NATIONAL FINALS – Singles, Pairs, Triples & Fours
ESMBA National Finals – March 30 – April 2
SINGLES (Thursday) 11 ends
David & Joseph Newsome Lee & Bronagh Toleman
A great start with all 4 through the round robin and into the last 32 where David then fell to Richard Jeffrey (West Sussex1) by 8-12. The other three went through after Joseph dispatched Josh Hale (West Midlands1) 16-5, Lee saw off Mark Breame (Humberside2) 13-7 and Bronagh overcame Aaron Claire (Northants1) 14-5. In the last 16 Joseph and Lee’s challenge faltered and they went down respectively to John Mills (Hereford1) 5-14 and Alex Kley (Dorset1) 5-15. Quarter Finals now and Bronagh was left waving the North Yorkshire flag. However she was up against the 2022 champion Alex Kley who had just knocked out Lee and (metaphorically) had tasted Toleman “blood” and seemed to want more, finally bringing Bronagh’s excellent challenge to an end by 11-1. Well done to all four in what is the toughest and most draining of all disciplines and where there are definitely no easy matches.
Alex then went on to win his Semi Final against Matt Sifford (Essex1) by 10-5 and the Final against Neil Rixon (Hertfordshire1) by 11-4 to retain his National Singles crown.
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PAIRS (Friday) 10 ends
Ben Render & Danny Langdon Bronagh & Lee Toleman
James Clark & Danielle Newsome Steve Packer & Steve Duffin
In the round robin. a single win was not enough for James & Danielle to progress further. The other three pairs however did enough with 3 wins for the Tolemans (7-5, 12-3, 10-5) , 2 wins for the Steves (8-14, 10-9, 10-3) and 2 wins for Ben & Danny (10-8, 9-10 and 10-8 – Phew!). In the last 32 Ben/Danny then went out to William Clarke/Emily Weaver (West Midlands2) by 8-10 whilst the Steves squeezed though 6-5 against Mikey Ivings/James Trott (Devon1) as did the Tolemans against Tom Gardiner/Les Grey (Oxford2) 9-8. In the last 16, Bronagh/Lee had another win 12-8 against top Essex pair Craig Burgess/Mitchell Young (Essex1). The Steves meanwhile squeezed through again, this time 9-8 against Jack Knight/EmilyThomas (Dorset2). So to the Quarter Finals where the two North Yorkshire Pairs found themselves drawn against each other (it had to happen sooner or later!) A tight game ensued but it was disappointment for the Steves as the Tolemans snook in with an 8-7 win. In their Semi, Lee and Bronagh could not keep the momentum going and fell to Ryan Knight/Saul Featherstone (Gloucester1) by 2-9 thus ending a valiant effort over a long day.
The Gloucester Pair then went on to win the Final against Greater Manchester father/son Peter and Steven Roberts by 7-5.
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FOURS (Saturday) 8 ends
Bronagh & Lee Toleman, Danny Langdon and Callum Malone
Steve Packer, Ben Render, Steve Duffin and David Newsome
Roger Green, Debbie Taylor, Paul Johnsons and John Walker
Bronagh & Co. reached the knockouts after 2 wins against Hereford1 (6-4) and Derbyshire1 (18-2) and a draw against Cornwall3 (7-7). Roger’s four were delighted to start well with a 13-5 win against Cornwall1 (who had beaten them substantially in the Mixed Fours finals a few weeks ago) but then they were brought down to earth with a 1-24 thrashing by Essex3. In their final game against Humberside1 they had chances but finally went down 4-7. Steve Packer’s team looked very strong on paper and they won their first game against Cheshire3 by 10-6. However they were unable to overcome Kent1 or Dorset1 and lost both 4-10 and 3-10 respectively. Once again it was the North Bay team who kept the North Yorkshire flag flying.
A 1 shot defeat of West Sussex3 by 8-7 took them into the last 16 where they met Dorset2, a team containing their nemesis from Thursdays Singles, Alex Kley. The score was again 8-7 but this time against them so their Fours challenge finally came to an end.
(Note the winners were the West Midlands team of Ross Dunkley, Craig Strong, Adam Easthope and John Pitcher. This was their 5th win in the last 6 years – quite a record.)
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TRIPLES (Sunday) 9 ends
Bronagh & Lee Toleman and Lawrence Moffat; Ben Render, Joanne Senior and Danny Langdon
David, Joseph & Jill Newsome; Peter Sayer, Jonathan Dawson and Roger Green
The last of this years National Finals so how would our 4 teams perform?
In the round robin, the Newsomes started with a 5-14 loss against Hampshire1 but followed up with an 11-4 win over Devon4. Their final match against Norfolk1 was a cliffhanger with David drawing a perfectly weighted wood in for a match lie with his last wood. However, Norfolk1’s skip, Chris Willies, responded with a superb running wood to clip David away, claim 2 shots and win 7-6. Ben’s trio also lost their first match to Humberside2 by 3-12 but won their second against West Sussex3 by 13-5. Their last match was lost to Gloucester4 by 7-11. Pete and Co. were just totally outplayed by Hampshire2 who won 14-3 and in their second game against Suffolk3 they went down 4-17 having picked up a 4 on the last end to save a whitewash. Not deterred, they came back in their final match winning 14-4 against Cambridge1. The North Bay trio again showed their class winning all 3 of their matches, 14-9 (West Midlands1), 13-5 (West Sussex4) and 14-4 (Kent2).
In the knockout stages, they started with a 15-5 win over Norfolk1 (the Newsome’s nemesis – see above) followed by a 10-7 defeat of Devon3 to reach the Quarter Final. Could they keep going to the end to repeat their 2020 success when they last took the title?
A 9-4 defeat of Cheshire2 was then followed by a 9-8 dismissal of Cheshire2 to take them into the Final against Hampshire 3. Watched by millions on the ESMBA’s FaceBook stream, a thrilling match ensued. They had to work hard and a couple of critical saves by Lee were required to get them to the final end just 1 shot ahead. A long jack was to be expected but the first 5 shots were all missed so, with nothing on the mat, Lawrence decided he had better draw. Lee’s final wood then looked a winner sitting in front of the jack with no opposition woods behind. Hampshire had no option but to fire and all woods were scattered. When the dust had settled Lee and Co. were absolutely delighted that their wood was still counting to give them a 7-5 victory. Excellent stuff team and a deserved reward after a weekend of near misses in the other disciplines. Many congratulations.
Lawrence, Lee and Bronagh – 2023 National Triples Champions
Note that this is actually Lee’s fifth National Triples title (2005, 2007, 2014, 2020, 2023) and Bronagh’s 3rd (2014, 2020 and 2023). A very fine record indeed.
