MIKE POTTER REPORTS ON DAVE BOWN’S SECOND OVER-60 MERIT TRIUMPH
The first winner of the Mid Shropshire League’s Over-60 Merit was Dave Brown in 2016 at Trench.
And back at the same venue for the 2022 competition on Saturday 14th May the day ended with the same winner after Dave Brown – PICTURED – defeated last year’s champion, Kevin Carter of Broseley 21-9 to have his name engraved on the trophy for a second time.
A preliminary round game saw Dave Oldcorn fight his way back from 5-12 down and eventually tie his game with Helen Clee 16-16 before going on to finish the game off 21-17.
Quarter -Finals
Dave Oldcorn began well to lead Tony Roche 6-1, before losing the jack for 10 straight ends that saw Tony stretch into a 17-6 lead and kept up the pressure to maintain his advantage as the game ended 21-10.
Kevin Carter opened up a strong 9-1 on Steve Wall which he turned into 12-5 and up to 18-10 and managed to hold Steve’s late surge to get the win from 19-15 to finish 21-15.
After an even start with the scores between reigning British Veterans Merit champion Keith Pessall and Pete Spragg 6-6, Pete took control of the game to go 14-8 up before ending Keith’s hopes by winning 21-13.
Dave Brown & Dave Wall found difficulty trying to out-fox each other on different marks around the green as neither could not hold onto the jack all the way down the card, 8-8, 12-12 and 17-17. Until at 18-18 Browny managed to hold it for 3 ends to go through 21-18.
Semi-finals
With all four of the Semi-finalists having been winners of this title, the small group of gathered spectators were not disappointed as they were to see some top class bowls.
A very evenly matched game between Kevin Carter and Tony Roche began 6-6, and went on to 11-11, 15-15 and 17-17 before Kevin grabbed his chance and take the last 4 ends to make the final, winning 21-17.
Meanwhile, Dave Brown & Pete Spragg were also trying to break away from each other that saw their scores go from 4-4, 7-7 and 12-12 until Dave did take control of the jack and won 7 of the game’s last 8 ends to seal his 21-14 win through to the final.
The final:
Dave Brown established a 5-4 (6 ends) over the reigning champion Kevin Carter and, once he had found a favourable 25 metre mark along the bottom edge of the green, Dave wasted little time by taking 8 unanswered ends and into a commanding 16-4 (15ends) lead – from which point the players shared the next 10 ends, each counting 5 single chalks that saw the contest end with Dave Brown winning 21-9 (25ends)
Standing in for the holidaying Competitions Secretary, League chairman Sean Round thanked the competitors and Trench Bowling Club for the hospitality and generous use of a green in pristine condition before League President, Mike Potter, presented the Ray & Jeff Hutchinson Cup to a delighted and deserving champion, Dave Brown.