Highley won a great final tonight as they beat Bylet by 9 chalks at Sinclair. They had to come back from being 8 behind after four games, and then 1 behind after eight games, to win the trophy for the first time.
The first four games were all one sided at one time, with two up for either side. Bylet captain Scott Harries finished his game off quick though, playing excellent over the middle to win 6. Highley captain Reece Farr was 20-7 ahead of Nick Wyer as he looked to cancel that out, but Nick played very well over the middle to get back to 14 before Reece got in. Darrell Handley was 9-1 and 15-9 up on Rob Fuller, but Rob got back to 15. Conversely for Highley, Jon Heath fought back from 14-5 and 18-10 behind to get 16 off Jamie Taylor. This meant Bylet were 8 up off four games.
Frank Leek though put Highley ahead after winning 11 despite a slow start seeing him 5-3 down. Stu Gittings also had a slow start to be 10-5 down versus Grant Cooper, but he then went 19-12 up. Grant got back to 16 before Stu got the two he needed to put Highley further ahead. However Cian Danter played some great bowls against Dave East to go 6-0 up and hold off any comeback, running out from 15-14 up over the middle to put the game level. At this stage it looked like that Highley had the upper hand as Danny Statham went from 5-0 down to lead Cheryl Caswell 17-9 in the corners. But Cheryl never gave up, and on a round peg, came back to win 20, which put Bylet one up with their plus handicap of one.
The games at this stage were Jacob Ash leading John Newey 15-11 and Jack Hill was 14-10 up on Simon Rhodes, but had been 9-0 up in the corners. Bylet refused to give in as John got back to 17 across and led a foot bowl, while Simon was only 16-13 behind. Jacob though put two inside John’s lead, and got out in the next two ends to win 17. At this time Jack only led 16-15, and needed to get 19 to win the game. However he responded and scored two singles and despite chucking the jack off corners, he got two the next end and then won his game 15 at the next, to mean that Highley won by 9.
Well done to Highley on their success. Thank you to Sinclair for hosting and to Mike Potter for refereeing. Thank you to Marg & Malcolm Fletcher for doing the buffet tonight.
| Bylet(P) | Score | Score | Highley(P) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nick Wyer | 14 | 21 | Reece Farr |
| Scott Harries | 21 | 6 | Andy James |
| Rob Fuller | 15 | 21 | Darrell Handley |
| Jamie Taylor | 21 | 16 | John Heath |
| Nick Lewis | 11 | 21 | Frank Leek |
| Grant Cooper | 16 | 21 | Stuart Gittings |
| Cian Danter | 21 | 14 | David East |
| Cheryl Caswell | 21 | 20 | Danny Statham |
| John Newey | 17 | 21 | Jacob Ash |
| Simon Rhodes | 15 | 21 | Jack Hill |
| Games | 4 | 6 | |
| Aggregate | 172 | 182 | |
| Handicap | -16 | -17 | |
| Aggregate | 156 | 165 |
