This year’s League Cup final saw League champions Headington A face West Witney under the floodlights at Kidlington.  Headington were looking to win the League Cup for the 9th year out of 10, whilst opponents West Witney were hoping to lift the cup for the first time.  With five members of West Witney returning from a Club tour to help strengthen their side, and a good crowd gathered around the green, the stage was all set for a classic final.

 

After 5 ends Headington were already into their stride and in no mood to let the chance of another League and Cup double slip away – leading by 9 shots and ahead on 3 of the 4 rinks.  However, after 10 ends the West Witney had started to fight back and edged narrowly in front. The turning point came with just 6 ends to go, as Shane Cooper and Kev Alder’s rinks both picked up 5 shots each on crucial ends, to open up a good lead for the Witney boys.

 

Despite Headington ending the game with 2 winning rinks, West Witney’s stronger finish brought them a comfortable victory on the other 2 rinks, to see them home by 17 shots overall and claim their first League Cup win.

 

Winning captain Andy McIntyre commented, ‘It’s been a great year for the Club, winning the Hawker Cup and League Cup for the first time.  I’m particularly grateful for the 5 players who travelled all the way back from Bournemouth for the Final. I know they’d have enjoyed celebrating their journey back to the coast!’

 

West Witney 64; Headington A 47:  K Alder 21, J King 11; D Leighfield 9, H Watts 13; P Skidmore 10, M Charlett 13; S Cooper 24, I Snowdon 10.

 

Teams from Carterton, West Witney, Adderbury and City & County competed for the Hawker Cup at Oxford City & County Bowls Club. 

 

The first game in the semi-finals see Carterton against West Witney. Peter Latter, Jamie Macdonogh, David Clanfield and Baden Sparkes were up against Bradley Squires, Harvey Alder, Joe Woodward and Kevin Alder with the other rinks comprising of Joe Justin, Phil Monahan, Robbie Clanfield and Paul Sharman against Nigel Siford, Henry Beal, Paul Skidmore and Shane Cooper. 

 

A very close start for the rink between Baden and Kevin, with Baden especially playing some crucial bowls early on to keep the score level after 10 ends at 7 apiece. After 15 ends the score was level again 10 shots apiece before West then scored 13 shots across the last 6 ends to see them win 23-12. The adjacent rink se another tense battle between Shane and Paul. At 12 ends it was only 1 shot in it at 11-10 in Shane’s favour. Some big bowls in the second half of the game prevented Shane’s men to score shots and helped Paul’s rink gain a lead of 4 shots after 17 ends, 16-12. The last 4 ends see 5 shots to West and 4 shots to Carterton. With the maths applied West Witney progressed to the final 40-32 victors.

 

The second semi-final see Marcus Bunning, Andrew Galloway, Gavin Gray and Chris Earl against Mick Jelfs, Paul Jelfs, Ted Eley and Darren Sharpe with the other rinks lining up as Andy Crawley, David Richens, Russell Edwards and Alan ley against Ian Dunn, Phil French, Chris Skidmore and Phil Gladden. Another close start see Chris and Darren level at 12 ends, 11 shots each. Chris’ rink then developed a lead by picking 11 shots to Adderbury’s 3, including a 5 shot pick up on the 18th end. Final score was 22-14. 

 

The other rink see Alan and his men start strong, winning 11-2 after just 7 ends against Phil Gladden’s side. The game closed to within 3 shots at 10 ends before Alan’s rink then developed a 10 shot lead after 16 ends, score board at 18-8. 7 shots were then scored by Phil’s rink to reduce the deficit once more to 18-15 before Alan ended the game by picking up a single on the last. City and County progressed to the final 41-29 winners.

 

After lunch Carterton faced Adderbury in the third place playoff with Baden’s rink against Ian’s and Joe’s rink against Mick’s. A good start for Baden’s side see them 15-8 up after 11 ends. Mick’s rink then cut the difference down to 2 shots at 16 ends, 16-14. 15 shots were scored over the last 5 ends seeing the score finish at 24-21 in Carterton’s favour. 

 

The other rink see Carterton once more get off to a strong start, with the board at 15-8 at 12 ends. Carterton then scored 8 shots without reply to see their lead increase to 23-8 at 16. Adderbury scored a single before Carterton finished strong scoring 7 shots in the final ends to see them 30-9 victors. Overall Carterton came third with a combined score of 54-30.

 

Shane Cooper found himself against Alan Ley and Kevin Alder up against Chris Earl in the final. A level start see Alan’s rink at 4-2 after 5 ends before Shane and his rink scored 18 shots to Alan’s 2 over the following 7 ends. Scoreboard 20-6 in West Witney’s favour after 12. After 17 ends it was 21-15 before Shane and his men continued with the intensity to finish their game off by scoring 12 shots to see them 33-15 victors. 

 

Chris and Kevin’s rinks had a tight tussle for the first half of the game with the score at 10-7 after 13 ends. Chris and his rink then continued to increase their lead to 14-8 after 16 ends. Kevin’s rink then fought back over the remaining 5 ends to reduce the deficit to 17-12. West Witney were crowned champions with a combined score of 45-32.

 

A big thank you to Oxford City and County Bowls club for hosting another fantastic day and thank you to the umpire for the day.

 

Oxford City and County played South Oxford at Banbury Chestnuts on Sunday 1st September and in a hard fought match won the County Top Club Trophy by 16 shots.  

 

The Singles played by Carol Gaskins v Maggie Alderson was won 21 – 16 by Carol with a well fought game over 26 ends.

 

The Pairs (City and County Sandy Nash and Karen Galloway) against Maureen De Paauw and Jenny Lynch also hard fought with the lead changing every few ends with a final win for South Oxford by three shots.

 

In the Triples (City and County Jean Alexander, Sue Mayo and Jeanette Berry) against Lettie Batten, Di Rockett and Carol Mobley (South Oxford) the momentum changed half way through with a telling trailing shot by the skip and South Oxford taking the lead and winning by five shots.

 

The fours (City and County Jody Flitter, Lorraine Gaskins, Helen Kingsley and Katherine Hawes) took the lead after four ends against Liz Clack, Pauline Bonfield, Gwen Johnson and Virginia Hulbert (South Oxford) and kept up the pressure with a final score of 31 shots to 12.