Congratulations to Margaret Morris (Banbury Borough) and Carol Gaskins (Oxford City and County).

Donna Knight, Katherine Hawes and Lorraine Kuhler won the ladies County Triples title with a display of excellent bowling to claim their place at the Leamington Nationals in August.

 

 

 

Walker Cup Regional Finals – 18 July

Bowls Oxfordshire Ladies headed to Sutton BC, Surrey early Sunday morning, 18th July, with a clear blue sky hinting of a very hot day to come.

The semi final against Berkshire started with a close game with a 1 shot lead after 5 ends, 2 shot lead after 10 ends and a 3 shot lead after 15 ends.

Then the Oxon ladies gathered pace picking up 7 shots on both rinks to give a 15 shot lead after 18 ends.

The final score was 47 to Oxfordshire, 34 to Berkshire.

After a lunch break the two rinks then had to play against Kent in the final for a place at Leamington.

With the sun scorching down and it getting hotter with only a very slight breeze the girls battled in vain against a very strong Kent side who had narrowly beaten Surrey in the morning.

Caroline Campion's rink, with lead Carole Galletly, 2 Helen Young and 3 Donna Knight slipped to a 5 shot difference after 10 ends and struggled to gain any momentum against the very strong rink skipped by Wendy King.  Losing finally by 12 shots.

Lorraine Kuhler's rink with lead Margaret Morris, 2 Carol Gaskins, 3 Katherine Hawes slipped to a 7 shot loss after 10 ends then battled hard against the rink skipped by Sian Honnor (the England Team Manager) and with some great bowling in extremely hot conditions picked up to draw their game 18 all.   

Total score BOL 28, Kent 40.

Well done to all the bowlers on a very hot day.   You did us proud.

Balcombe Trophy – Regional Finals      -  18 July 2021

Oxfordshire v Kent

 On a blistering hot day Oxfordshire travelled to Bromley to play the regional finals of the Balcombe trophy. The morning semi final was against Kent who we had lost to the previous day in the Home Counties.

The rink of Keith Holloway, Kevin Alder, A J Docherty and Nick Rae-Welsh started slowly and where 6-8 down at the halfway stage. They then went up several gears, picking up 25 shots to Kent's 3 to win 31-11.

The other rink of Sam Watts, Shane Cooper, Jason King and Mark Charlett had a tighter game with Shane Cooper playing particularly well for the second day. Going into the last end they led 14-13, a dropped 6 didn't affect the result which was 45-30 to Oxfordshire.

Hampshire who had defeated a fancied Surrey side awaited in the afternoons final. Oxfordshire got off to a slow start on a difficult green and never really got going. It was one of those games where whatever you do just doesn't work and the luck was with Nick Rae-Welsh's opposite number who had a lot of running woods that somehow got results.

 

A big well done to all the players, on what was an extremely difficult day to play two games. Oxfordshire’s 3 supporters found it difficult enough watching.

The day was finished off with a slow journey home on the M25.

Home Counties BA Knock out competition – 17 July 2021

Oxfordshire v Kent

Kidlington bowls club hosted the Home Counties knockout trophy match between Oxfordshire and Kent.  Oxfordshire started strongly and after 7 ends where leading by 22 shots. Kent kept clawing their way back and after 18 ends the scores where level at 95 each.

Over the last 3 ends Kent picked up 25 shots against Oxfordshire's 10 to win 120 - 105.

Kidlington did an excellent job as always  of looking after us.

Tomorrow we will be looking for revenge when we travel to Bromley to play Kent in the regional finals of the Balcombe trophy.

Oxfordshire scores first: J Bland, P Hickman, P Gladden, J King 14 D Hawmore 21 P Demczak, H Beal, W Campion, AJ Docherty 23 S Savage 21 J Justin, J MacDonagh, B Clarke, S Cooper 24 D Sterne 19 M Nash, D Tidball, T Ealey, N Rae- Welsh 18 S Wells 12 B King, R Green, W Parker, M Charlett 12 D Wetland 23 J Hurren, H Alder, C Morphett, D Leighfield 14 K Wetland 24

Oxfordshire 105 Kent 120

Played at Chipping Norton BC on Saturday 17th July in very warm conditions.

Bowls Oxfordshire Ladies versus Middlesex Ladies in the Walker Cup played at Banbury Chestnuts on Sunday 27^th June 2021

Match won by 2 shots, 48 - 46

Lead Carole Galletly, 2 Katie Glenn, 3 Helen Young, Skip Caroline Campion against Ann Halliday's rink. Final result 23 for, 31 against.  After being 14 shots down with 7 ends left to play pulled back to just 8 shots down.

