Oxfordshire played Berkshire in the first match of the season on Saturday 25th May at Shrivenham BC. With the scores level after 5 ends the match looked like being a close contest. After 10 ends Oxfordshire had established a small lead of 3 shots. The lead was short lived and by close of play Berkshire had had established a 23 shot winning margin. Paul Sharman and Shane Cooper lead their Prinks to wins and Paul Comley and co fought hard and went down by a single shot. A Colts badge was awarded to Adderbury’s Phil Gladden and a 6 game badge to Banbury Borough’s Joe Abercrombie returning to the Oxfordshire side after a season away because of work commitments.

 

Oxfordshire 113 and 4 points, Berkshire 136 and 18 points.

 

Bradley Squires Trevor Prew Andy McIntyre Paul Sharman won 21-14

Keith Holloway Chris Lewis Lee Young A J Docherty lost 18-22

Percy Hickman Jim Bland Phil Gladden Kevin Alder lost 14-27

Steve Witcombe Orren Bennett Paul Skidmore David Leighfield lost 14-30

Joe Abercrombie Gordon hooker Brian Bloomfield Shane Cooper won 25-21

Bernie May Richard Green Les Days Paul Comley lost 21-22

 

Warm weather bowling brings out the best in some teams and this week’s fixtures were notable for a number of whitewashes

 

Headington proved that they will be the side to beat in Division 1 again this year. The demolition of Witney Mills could not have been more complete, Mills winning only 25 ends over the four rinks and only six of those by more than a single shot.

 

Carterton eased to victory at home to Banbury Central, thanks in no small part to Tim Jupp’s rink scoring fourteen shots without reply in the first half of their game. Nigel Galletly, for Central, and Paul Sharman for Carterton both dominated the second halves of their games to emerge victorious, whilst Mike Andrew’s rink held on for a single shot win having been three shots ahead at sixteen ends.

 

West Witney just squeezed the match points from their encounter with Watlington, a result that would have been a tie had Chris Gilkes had a full rink. As it was, the shots he had to forfeit cost his team a point that may prove important at the end of the season!

 

City and County continue to dominate Division 2 though Headington pushed them close, leading over the whole fixture after sixteen ends only to drop a four to Alan Ley and a five to Omar Sharif’s men on the seventeenth end!

 

Kidlington bounced back from a disappointing start to the season with a good win at Charlbury. Paul McGrath and Chris Cox’s rinks provided the impetus going twenty and fifteen shots up before their opponents replied.

 

The eleven shots that Keith Mobley’s rink scored over the final five ends swung the game, between South Oxford and Chipping Norton, South’s way.  Narrow wins on two other rinks just made the final points gap bigger a tight game suggested.

 

Bicester were always ahead of previously undefeated Bloxham in Division 3 and it took big shot gains over the last three ends for the home side to win their two rinks. Bicester’s Kevin Taylor dropped two fours, including one on the first end, but still overwhelmed his opponents, whilst Pete Sansom’s rink won the last six ends of their match.

 

The second whitewash of the week was at Shiplake, a club able to field a much stronger team at home than away. Thame were unable to provide any threat on three rinks only Bill Giles’ men coming close before losing the last three ends and the game. Barry Lambourne and Dave Webb each restricted the opponents to five winning ends.

 

Chadlington were not to be outdone and they too whitewashed the opposition. Though they started well, indeed they led three rinks after six ends, Hanborough found their opponents too hot to handle especially Carl Smart’s rink, who were able to let their opponents win the last five ends and still finish victorious by ten shots.

 

Division 4 was almost a complete whitewash night. Burford showed, once again, that they are more than capable in their first year in the league. This week they visited South Oxford and demolished their hosts. Davis Bye’s rink came closest for the home side, leading after sixteen ends only to drop five shots in the last two. Jim Hurley’s rink starred for Burford winning thirteen ends, but the final two matches were closer, winning fairly equal numbers of ends but all the big shot scores went to Burford.

 

Surprise of the night was not that Woodstock won, nor that they scored 97 shots doing so, it was that even they cannot remember when, if ever, they won a league match 6-0!  South Oxford were restricted to 21 winning ends, of the 72 played, and they were behind on all rinks throughout the match. Can Woodstock repeat the performance this week, at home to Blackbird Leys?

 

Could either Blackbird Leys or West Oxford make it three 6-0’s in the division? Well almost! Leys did get a point, by drawing on two rinks, on both of which they were trailing at fifteen ends! John Parker’s rink must have been wondering if it was not going to be their night after all. Ahead 15 – 7 after thirteen ends they allowed Leys’ Dave Buckwell back into the game by losing the remaining five ends, luckily, for them, eachby only a single shots!

