Lurgan Juniors excel in the inaugural NIBA Open U25 Pairs Championships

Lurgan pair, Thomas Martin, bowling in his first ever competitive match, and Jake Frazer displayed great resilience during a thrilling ding-dong battle at Ward Park, Bangor with NIBA 1st Division bowler, Daryl Perkins and Fra Savage, Sydenham for a place in the Semi-final of the inaugural NIBA Open U25 Pairs Championships that finished a close 16-14 in favour of the Sydenham Pair.

The Lurgan guys played out of their skin during the whole match with the lead switching often during the exhilarating game. With the match being last off the green the interested spectators stayed on to watch the close finish.

Thomas and Jake were slightly behind at 10-6 after 10 ends but they fought hard to take the next 3 ends to close in on the Sydenham Pair at 11-11 after the 13th end. However they went behind by 15-11 on the next end.

Not to be deterred by the temporary setback, they fought their way back, while showing true grit, to be evens at 14-14 going into the last end. The last end didn’t go in their favour when they dropped to 2 shots in a close head to lose such a memorable match by the close margin of 16-14.

The two Lurgan bowlers who supported the guys, along with their fathers, were thrilled by the boys’ exceptional performance against a more experienced Sydenham Pairing and reckon that Thomas and Jake have a great future in the bowling scene.