Taylor Support Shropshire Premier Bowls League
Hanmer finally made the breakthrough at the seventh time of asking as they beat Hadley USC by 8 tonight to take their place in the 2017 Flowfit Shropshire Premier Bowling League in a cracker of a game at Bicton. It was Hadley though that made the good start, as they led by 16 after four. Nick Wyer had an even start with Lee Peate before going from about 12-10 up to win 12 on a 30m mark. James Duce had suffered a poor start to trail about 8-1 to Joey Williams of Hanmer before James got his length and played well on a round peg to win 16. Graham Bennett always had the upper hand in the corners to lead 9-4 before Phil King got back in and got back to 19 across before Graham won 19. Dave Price and Andrew Armstrong was the best game of the night, with some awesome bowls played by both players both on varying lengths. Dave managed to edge it 19 and gave Hadley a lead of 16.
But Robin Bennett stormed out of the blocks against John Newey for Hanmer to lead 16-1 down the clubhouse edge before John got back in and got back to 11 but it cut Hadley’s lead to 6. Jamie Wyer had led Marcus Hughes early on before Marcus got back into the game and won 18 for Hanmer, and with Graham Rogers and John Price having a close game, with Graham always just a few ahead, it meant the game was level when Graham came off winning 18. A match winning comeback came from Jack Butler though, who from 19-8 down in the corners was fired up to get back to 16 over the middle and earn 8 valuable chalks. This meant Hadley led by 5 going into the back four.
Chris Probert carried on his form from Sunday as he raced 16-4 up on Steve Homer playing 30m. Steve tried to come back but couldn’t get a good run on him and got 9 to give Hanmer a 7 shot lead. At this point Mike Gilpin was 18-10 up on Ray Gregory, playing one mark over the crown very well, but Jim Fletcher was 13-1 up on a 30m round peg for Hadley. Ray produced a fine comeback to win 19 playing a 25 m diagonally over the crow and Dave Ellison got the block back and played some good stuff in the corners but Jim got over the line 15. This left Hadley captain Adrian Smith and Alan Faulkner on the green, and Alan was 12-2 up in the corners, so it looked all over. But Ade ground his way back in, and from 15-6 down got back to 15-12 and had led one on the jack on a mark over the middle. But Alan played up after Ade had failed to make 2 and pushed the jack through and counted. He then got back in the corners and after a double and two singles was on the cusp of winning. He led one two yards away but Ade didn’t get his bowl out and was even shorter. Then Alan played one on the block to give Ade no choice but to fire. He fired but missed and this cued the Hanmer celebrations of relief and joy. They had finally reached the Promised land!
On behalf of the league we would like to congratulate Hanmer on reaching the Flowfit Shropshire Premier Bowling League for the first time, and to also offer commiserations to Hadley USC for dropping out of the league again. We wish you all the best in trying to get back into the league again.
We would like to thank Bicton for the use of their green and facilities tonight. They did an excellent job in hosting the biggest crowd in probably Shropshire Bowls and I am grateful for that. I hope with the entry fee and new programme that it all went well for all the spectators tonight. We raised £211.50 on the gate and £176 on the raffle so this will be divided up between a charity of Bicton’s choice, Bicton and the league. So thanks everyone who contributed and to the two sets of teams for putting on a great spectacle!
2016 Playoff Final
Played on Friday 7th October at Bicton B.C. at 7.00 pm
Hadley U.S.C v Hanmer B.C.
| SCORE | PLAYERS NAME | NO. | PLAYERS NAME | SCORE |
| 21 | Nick Wyer | 1 | Lee Peate | 12 |
| 21 | Dave Price | 2 | Andrew Armstrong | 18 |
| 21 | James Duce | 3 | Joey Williams | 15 |
| 19 | Phil King | 4 | Graham Bennett | 21 |
| 11 | John Newey | 5 | Robin Bennett | 21 |
| 18 | Jamie Wyer | 6 | Marcus Hughes | 21 |
| 18 | John Price | 7 | Graham Rogers | 21 |
| 21 | Nick Mullinder | 8 | Jack Butler | 16 |
| 9 | Steve Homer | 9 | Chris Probert | 21 |
| 21 | Ray Gregory | 10 | Mike Gilpin | 19 |
| 21 | Jim Fletcher | 11 | Dave Ellison | 15 |
| 12 | Adrian Smith | 12 | Alan Faulkner | 21 |
| 213 | 221 |
Winners Hanmer who will take their place in the 2017 Shropshire Premier Bowling League. Back from left: Graham Rogers, Joey Williams, Robin Bennett, Mike Gilpin, Andrew Armstrong, Graham Bennett, Marcus Hughes.