 

Oxfordshire travelled to Linslade BC on Tuesday 21st May to play Bedfordshire. In a match that was always close, that with 3 wins to each side the outcome of the match depended on the final end of the final match, with Oxfordshire already secure in winning the rink, the shot changed twice and the outcome was a single shot to Oxfordshire ensuring a win for the visitors by a single shot.

 

Oxfordshire 113, Bedfordshire 112.

 

R Slater, D Byers, A Wase, B Clarke won 19-18.

A Hunt, D Lafford, K Williams, B Bloomfield lost 17-23.

M Jones, B Ealey, G Hooker, M Morris lost 8-28.

P Demczak, R Radband, C Cox, M Andrew won 23-13

H Franklin, D Bullock, J Hurren,  A Ley lost 17-21.

C Lewis, N Satchell, P Warner, I Whelpton won 29-9.

 

Katherine Hawes (Oxford City and County) and Carole Galletly (Banbury Central) will represent Oxfordshire in the Nationals at Leamington by reaching the final of the 2 Wood Singles.  

 

Sixteen players from across the County played at Kidlington BC on Sunday 26th May in changeable conditions.  

 

Quarter finals:

Jeanette Berry (City and County) 16, Pam Faulkner (West Oxford) 8 Katherine Hawes (City and County) 17, Carol Penson (City and County) 12 Sylvia Blackmore (Shiplake) 19, Josie Gilbert (City and County) 3  

 

Semi finals:

Katherine Hawes 16, Jeanette Berry 4

Carole Galletly 18, Sylvia Blackmore 7  

 

Many thanks to the hosts Kidlington BC for their hospitality and supply of refreshments.

 

U25 pairs winners 2019Watlington’s Jonathon Dadson and Kidlington’s Joe Glenn have won the Under 25 Pairs, completing a trio of wins at Kidlington BC.

 

Their first game was against Carterton’s Joe Justin and Banbury Borough’s Jamie Wilkinson. After 9 ends the score was at 15-7 in Dadson and Glenn’s favour before Justin and Wilkinson picked up 3 shots to make it 15-10 at 10 ends. Dadson and Glenn then went on to win all of the remaining ends except 1 to see them progress to the semi-final, 27-12 victors.

 

The semi-final see Jonathon and Joe against Watlington’s Ben Dickson and West Witney’s Bradley Squires. A close first half see the score at 11-8 in favour of Dickson and Squires, this was then followed by 9 shots in 3 ends to them, seeing the score rise to 20-11. The last 5 ends were all won by Dadson and Glenn, scoring 12 shots and progressing them to the final as 23-20 winners.

 

The other semi-final was between Carterton’s Orren Bennett and Headington’s Sam Watts and they were against Headington’s Brandon King and Watlington’s Dan Swanson. At the half way stage, Bennett and Watts were up by 3 shots, 9-6. 2 shots to both pairs followed in the next two ends before Bennett and Watts won the remaining 6 ends, scoring 12 shots to take their place in the final, 23-8 victors.

 

The final see a very tense start, with the score at 7-6 in Bennett and Watts’ favour after 8 ends. The 9th end see Dadson and Glenn fight back well picking up a 6 to take the lead. Back to back 3 shot pickups for Bennett and Watts see them reduce the deficit to just one shot after 13 ends. 4 shots to Dadson and Glenn in the next 4 ends to Bennett and Watts’ single left them requiring at least 4 shots going into the final end. A close head was built by both teams with the high standard of bowling seen throughout the day still continuing. 2 shots were all that could be found for Bennett and Watts, meaning Jonathon Dadson and Joe Glenn won the county under 25 Pairs Final 18-16. They walk away with the David Allin Cup and a place at Leamington in the National Finals in August.

 

A big thank you to Kidlington BC for hosting us all day and providing wonderful food throughout.

 

Also a big thank you to all of the spectators for supporting the games all day and Paul Demczak for assisting in the running of the day.

 

Oxfordshire Under 25s men began their season with a strong performance against an experienced Wiltshire side at Kidlington BC on Sunday 12th May. The Oxon boys picked up the weight of the pushy green quicker than their opponents, and took an early lead on all 3 rinks. Wiltshire started to play their way back into the game, and at 10 ends Oxon led by 8 shots. Oxon got back on the front foot, and had stretched this lead to 14 shots at 13/14 ends.