Lead Margaret Morris, 2 Jeanette Berry, 3 Carol Gaskins, Skip Donna Knight against Mandy Simpson's rink. Final result 25 for, 15 against. Got ahead and by half way managed to keep at least 10 shots ahead.   

Well done Ladies

Jeanette Berry

The Fours are heading West.

At last evenings Four’s Quarter-finals it was the four entries from the west of the county who came out on top, qualifying for the Semi-finals to be played at the South Oxford bowls club on July 18^th.

After last season’s wipe out of the National Championships, it was good to see bowlers back in action on the Oxford City & County green and a good following of spectators.

Defending champions, Sam Watts, Ian Henwood, Jason King and Mark Charlett found the Burford rink of John Hurren, Tim Ryan, Tim Stacey and Jack Lafford too hot to handle. After dropping a 3 on the first end, the Burford quartet collected 9 shots over the next four ends and never looked back, closing the game 17-9 with an end to spare.

The game at the other end of the green on rink 6 produced the same scoreline 17-9, also finishing after 14 ends. Although the ends were shared it was a 7 on the sixth end that put Carterton’s Rob Turley, Sammy Timms, Rob Clanfield and Baden Sparkes in command against Adderbury’s Mick Jelfs, Brian Ray, Ted Eley and Phil Gladden. The rink from the north of the county drew within three shots of levelling the game at eleven ends but six shots against over the next three ends proved too large a deficit to make up.

West Witney foursome of Bradley Squires, Will Parker, Kevin Alder and David Leighfield went off on a flier against their South Oxford opponents, Tony Lynch, Nigel Cattell, Dave Lyne and Dave Tidball, starting with a 7 on the first end on their way to a 12-0 scoreline after four ends. Then the wheels came off.

The South Oxford boys picked up seven of the next eight ends to close the gap to just two shots before the Witney four took two of the last three ends to move into the semi’s with a 17-13 win.

The final game of the evening was a nail biter with Carterton’s Joe Justin, Steve Aldren, Tim Jupp and Paul Sharman up against Banbury Central’s Chick Boyd, Ian Gilbert, Andy Wilkin and Keith McNeil. After 9 ends the scores were level at 8 all, five ends to Central and four, including two three’s, to Carterton.

Three shots each over the next five ends left them level 11-11 with one end to go. There was not going to be a crazy penalty shoot-out in this game.

McNeil’s last wood left Central holding three with Sharman having the last bowl. Three quarters of the way down the green it looked as if it was going to hit short woods before a fine glance brought it to a position requiring a measure by the umpire before the shot was shown to be in Carterton’s favour.

Thanks go to the Oxford City & County Bowls Club for the use of their facilities and to the lady members who ensured that the Covid guidelines were adhered to and also to the players and spectators who complied with them.

Excitement, Surprises, Happiness and Sadness, we are back bowling again.

Well done to everyone, for participating in the Bowls Big Weekend. Success rates were variable across the county with the town clubs attracting the most number of potential bowlers. Good luck for converting this interest into additional members for your clubs. 

Some clubs have alternative plans for recruiment this year and are yet to hold their open days. There is a general need to recruit new players to the sport, so we will happily display details if you wish to tell us what you have planned.

Currently we have been advised of the following:

Kidlington Bowls Club

Due to long-standing fixtures the club is unable to participate in the big bowls weekend. Therefore we are holding an open day on Sunday 6th June between 10.00 and 14.00. We would like to invite people of all ages to try what is a Covid safe sport. The club has recently added level access to aid entry on and off the green. A target competition is to be held through the day and refreshments will be available. For more information please contact Sue on 01865373314.Other information will be displayed , as received.

 

  Oxfordshire Bowling Association matches 2021

 The beginning of the 2021 season has been severely disrupted by the restrictions placed on the number of people allowed on a green, but changes to the Inter-county Competitions have been confirmed and details of matches are shown on the fixture list and within the diary.

 The Govt road-map indicates that social distancing laws will be relaxed from June 21 at the earliest and as a result, the County friendlies commence from 22 June onwards. We anticipate these will all be six rink matches.

An invitation to play and indicate availability will be circulated to all past players shortly and new players would be welcome too. However, new players will need to indicate a desire to play, via their club's OBA representative, who will ensure the selection committee are aware.

 Oxfordshire County League 2021

 The confirmed and updated fixtures for the 2021 season have been posted on this site.

