Not plane sailing for England international Louis McCubbin in Belfast

Louis McCubbin helped England finish second in the British Isles Bowls Council Junior Home International.
Charlie Bailey, left, and Andy McKain competed in the champion of championsCharlie Bailey, left, and Andy McKain competed in the champion of champions
Charlie Bailey, left, and Andy McKain competed in the champion of champions

The competition took place in Belfast and it was Scotland who managed to take the victory after a hard-fought battle.

England were beaten by eight shots in the decisive match between the teams.

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Southsea Waverley bowler McCubbin had to deal with unfamiliar bowls because his didn't arrive with him on the plane journey to Belfast.

Charlie Bailey won the champion of champions titleCharlie Bailey won the champion of champions title
Charlie Bailey won the champion of champions title

However, he showed his class in his first match against Wales as he led his rink to a 31-shot victory.

Meanwhile, Waverley duo Marty Wake and Gary Starks won the county pairs crown with a 23-20 win against rivals from Boscombe Cliff.

Alexandra's Steve Feilder lost 21-10 in the county singles final, while the Waverley trio Mike Aldrin, Ollie Mew and John Biggs were beaten 16-12 in the triples.

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Due to international commitments, the junior singles final between Waverley's Louis McCubbin and Danny Smith was held later than the rest of the other finals.

In a close game, Danny Smith was the winner 21-18.

The last men's county competition played was the two-wood triples.

The Portsmouth Water trio of Barry Shergold, Mick Edney and Brent Riste lost in the final 20-18 to a trio from Cove.

In the semi-finals the Portsmouth trio had beaten their Fleming Park opponents 19-13.

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Fareham's Charlie Bailey beat Milton Park bowler Andy McKain to win the final of the Portsmouth & District League champion of champions competition. 

They had each fought their way through the rounds with 23 champions of the clubs lining up for battle at Milton Park.

McKain beat Dave Denyer in his semi-final 21-14.

Bailey saw off Dave Brookes 21-2.

The overall success was Bailey's fifth champion of champions triumph since 2010.

Priory won the midweek triples town title.

They beat Vospers Blue.

The match takes place over two legs between the winners of the red and blue divisions.

Priory won it 110-92.

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They stormed into a big lead during the first leg with wins for all three rinks for a 22-shot advantage.

Arthur Newland's trio were in top form as they recorded a big 19-shot success.

In the second leg at Milton Park, Vospers won two of the triples with Ray Porter's trio leading the way with a 10-shot win.

However, Andy Hibberd's Priory triple nearly covered that with their nine-shot victory, leaving Vospers the winners of the leg 51-47.

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That wasn't enough for Vospers to turnaround the big deficit from the first leg.

The district title went to Fareham who went one better than they managed in 2017.

The west champions won the battle over two legs against east champions Bedhampton 112-78.

Dave Holland's trio did the damage for Fareham in the first leg. They recorded a 28-shot win.

Report by Dave Wildman.