 

Sam Watts, team captain, and his rink dropped 4 shots over their last 2 ends which gave them a 18-17 victory.

 

Harvey Alder’s rink, playing against England trialist Mike Titcombe, had been leading by 6 shots early on, but were clawed back by their experienced opponents and eventually went down by 3 shots, 16-19.

 

Orren Bennett, skipping for the U25s for the first time, and his rink were leading by 4 at 19 ends when the other rinks were finished, knowing they led the match by 2 shots. A dropped 1 of the 20th end left them 1 shot up overall playing the last end and being 1 down on the head, Orren’s final bowl pulled up mere inches short of the shot bowl. However, a 2 shot win for the rink (23-21) meant a draw was the overall result, 57-57.

 

All 12 Oxon players were giving an excellent account of themselves and with a couple of senior players still to come in, have given the manager a major selection headache for both White Rose and Junior Home Counties League!

 

Rink 2: Joe Justin, Sam Kibblewhite, Brandon King, Sam Watts bt. James Vincent 18-17

Rink 3: Luke Gilbert, Ben Dickson, Bradley Squires, Orren Bennett bt. Adam Bolwell 23-21

Rink 4: Jonathan Dadson, Lucas King, Joe Glenn, Harvey Alder lost to Mike Titcombe 16-19

 

The available members of the Amy Rose squad also attended for a practice triples game (joined by boys’ reserve Giles Francis). Excellent bowls were played by all involved and give a very promising outlook for the season. I hope to arrange a couple of fixtures against other counties for them before travelling to the Amy Rose competition at Leamington.

 

My thanks go firstly to Kidlington for hosting us for the game – they rearranged a club friendly for us to use the rink after Wiltshire had requested a change of start time. I would also like to thank the players, parents and supporters for attending the game. Commitment from the players is key, and with 5 players “graduating” from the side at the end of this season, we really have a chance of succeeding this year with the squad we have.

 

If there are any U25 boys or U31 girls playing for any club in Oxfordshire not currently known to the team manager who would like to get involved, please contact me on the details below. And as always, recruitment of bowlers of all ages, especially juniors, is paramount for the future of the sport.

 

David Leighfield

Oxfordshire Junior Team manager

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

07595509236

 

Bowls Oxfordshire Ladies played Wiltshire at Highworth BC on Tuesday 21st May 2019. A challenging green which went in Wiltshire’s favour.

 

BOL 101, Wiltshire 123  

 

Carol Gaskins 19, S Bird 17

Wendy Cross 17, M Annetts 25

Carole Galletly 28, C Coombs 5

Jeanette Berry 9, B Lilley 25

Carol Penson 18, B Land 18

Brenda Havard 10, J Rowe 35

 

The second Middleton Cup trial was played against Gloucestershire at Kidlington on 15th may. Starting slowly Oxfordshire trailed by 10 shots after 5 ends and failed to improve the situation by end 10.With 4 of the rinks of the two Carterton skip with Baden Powell establishing a healthy lead a and Paul Sharman struggling to stay in touch.  At close of play the rinks of David Leighfield and Ray Gaskins finished by winning the final two ends to finish level, Shane Cooper won the last end to finish 1 up and Chris Gilkes had won by 5. With Baden’s rink maintaining their lead and Paul’s quartet limiting the size of their loss, Oxfordshire won the match by 8 shots

 

Oxfordshire 121, Gloucestershire 113. 

 

Scores:- 

 

Joe Justin, Paul Skidmore, Kevin Alder, Baden Sparkes won 26-14

Jim Bland, Orren Bennett, Andy McIntyre, David Leighfield drew 18-18.

Joe Abercrombie, Brian Bloomield, Lee Young, Paul Sharman lost 16-26

Sam Watts, James Gaskins, Remy Clanfield, Chris Gilkees won 25-20

Bernie May, Chris Weller, A J Docherty, Ray Gaskins drew 18-18

Mick Jeffs, Keith Holloway, Will Campion, Shane Cooper won 18-17

 

Another cold but dry evening saw a number of matches with very different second halves to their first – the colder it became to better/worse some rinks played!

 

Division 1 saw the most extreme case in the game between Banbury Central and Witney Town. Central’s Mick Andrew saw his rink go 21 – 0 up at ten ends only for them to lose the last eight ends 11 – 5, though they still won the games. Elsewhere in the match, what looked like a close rink with both teams level at 7 – 7 after ten ends became a route as Keith McNeil’s men ran out 25 – 9 winners for Central! Central also appeared to be heading for very big win as Will Campion led by eight shots at fifteen ends only for Paul Demczak’s rink to score ten shots on the last three ends to snatch an unlikely win.

