THIRD ANNUAL AUSTRALIAN PAIRS TOURNAMENT        

The third annual Australian pairs tournament took place at the Alvor Club during the week Monday 29th March ~ Saturday 3rd April, 2010. The tournament has gone from strength to strength each year and has become extremely popular and is undoubtedly now one of the most prestigious tournaments in the Algarve bowling calendar. This year saw entries from England, Holland and Jersey, as well as a healthy local entry, 32 pairs in all competing for 3,000 euros prize fund. The unusual and interesting feature of Australian pairs is that both players have to alternately play skip and lead, so a good all round game and good teamwork are essential to success.

The competition is based upon eight groups of four teams playing each other on a round robin basis. Each team playing qualifying matches on the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, the top two from each group to qualify for the last 16. Losing pairs going into the attractive plate competition starting on the Thursday. Despite a very wet Monday morning, the weather improved throughout the week and spectators were treated to some excellent bowling on a very fast, swinging green. By Wednesday night, the sixteen qualifiers were known and these did battle on Thursday morning for a coveted place in the quarter finals on Friday morning.

The draw for the quarter finals was an International affair, with Chris Reynolds (Lindfield, England) and Janice Clarke (PDF, Portugal) paired with John and Sheila Currall from the local Alvor Club; Colin Skinner and Terry Ewart from Essex, England were up against Saskia Schaft and Jan Reinders from Holland; Alan and Frances Reynolds (Alvor) played Terry Hughes (Lindfield) and Malcolm Peters (Alvor) and in the fourth quarter final, Alan Clarke (Alvor) and Ian Watson (Lindfield) took on Geoff and Liz Cole from Jersey. After some tense and close encounters the Reynolds/Clarke, Ewart/Skinner, Reynolds/Reynolds and Clarke/Watson combinations emerged victorious and went through to the semi finals on the Saturday morning. Chris and Janice were running into top form and beat Alan and Frances Reynolds by 27-10 to go through to the grand final. The other semi final was probably the best match of the tournament and saw Alan and Ian defeat Terry and Colin by 21-18 in a most absorbing,skillful and close meeting.

The final was a more tense affair, not helped by a gusty wind across the green. It was made more interesting in that all four competitors hail from the same Sussex club (Lindfield). Eventually the match finished all square 14-14 after eighteen ends of play. A gripping extra end saw Alan and Ian squeeze through to take the title, having been losing semi - finalists last year.

The Plate competition started on Thursday and offered another opportunity to win a title and some worthwhile prize money also. The sixteen non-qualifiers were joined by the eight losing last sixteeners to make up the 24 entries. Each pair played three matches of 12 ends each, the four pairs with the best record going through to the semi - finals on Saturday. After some more good bowling and a few surprising results, Pat Derouane and Sheila Rapsey met Vince Cresswell and Mike Browning (all from Alvor) in one semi, whilst Joan Worrall and John Cooke met last years' overall winners Mike and Catherine Webb in the other. Pat and Sheila won through 17-12 and Mike and Catherine won 21-7 to qualify for the plate final over 15 ends. Another close encounter also required an extra end to decide the outcome, Mike and Catherine eventually winning by 16-15 to take the Plate.

Thanks to Connie and staff at the Alvor Club for the excellent catering and service throughout the week and for preparing such a marvellous green to play on. After the presentations and photos, thoughts turn already to next year, which promises to be a bigger and better event. It is hoped to expand the entry to allow more pairs to take part in this very popular and competitive international tournament, whilst never losing sight of the essentially social and friendly nature of the game of bowls.    

Alan Clarke
for the Alvor Club