Please note the temporary changes to the rules for 2021:

1.  The format will be 3 x Rinks & 1 x Triples (The Triples from each side will play each other)

2.  To enable a full team to be selected, all club members can be considered for selection. Alternatively, you can play with 12 bowlers but in the event that the triples play against the rinks, the triple will lose 25% of their score (as in world bowls laws of the sport of bowls Section 2.4 39-2.2). Triple against triple: a point to the winner or half a point each if the game is drawn.

 

   Bowls England have changed the traditional round robin matches for the inter-county competitions to a straight knock out competition commencing with area groupings, for this year only:

   The draws have recently been announced and the fixtures for Oxfordshire Ladies, Men and Juniors is as follows:

Middleton Cup - 10 July - v Buckinghamshire (at a neutral venue). - 10.30 am at Tilehurst BC, Reading.

Walker Cup  - 27 June  -  v Middlesex (H) - 1.30 pm at Banbury Chestnuts BC

Balcomb Trophy - 11 July - Middlesex (H) - 10.30 am at Headington BC

White Rose Trophy - 20 June - Buckinghamshire (A) - at Gerrards Cross BC, at 1030 hrs.

 The Home Counties Bowling Association has decided that the Home Counties League will not be played this year, but will be replaced by a straight knock out competition.

The first games will be played on Saturday, 17 July and Oxfordshire have been drawn at home to Kent. Further details will be published when arrangements have been made.

For information, the Junior Home Counties League will continue as planned. 

 

 On 25 March 2021, we received notification of changes to the rules for National championships and National Competitions. We also received new dates for inter-county matches within the National Competitions.

 National Championships will follow the Commonwealth Games format for 2021, with the exception of inter-county fixtures. This means that apart from singles events, all others either have fewer bowls per player or less ends. Full details are contained on the information page under Competition rules for 2021.

The Middleton Cup, Balcomb Trophy and White Rose Trophy will now become knock out events for 2021, rather than starting with regional round robin games. The fixture list and diary pages have been altered to reflect the new programme.

Similar changes have been made for the Ladies, for their respective inter-county competition fixtures.

The programme for all National Finals has also been changed and will be over a shorter period (Aug19-Sept5). As a result only the winners of county finals will go forward to represent Oxfordshire this year. Details of all finals are shown on the diary pages.

Further details can be found on the Bowls England website.

GORING AND ALMSHOUSES BOWLS CLUB

We are delighted to learn that Goring Bowling Club and Goring Heath Bowls Club have successfully amalgamated into a new club to be known as Goring and Almshouses Bowls Club. Congratulations to David Watson and both sets of officials for managing this change and good luck for the work ahead of you.

Both clubs had been experiencing low numbers of members in the recent past, which made the two previous clubs difficult to sustain, so this was a very sensible solution, even though not easy to achieve. That process is now almost complete, with all necessary member voting completed in favour of the merger.  The exact mechanism is that Goring Heath Bowls Club (Almshouses) has changed its name to "Goring and Almshouses Bowls Club" and Goring Bowling Club has voted to dissolve and transfer all assets and members to the new Goring and Almshouses Bowls Club.

A new committee has been elected and has held its first meeting (virtually, of course).  For this season at least, both the original greens will be kept in operation, with Oddfellows Triples League matches played at Goring and friendlies at The Almshouses. David Watson has been elected secretary of G&A BC.  He would appreciate all communications coming to their new email address:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

They have a new website up and running at:     https://gabowls.weebly.com

Details of key appointments and contact details have been updated on this website under the “Affiliated Clubs” tab.

Current members and potential new bowlers in the Goring area, will be eternally grateful to club officials for this initiative and we look forward to seeing the new club thrive in the future.

OBA Bowls Clothing

We are pleased to offer the ability to purchase OBA bowls attire online for people that intend to play county matches next season or to assist those established players that may have lost weight or gained a few lbs. 

Please take a look at the "SHOP" tab and plan ahead rather than purchasing on the day you intend to play.

We hope to extend the clothing on offer on this site, to save bowlers from having to search for their requirements in the future.

Please take a look.

 

 A timely reminder

Entries for the 2021 National Competitions & County Domestic Competitions are now closed and details of the draw can be found on this website

To enable clubs to more accurately predict their membership for 2021, given the fact that the pandemic completely disrupted the last season, the return date requested by Bowls England is 1 May. Therefore can all clubs please forward your list of players, togther with the fees due to Peter Cross by 24 April 2021 to ensure we meet this deadline.  

 The forms were sent to the Club Secretaries some time ago.Thanks.

As vaccines will be available in the New Year, we are optimistic that we should have a full programme outdoors in 2021.

Please make this a new year’s resolution to send these important details to us by the dates shown. Thanks for your anticipated assistance.