Cobbetts Open Doubles – Southern Counties Petanque

There were 26 teams for the Easter Sunday competition at Burridge and it was a relief to everyone that the weather stayed dry all day after the soaking at Bordon’s Good Friday triples.

After the morning leagues, there were 5 teams undefeated on 3 wins. Steve Daykin & Callum Lombard were seeded first with 3 wins +29. A draw was done which seeded Mike Porter & Ali Stubbs 2nd and Phil Bradshaw & Clive De Silva 3rd as they had both finished with +20. Other teams on 3 wins were Kate & Alan Douglas and Dave Kilshaw & Carrie Litchfield from Fareham. The unluckiest team were Steve & Karen Lombard who missed out on qualifying for the main competition to David Franco Cruz and his son Marc Franco Llado on ‘points for’ with both teams having 2 wins +14.

The afternoon knock-out saw some interesting clashes with Steve & Callum knocking out David & Marc in a close, hard fought match. The semi-final between Mike & Ali and Phil & Clive was evenly poised at 7-7 before the Anglo Welsh team pulled ahead to win. In the other semi-final Steve & Callum proved too strong for Kate & Alan.

Steve & Callum started off brilliantly in the final to take a 12-4 lead before Phil & Clive took control of the cochonnet and staged a magnificent comeback. At 11-12 they were within 1mm of winning. They had one point on the ground and a measure for a second to win the match but unfortunately for them the measure just went against them. The final end could have gone either way with Steve & Callum holding game on the ground but with Phil & Clive having the opportunity to shoot and win the game. A narrow miss saw Steve & Callum champions by the closest of margins. This gave Steve his 3rd successive Cobbetts Doubles success having won the trophy in the two previous years with Oscar Panadeo-Gimeno.

The final of the main consolage was won by the home club pairing of David & Marc who beat Paula Fauvel & Jackie Lee from Fareham.

Although Steve & Karen were unfortunate to be playing in the plate, this did give them the opportunity to defend the title they won last year. This was duly achieved with victory over Lee & Diane Redfern in the final. An all Cobbetts plate consolage final saw Dave Stubbs & Richard Greeves beat Sue Sandy & Steve Love.

The 10 team wooden spoon competition was run as a 3 game ‘snake’. It was won by Terry Rixon & Steve Brickell with an impressive points difference of +31 from their 3 wins. Runners-up were Val & Alan Samuel from Fareham also with 3 wins and +27.

Many thanks to Lyn Porter and her helpers in the kitchen, to those who ran the raffle and to those who donated prizes, in particular David Franco Cruz who contributed a splendid Easter cake that he had made himself.

Dave Stubbs