GRAHAM Shadwell, from the Clarrie Dunbar club, was the most successful of the local bowlers who competed over the Easter weekend in the two Open Singles Circuit (OSC) tournaments, writes DAVE EATON.

He reached the semi-finals at Torquay (Devon) on Good Friday and Saturday while at Poole (Dorset) on Easter Sunday and Monday the Bailey’s Thelma and Keith missed out in the singles tournament but reached round four in the Dolphin Threes competition – a pairs event.

England international Shadwell, making a rare appearance on the OSC scene, won his first four games in Devon at the Torquay United tournament but then lost out in the semi-finals to home star and newly capped England U25 international Ryan Whitlock.

Despite the loss Shadwell had the consolation of collecting the £500 runners-up prize.

In round one Shadwell just edged past Cornwall’s Norman Coad (Bodmin) on a three end tie breaker winning 2-1 (4-9, 8-7, 2-1) and then accounted for fellow Clarrie Dunbar player Brian Hawkins 2-0.

He took out Westlecot star Neil Smith in the last 16 in a tight match 5-4, 6-2 to set-up a quarter-final tie against Torbay’s Rob Honeywell which he won comfortably 2-0 (7-2, 6-2).

However, his fine run by the seaside came to an end in the semi-final losing to Torquay’s Ryan Whitlock 0-2 (4-6, 3-10).

Whitlock went on to win the final beating England senior international Sam Tolchard (Torquay Utd) 2-1 (6-3, 1-10, 2-0).

The only other Clarrie Dunbar player competing in the Torquay tournament to progress past the second round was Keith Bailey, a previous winner on the OSC circuit.

Bailey opened with a comfortable 2-0 (10-3, 7-2) win over Percy Parkes (Dolphin, Poole) but had to come from behind in round two to secure a hard fought 2-1 (2-9, 9-4, 2-1) victory over Zach Kidd (Plymouth).

In the last 16, Bailey was taken all the way again against Sean Gingell, the recent winner of the Loddon Vale (Basingstoke) OSC tournament.

He beat Gingell on a tie breaker 2-1 (7-2, 5-8, 2-0).

However Bailey’s run came to an end in the quarter-finals, round four, going down 0-2 (2-8, 2-8) to the eventual winner Ryan Whitlock.

Three Clarrie Dunbar players, Thelma and Keith Bailey plus club owner and manager Brian Hawkins, then motored up from Devon to Dorset to take part in the Dolphin IBC (Poole) tournament as well on Easter Sunday and Monday.

However, none of the trio managed to progress past round two.

The Baileys also entered the Dolphin Double Threes tournament on day two and were reasonably successful in the pairs competition over two sets of five ends with a one end tie breaker if needed.

They beat Penny and Rebecca Cresswell (Dolphin) in round one 2-0 and followed with a round two success over Dawn Slaughter and Laurence Gatfield (Cambridge Park, Surrey) 2-1.

In round three (quarter-finals) they needed a tie breaker again to defeat Rob Taylor and Stephen Ireland (Preston, Brighton) 2-1.

However they lost two sets to nil in the semi-finals to Jon Wilson and Ross Marshall (Wey Valley, Guildford, Surrey) who then lost in the final to Dolphin members Carl and Gary Fountain, the former was a winner of the Clarrie Dunbar Open singles in 2015.

Meanwhile, the national championships fourth block of competitions are currently being staged at Nottingham IBC.

Dunbar duo Dick Discombe and Alan Whitock, substituting for the unavailable Duncan McGovern, put up a brave performance in the last 16 of the men’s Over 60s pairs event on Wednesday.

They led for three quarters of their match against the West Berks (Newbury) duo of Richard Kozlowski and Derek Parsonson.

After five ends they were 6-5 ahead, at halfway were 12-9 up and at 15 ends held a 16-14 advantage over their Berkshire opponents.

But then they were rocked back on their heels as the West Berks (Newbury) duo Richard Kozlowski and Derek Parsonson compiled a 1-3-4-1-1-3 sequence to beat them 27-16 .

In the evening quarter-finals West Berks were beaten 21-17.

Clarrie’s hopes of a national title now rest on the shoulders of John Freeman in the last event at Nottingham – men’s Over 60s singles.

Freeman took the Area 30 O60s singles title with a fine 21-17 win over Clevedon’s Pip Branfield, a fomer England international.

He followed that up with a 21-14 success in the inter-area final defeating Area 29 champion Barry Forse (St. Andrews, Weston-super-Mare) a twice losing national finalist in this event in 2009 and 2010 to qualify for the last 16 in Nottingham.

Freeman opens his bid for glory with a last 16 tie against Mark Curtis (Bedford Borough) today (Friday) at 4pm and if successful would then face in the quarter-finals at 7pm Robert Shields (White Oak IBC, Swanley, Kent) or K Burton (Nottingham).

The semi-finals and final are scheduled for tomorrow Saturday, April 2 at 9.30am and 4.30pm respectively.

The fifth and final block of the 2015/16 national championships are set to commence next Friday April 8 and run for ten days at Melton & District.

Clarrie Dunbar have an interest in three events at Melton Mowbray (Leics) with Freeman, Brian Hawkins, Keith Bailey and Barry Barry competing in the national fours championship on April 11-12, Craig Hadfield-Doughty and Graham Shadwell in the pairs on April 8-10 while Shadwell also contests the blue riband national singles on April 15-17.