The Ashton Shield Draw has now been completed. There is one prelim with Donnington Wood B taking on Allscott Heath C on Wednesday 19th July. The winners of that game will play in the Quarter Finals with 7 other teams on Wednesday 2nd August.
Two Sinclair bowlers won the Under 15 and 18 Merits at St Georges Bottom Green. Jordan Millman retained the Under 15 Merit after beating Rowan Fuller in the final 6, while Daniel Corbett beat Akeel Duncan 15 in the final, running out from 15-14 down an edge.
The Semi Finals of the Under 15 were both 21-16. Rowan was 14-4 down on Ben Cutler but ran out from 16-7 down. Jordan was always ahead in his game against Jarrett Cotterill, leading 13-5 and 19-9. There were two prelims in the Under 15s, Rowan got past Luke Morris 13, running out from 15-13, while Jordan defeated clubmate Logan Church, having to come back from 12-8 down to win 16.
The Under 18 Semi Finals were extremely close affairs. Dan did lead Ben Cutler 12-5, but then conceded five 2s on the bounce to go 16-12 down. From 19-16 down he managed to run out. The other Semi was even closer, Thomas Oare led Akeel 10-2 down an edge before Akeel hit back to go from 13-9 down to lead 17-13. Thomas came back though to 20 across before Akeel got the one he needed.
In the Quarter Finals, Dan had got past Logan Church 15, a 6 break from 9 across helping him win. Ben beat the Under 15 Merit winner Jordan Millman, winning 12 from 10-8 down. Akeel had a close game with Luke Morris, having to fend off a fightback from Luke who got back to 19 across from 19-12 down, before Akeel scored two singles. Thomas had also won 19 against Rowan Fuller, coming back from 13-5 and 18-10 down to run out from 19-15 down. There was one prelim with Ben having raced 10-2 up on Jarratt Cotterill and winning 10.
Thank you to St Georges for hosting, and to Brenda Slingo for helping me run it. Well done to our two winners on their success.
Competitions Secretary Rob Burroughs with Under 15 Merit winner Jordan Millman.
The 1st round of the Ashton Cup takes place tonight with a place in the Quarter Finals at place. The two winners in the Prelims meet as Division 4 Champions and current leaders Newport D play Sinclair C. Second placed St Georges take on Much Wenlock B, who are going well in Division 5. 3rd placed Wrockwardine Wood C have a local derby with Donnington Wood B, while two division 6 teams meet as Shifnal D play St Georges D. Two teams struggling at the bottom of their Division collide as Division 4 side Madeley CC C play Division 5 team Hadley USC C. Highley are flying high of Division 5 and play fellow side Sir John Bayley D. Charlton B play Horsehay C, and Bowring C take on Trench C.
There are 8 ties in the Preliminary Round of the Harris Cup, but one has already potentially provided the story of the round. Shifnal A managed to defeat Premier League Champions Wrockwardine Wood by 6 chalks in a big shock. They won by 10 at home with 4 winners, Tom Killen the best of them 10, while away they lost by 45 with Paul Reeves their only winner 16.
There are other Premier League teams out to avoid a shock like that. Castlefields play a familiar foe in Newport, who have a few of their former Premier League players still in their team. Highley will be looking to avoid a shock like last year when they lost out to Trench as they play Allscott Heath. Last year’s winners, Hadnall, have Hadley USC A first round, while two of the Division 3 teams are in action. Wrockwardine Wood B play the Division 1 Champions Horsehay with a 34 chalk handicap advantage. while Worfield have a 23 chalk start on Bowring A. Division 2 side Charlton will look to shock Division 1 team Madeley CC, with the closest Handicap between Sir John Bayley and Sinclair, with the Bayley having a 2 chalk advantage.
2023 Shropshire veterans inter-league champions Mid Shropshire with skipper Ian Evans holding the trophy and the team joined by elated League President Mike Potter.
Pictured, back from left, Les Mumford, Dave Brown, John Clarke, Mike Potter, Phil Harris; front, Ian Delves, Tony Roche, Ian Evans, Pete Burd, Peter Spragg.
Newport D and Sinclair C came through the Ashton Cup prelims to book their place in the 1st round. Newport beat Allscott Heath C by 21 overall, winning by 29 away, led by Kevin Edwards winning 6, but losing by 6 at home, Gary Cartwright the best for the away side 11. Sinclair won by 70 overall, winning by 35 at Shifnal C with 5 winners, Don Hood the best of them 9, while at home they had Daniel Corbett as their best winner 6, winning by 34 there.
The two teams meet in the Ashton Cup 1st round on Wednesday 28th June, while Shifnal C and Allscott Heath C go into the Ashton Shield, and will be joined by the 7 other first game losers in the 1st round of the Ashton Cup, with the revised draw below.
Tom Killen with the Under 25 Merit shield. The four players with organiser Rob Burroughs. From left: Logan Church, Tom Killen, Lucy Hireson, Georgia Rawlins.
Tom Killen won the Under 25 Merit for the first time as he came out of 4 entries on a very wet Sir John Bayley green. After a 20 minute delay due to a thunderstorm hitting the green just before 6, the four entrants braved the rain. Tom defeated Georgia Rawlins 13 after going 9-3 and 16-9 up, while Lucy Hireson beat Logan Church by the same score after racing 9-0 up and holding off a comeback when he got back to 10-6 behind. In the final, Tom upped his game after going 4-2 down versus Lucy, having a break of 14 to lead 16-4, despite Lucy playing some good shots and not quite working out. Lucy played an excellent shot to get in, but Tom wasn’t able to be caught, flicking out Lucy’s bowl at 20-9 up to win the title for the first time.
Thank you to the Bayley for hosting tonight, and to the 4 entrants for braving the conditions. Well done to Tom for winning the competition.