Front from left: Lee Peate, Dave Ellison, Jonathon Scott, , Jack Butler, Chris Probert, Alan Faulkner.
Hadley who lost their place in the league. Back from left: Jim Fletcher, Ray Gregory, Nick Wyer, Nick Mullinder, Dave Price, Steve Homer, Phil King.
Front from left: Adrian Smith, Jamie Wyer, John Newey, John Price, James Duce.
Pre-playoff Game
Market Drayton League Champions Hanmer had earned the right to take on Hadley USC as they edged out Mid-Shropshire League Winners Donnington Wood by 13 tonight at Meole Brace on Sunday 2nd October. Donnington edged the front and middle fours but two good cards at the back for Hanmer brought it home.
Both teams went out strong first four and it was a tale of three one sided games with Dan Taylor at number one to lead 12-4 on the shorter marks against Welsh Champion Graham Bennett, and although Graham scrambled a few at the end on the longer marks, Dan won 11. But All England Junior Merit Champion Andrew Armstrong was playing a 25m straight mark well for Hanmer against Mark Worthington to lead 12-3 and 16-8 and won 11 to cancel out Dan’s card. Dave Taylor always led against Mike Gilpin for Donnington Wood leading 14-8 and 19-11 and Mike couldn’t lose him but managed to get 14. Lee Peate and Gavin Taylor had a close game, Gavin on the longer marks and Lee on the shorter ones, with Lee just pulling away at the end to win 15 for Hanmer. But it was Donnington Wood who led by 1 overall.
Into the middle and Donnington most likely had the youngest ever four in playoff or maybe league history with an average age of about 24. But it was youth that triumphed against Hanmer’s experience as they extended their lead by 3 to 4. Ash was off first in a quick game winning 14, using the shorter marks to his advantage. Kieran Buckley played very well on 25m marks before Marcus Hughes pulled some back down an edge to get back to 17. Graham Rogers always led against Kane Beaman, winning 12-4 on long marks before Kane managed to get back to 15 over the middle. The last game of the four was a long game with Ayden Smith playing his trademark up to the crown and back with Alan Faulkner going corners and it was Alan who just edged it 19 to make the lead 4 to Donnington.
Into the back and it was a case of a couple of big cards winning it and it was Hanmer who made the best start. Chris Probert led 10-0 and Dave Ellison 12-4 and despite Tim getting back to 13-9, Chris ran out. Chris Worthington tried his best to pull some chalks back against Dave but Dave kept finding a good bowl to halt any revival and he won 11 for a lead of 18 for Hanmer. With Donnington Wood players Paul Evans 14-9 up on Joey Williams and Reece Farr 13 across with Jack Butler Hanmer only needed a couple more and they achieved that with ease. Paul won 15 and Jack 20 which meant a win for Hanmer of 13.
Thank you to Meole Brace for their use of their green and facilities, and to Mike Potter for refereeing and Peter Jones for measuring. Also a big thank you to Mark Thomas and Terry Sambrook for doing the raffle which totalled £113.20, of which 25% will go to Meole Brace, 25% to a charity of their choice and 50% to the league.
Find the scores and pictures from Sunday night’s Pre-Playoff below. Thanks to Mike Potter for taking the pictures.
Donnington Wood. Back from left: Gavin Taylor, Reece Farr, Kane Beaman, Paul Evans, Tim Allen, Ash Gregory.
Front from left: Mark Worthington, Ayden Smith (captain), Chris Worthington, Dan Taylor, Dave Taylor, Kieran Buckley, Mick Wesley.
Winners Hanmer. Back from left: Joey Williams, Graham Bennett, Graham Rogers, Mike Gilpin, Andrew Armstrong.
Front from left: Alan Faulkner, Jack Butler, Chris Probert, Dave Ellison, Matthew Scott (captain), Marcus Hughes, Lee Peate.