Sunday 01 Sep 2019 at 8:00 am - 6:00 pm
Regional Doubles 2019
20 teams from across the Southern Counties Region made the journey to Lancing to battle it out to become the 2019 Regional Doubles Champions. Four teams included players from Handcross: John and Bill were the only complete Handcross team; Justin played with Bernie Miles (Cobbetts); Tony partnered Alex Hepburn (River Hamble) and Liam competed with junior Marc Franco-Llado (Cobbetts), Liam and Marc only pairing up on the Thursday before the competition would become the eventual doubles champions.
In the morning the 20 teams were randomly drawn into 5 groups to complete for places in the Gold, Silver and Bronze knockout competitions in the afternoon. Liam and Marc's first opponents were a couple from Fareham who, after winning the toss, decided to play the two lads on the bottom smoother terrain. The game was a closely fought contests with Liam and Marc eventually running out winners. The new pairing meant that Liam was in the unfamiliar position of being the shooter in the pairing with Marc being an excellent pointer himself. Having only ever played together once in the Inter-Regional Junior Championship the pairing took the first game to bond together. In the second and third group games the lads were now playing with a swagger about the play, bantering and having fun with each other. Having won the toss before the start of both games the boys decided to play on the top more testing terrain of the Adur piste. The testing terrain required lob pointing and boule to boule shooting in order to prevail. Marc was exceptional all day with his lob pointing consistently being close to the jack and Liam supported him with some good shots through the day. The lads were now into their stride and confidently won there remaining two group games meaning they were top of the league and guaranteed a position in the Gold.
After a lengthy lunch break it may have been expected for the lads to have a slow start to the knockout competition. However, this was not the case with the lads winning 13-0 in 4 ends and spirits being high between the pair. On to the semi final and it would be a familiar opposition for the pairing as they played one of the teams they had previously beaten in the morning league. This time the game was played on the bottom terrain and it was a much closer affair, but the lads eventually managed to get over the line and reach the final. After losing the toss for the final their opponents took the lads to the very top terrain which consists of large thick rocks and the lads hadn’t previously played here. The final started off very badly for the team as they went 11-0 behind and any chance of winning looked slim to none. However, with any pressure on the two boys now seeming to have disappeared the lads started playing with a freedom in their arms and managed to somehow turn the game around and become the eventual regional doubles champions. It was both of the young lads' first ever regional championship and hopefully many more will follow for both players.
(Liam Kidd)