First up on on finals day was the Rinks of Three competition and the first of the 18-end semi-finals saw previous semi-finalists Ernie Elkington, Neil Salmon and Lou Rice (Friskney BC) play last year's runners-up from Lincoln, Ted and Iris Coulson and Kevin Lewis (Eagle BC).

The Coulson's, having also booked a place in the Open Pairs semi-finals, opened the game strongly collecting four shots on consecutive ends to lead 12-1 after four ends.

Elkington, Salmon and Rice came back with 1:5:1 to trail 8-12 before the Coulson's and Lewis took 2:1 to lead 15-8 at the halfway stage.

After 15 ends, Elkington, Salmon and Rice had pulled back to trail 14-17 and continued their comeback by taking 2:1:1 on the last three ends to secure a place in the final by 18-17.

The second semi-final brought the 2006 title holder Harold Dixon, this year partnered by Tony Hebblewhite and Tony Gaytor (Goxhill/ Cemex BCs), against tournament regulars from Newark Robin Wallwin, John Wood and Chris Fry (Farndon BC) making it through to their first finals day appearance.

The first-half of the game was close with the Goxhill triple leading 8-7 after 10 ends.

Taking 1:-1:4:1 from the next four ends Dixon, Hebblewhite and Gaytor led 14-8.

The Farndon triple countered with four shots on the 15th end (12-14) before Dixon, Hebblewhite and Gaytor took 5:2 to book their place in the final by 21-12.

The final was played over 21 ends and was a highly entertaining finale to the competition played by two triples in top form.

After nine ends, the scores were level at six all and after 12 ends there was still nothing to separate the triples at eight apiece.

After 15 ends, Elkington, Salmon and Rice had established a 12-8 lead before Dixon, Hebblewhite and Gaytor took three shots to trail 12-11.

Having taken the mat on the 17th end with a single shot (13-11) Elkington, Salmon and Rice collected shots from the next three ends (1:2:2) to build an unassailable 18-11 score line and claim the 2010 title after a tense quality game.

The third/fourth place play-off was played over 18 ends and was one of the closest games of the day.

Wallwin, Wood and Fry took an early 7-2 lead after six ends but after the 12th end, scores were level at eight all.

Taking 1:2:2 from the next three ends, the Coulson's and Lewis took a 13-8 lead which they managed to hold in spite of the Farndon triple scoring on the last three ends (1:2:1).

It was not enough to stop the Eagle BC triple taking third place by 13-12.

Last year in the Mixed Pairs competition, Caroline Cullum and husband David (Kingsway Printers BC) took the title in a close encounter with David Rutt and Eva Dayes (Market Weighton BC) – holders of the title in 2007 and runners-up in both the 2009 Cleethorpes and Grimsby tournaments.

This year the draw brought the pairs together at the semi-final stage with Caroline Cullum partnered by father Gordon Peck, the pair having held the Cleethorpes Open title twice in recent years.

After 10 ends of the 21-end game, Rutt and Dayes had a 17-5 lead before Cullum and Peck produced some of their best bowls in the game taking points from five consecutive ends to pull back to 12-17.

The early scoring by Rutt and Dayes, however, proved decisive as points were shared from the next five ends to give Rutt and Dayes a 21-15 victory and a place in the afternoon's final.

The second semi-final brought the local pairing of Dave and Gwen Jarrett (Vikings BC) – making their first appearance at finals day – up against the mother and son pairing from Lincoln, Anita and Colin Barks (Eagle BC) who were 2006 runners-up and previous joint holders of the Player of the Tournament title.

The experienced Eagle BC pair took control of the first half of the game scoring from seven of the first nine ends to lead 14-3.

The Jarrett's, however, began to find the form which had brought them through the earlier rounds and came back strongly over the next eight ends to trail 13-16 after 17 ends.

The Vikings pair's fight-back was halted on the 18th end when the Bark's took a maximum four shots followed by three shots on the 19th end to record a 23-13 score and book their place in the final.

The final brought together two of the most consistent pairs in recent years.

Rutt and Dayes were attempting to go one better than last year's runners-up place, while Anita and Colin Barks had been runners-up in 2006.

After five ends, the Bark's had opened a 4-1 lead but Rutt and Dayes turned the score in their favour over the next five ends to lead 8-4 after 10 ends.

After the next six ends, the Barks had fought back to hold an 11-10 lead and after 19 ends still held a narrow 13-12 lead.

The last two ends however saw Rutt and Dayes come from behind to take 3:1 and claim the title for the second time by a 16-13 margin in what had been a top quality final.

The local pairs of Cullum and Peck and the Jarrett's played a highly competitive 21-end game to decide the third and fourth places.

After 11 ends, the Jarrett's held a 10-7 lead before Cullum and Peck turned what proved to be the decisive part of the game in their favour collecting 2:3:3 to lead 15-10.

The Jarrett's came back over the next six ends to level the scores at 17 each after 20 ends but were unable to stop Cullum and Peck on the final end as the Kingsway Printers pair collected two shots and third place by the narrowest of 19-17 margins.

More reports later in the week

RESULTS

RINKS OF THREE COMPETITION

Semi-finals: Ernie Elkington, Neil Salmon & Lou Rice – Hucknell (Friskney BC) 18-17 Ted & Iris Coulson & Kevin Lewis – Lincoln (Eagle BC); Robin Wallwin, John Wood & Chris Fry – Newark (Farndon BC) 12-21 Harold Dixon, Tony Hebblewhite & Tony Gaytor – Goxhill (Goxhill/Cemex BCs).

Final: Ernie Elkington, Neil Salmon & Lou Rice 18-11 Harold Dixon, Tony Hebblewhite & Tony Gaytor.

Third/fourth play-off: Ted and Iris Coulson and Kevin Lewis 13-12 Robin Wallwin, John Wood and Chris Fry.

MIXED PAIRS COMPETITION

Semi-finals: Caroline Cullum and Gordon Peck – Waltham (Kingsway Printers BC) 15-21 David Rutt and Eva Dayes – Brough (Market Weighton BC); Dave and Gwen Jarrett – Grimsby (Vikings BC) 13-23 Anita and Colin Barks – Lincoln (Eagle BC).

Final: David Rutt and Eva Dayes 16-13 Anita and Colin Barks.

Third/fourth play-off: Caroline Cullum and Gordon Peck 19-17 Dave and Gwen Jarrett.

OPEN PAIRS COMPETITION

Semi-finals: Bob Stevens and Janet Eames – Bilsthorpe (Bilsthorpe/Longden Terrace BCs) 24-10 Ted Marsh and Ian Ransby – Retford (Ordsall BC); Tracy and Simon Dent – Grimsby (Clee BC) 10-17 Ted and Iris Coulson – Lincoln (Eagle BC).

Final: Bob Stevens and Janet Eames 21-16 Ted and Iris Coulson.

Third/fourth play-off: Ted Marsh and Ian Ransby 15-16 Tracy and Simon Dent.

SINGLES COMPETITION

Semi-finals: Jonathan Darley Grimsby (Clee BC) 15-9 Simon Dent Grimsby (Clee BC); Tony Hebblewhite – Barrow on Humber (Goxhill BC) 13-14 Tim Winter (West Park BC).

Final: Jonathan Darley 21-18 Tim Winter.