 

Headington played their first match of the season and came away with a comfortable win. Nick Ray-Welsh led by eleven shots after twelve ends only to go behind after the seventeenth finally snatching the shot he needed for the draw on the last! Likewise, Mark Charlett needed to win the last two ends to beat Chris Gilkes.

 

Two easy wins saw West Witney defeat Witney Mills in what is the most local there can be! Paul Robbins had to win the last end for his victory for Mills to add a second point for his team.

 

City and County continued their impressive form in Division 2 though they were pushed harder than the result shows. Indeed, James Feely led Colin Pollard’s rink until end fourteen. However, Omar Sharif’s rink took an unanswered 13 shot lead after five ends and were never troubled.

 

Headington B recorded their first win, at home to Charlbury, but it was close as David Copper snatched victory with his last bowl and Eric Pitts only scored two of the three shots his rink needed on the final end to draw their match.

 

Meanwhile, Adderbury recorded a very comfortable, if unspectacular, win away at South Oxford.

 

The form team in Division 3 is newly promoted Bloxham. This week result was a six – zero win against Hanborough, who came down from Division 2. Bloxham performed well on all four rinks without anything out the ordinary happening.

 

Banbury Central bounced back from last week’s defeat with an easy win at Thame, indeed, had Dave Holland, playing at two to John Timms, not had shot wood on the final end this match would have been a whitewash.

 

Anthony Hobbs’ rink had the biggest winning margin for Chadlington, in the fixture against Bicester, but the single shot they dropped on the last end swung the shot count, and the match points, to Bicester.

 

Blackbird Leys’ James Baldwin scored seventeen unanswered shots over the first eight ends of his match, then gave his opponent some hope, allowing them to win the next three ends before scoring a further fifteen unanswered shots over the last seven ends. This Division 4 match was almost a whitewash but the six shots Ken Buckingham’s rink scored on eighth end proved sufficient as they hung on for City and County’s only Point.

 

Two ends of five shots proved more than sufficient for Oxford University Press’ David Barlow’s rink to defeat their opponents despite only winning eight ends in the match. However, this proved to be OUP’s only success of the night!

 

Paul Shipton’s six shot win proved enough for Woodstock to scrape past West Oxford.

 

City and County BC was the host for the quarter finals of the men’s fours.

 

The first game was between Watlington’s Adi Kemish, Adie Twinn, Will Soden and Chris Gilkes and Headington’s Jon Philpott, Ray Gaskins, Nathan Lewis and Howard Watts. Headington took an early lead of 5 shots after 7 ends. Watlington battled back to be drawing at 10 ends, 9-9. Back to back 2’s for the Headington rink see them increase their lead to 18-12 after 17 ends and this aided them in their victory, seeing the Watlington rink only able to pick up 3 shots on the remaining 4 ends, with Headington picking 1 up. Final score 19-15.

 

The second game was an all Headington affair between Mick Nash, Paul Mabbutt, Ian Snowdon and Nick Rae-Welsh against Sam Watts, Ian Henwood, Jason King and Mark Charlett. Charlett’s rink took a commanding lead after 10 ends, being 16 shots to 2 up. Their lead then continued through the game, with another 10 shots picked up to Rae-Welsh’s 1. Final score 26-3 and sees them play clubmates of Howard Watts in the first semi-final.

 

The third quarter final see last year’s winners, West Witney’s Bradley Squires, Harvey Alder, David Leighfield and Kevin Alder against Carterton’s Peter Latter, Dan Wakeman, David Clanfield and Remy Clanfield. A game of single shot pick-ups, with one 2, see the game at 8-4 to the Witney rink after 11 ends. Carterton then picked up a 5 on the 12th end to take the lead for the first time, briefly. Witney then picked up shots on 8 ends of the last 9 to secure their place in the second semi-final, 20-11 victors

 

The last quarter final see Banbury Borough’s Keith Holloway, Mark Sykes, Alan Prew and A J Docherty against Burford’s John Hurren, Roger Parker, Tim Stacey and Jack Lafford. The first third of the game see the score level at 7-7. The next six ends see Borough score 8 shots to Burford’s 2. A 3 for Burford gave them a chance before Borough scored 7 shots off the back of this to enhance their lead. Burford scored 3 in the last 2 ends, but this was not enough and see Borough secure the win, 22-16. They will play West Witney in the second semi-final.

 

The county semi-finals day will be at Carterton BC on Sunday 14th July.