Owen Cranston of County Council & Chris Mann of Wymondham, last year’s defeated finalists, this year lifted the Norfolk County Championship Pairs title after a string of superb performances throughout the day. In the final they faced Hempnall’s Neil Davidson & Wymondham’s Jack Pye and after taking four shots on the fourth end to move 7-1 up their opponents changed playing positions. This made little impact as Cranston & Mann continued to dominate and their opponents conceded with two ends remaining with the score at 13-3. In the third place playoff defending champion Nigel Willard, this year playing with Bob Carter team-mate Melvin Woods, beat Tony Ottewell & Mike Smail of Forncett 9-7. Cranston & Mann romped through the group stages and then beat Rob Cranston & Paul Baker 11-6 in the last 16. In the quarter-finals they were involved in a classic match against 2016 champions Kerry Greenacre & Selwyn Goldsmith which went to the wire. Chris Mann showed great composure snatching victory with a brilliant last wood of the match when they were facing defeat. In the semi-finals Cranston & Mann beat Ottewell & Smail 13-7 with an end to spare. Neil Davidson & Jack Pye stormed to a 16-2 win against Wymondham’s Debbie & Jon Sparham in the last 16 stage before beating Simon Warnes of Horsford BC & Keith Cooke of Halvergate 8-6 in the quarter-finals. Davidson & Pye earned their place in the final with an 11-5 semi-final win against Willard & Woods with an end to spare. Chris Mann had previously won the Norfolk County Pairs title in 2011 with Andrew Stratton but for Owen Cranston it was his first Norfolk Pairs title. The winners and runners-up are pictured below.
