Watton Expendables hosted the Bure Pairs Championship night where the presence of Bob Carter’s defending champions Morgan Warnes and Gary Best and their Carter and England teammates Jack & AJ Pye were expected to see the two pairs dominate proceedings. By the end of the evening these illustrious two pairs had indeed collected the winners and runners-up prizes but in between the evening produced a couple of shock results that left four of the pairs still in contention as the final session was played out. The first session saw Jack & AJ Pye stroll majestically to a 9-1 win against Halvergate’s Ryan Fox & Matthew Mills while Joy Townsend & Robin Amos of Watton Expendables produced a 5-2 win against Hevingham’s Steve & Val Easter. The second session saw defending champions Morgan Warnes & Gary Best in action where they won their opening game by 5-3 against the Expendables pairing while the Easters of Hevingham suffered their second defeat, a 10-4 loss against Ryan Fox & Matthew Mills of Halvergate. This would prove to be the Halvergate pairings only win on the night while the Easter’s were disappointed to lose the second of the two games they had targeted as potentially winnable before facing the big guns of Bob Carter in the second half. The third session, the last before the break, saw what had been seen as the big clash of the night between the Bob Carter pairs. The Pyes drew first blood with two shots on the first end but Warnes & Best hit back with four shots on the second end. With two ends to go the score was level at 4-4 before Morgan Warnes & Gary Best took three shots on the penultimate end to take a 7-4 lead into the last end and looked to be on their way to a vital win. But AJ Pye & Jack Pye had other ideas as they produced some superb bowls to take a huge count of five on the final end to win a hugely entertaining game by 9-7. On the other mat Townsend & Amos kept themselves in contention with a 7-3 win against Halvergate with Joy Townsend putting in a very effective performance at lead on their home mats. At the break it looked like it would now be plain sailing for the Pyes, having defeated their England teammates, but the second half sprang into life as Steve & Val Easter turned the formbook upside down in the fourth session with an amazing performance against AJ & Jack Pye. On the opening end they collected a massive count of five shots and continued to pressurize their opponents with Steve Easter playing superbly at lead and Val Easter playing a number of significant shots. With one end to go the Hevingham pair led the Pyes by 8-2 and restricted the Carter pair to three shots on the final end to record a notable 8-5 win. On mat number 2 Morgan Warnes & Gary Best realized that the proceedings on the other mat would provide them with an unexpected lifeline in their quest to retain the Bure Pairs title and took full advantage defeating the Halvergate pair by 9-2. With one session remaining the Carter pairs were tied on four points each and both had a shot difference of +7. The Expendables pair also had four points and just behind them with a +5 shot difference. The Hevingham pair now had two points but with a shot difference of -6 and with the defending champions of Warnes & Best still to play Hevingham’s chances looked minimal. But having found themselves surprisingly back in contention Morgan Warnes & Gary Best found the Hevingham pairing of Steve & Val Easter the same serious obstacle to their ambitions as the Pyes had encountered in the previous round. Despite taking a 2-0 lead on the opening end the defending champions found themselves trailing by 6-3 to the Easters with an end to go and could only muster two more shots leaving Hevingham with a 6-5 win and another major scalp. On mat number 2 Jack & AJ Pye were in full control of the game against Watton Expendables, and also fully aware of the heroics of the Easters on mat 1 against their main rivals, and put in a classy and professional performance winning the game by 12-3 and lifting the title with 6 points and +16 shots. This left Morgan Warnes & Gary Best as runners-up with 4 points and +6 shots. Two more pairs also finished on 4 points with Townsend & Amos on -4 shots and the Easters on -5 shots. It proved a difficult night for the undoubtedly talented young Halvergate pairing of Ryan Fox & Matthew Mills who finished with 2 points and -13 shots despite playing some good bowls but losing their way during a very competitive evening of bowling. At the end of the day, as expected, the highly skilled and silky talents of the hugely successful England internationals shone through but the Hevingham pair will long look back on the night when they faced four of England’s greatest current crop of players and beat them. It will certainly be a night to remember for them as they briefly threatened to upset the applecart with their brave performances. The Presentation Ceremony was conducted by Bure League Chairman Selwyn Goldsmith with the prizes presented by Bure League Treasurer Elaine Willies. The Chairman thanked Watton Expendables for hosting the final.
AJ & Jack Pye are the new Bure Pairs Champions
Gary Best and Morgan Warnes of Bob Carter finished as runners-up
Hevingham's Steve and Val Easter scored two wins they will remember