A report of the 2023 Competitions is below:

The Friday Night Merit saw 76 entries which meant we went to a 16 finals day at the Bylet. Thank you to everyone who entered. Well done to Newport’s John Breeze for winning the Merit after beating Horsehay’s John Roberts Jnr 21-13 in the final. Thank you to all the entrants, the highest number we have had in a long time. Thank you to the Bylet for hosting the finals, providing two excellent greens and for the buffet. Thank you to Louise Cotton and Roger Cotton for refereeing and measuring. Thank you to Marg Fletcher for doing the raffle. Thank you to John Lumsden, Dave Evans,

Malcolm Fletcher, Tim Cotton, John Palmer and Denise Tonks for running the qualifiers for me. Thank you to the Bowring, Horsehay, Newport and Bridgnorth for hosting the qualifiers.

The Monday Night Merit attracted 45 entries, a great start to a new competition. Thank you to everyone who entered. The final saw Wrockwardine Wood’s Ellie Wall produce a superb performance to beat Bowring’s Steve Hendy 21-6. Well done to Ellie on her success, and to Steve on reaching the final. Thank you to the Bayley for hosting, to Celia Miles for doing the food and also to Denise Tonks for doing the raffle. Thank you to Steve Wall, Dave Evans and Louise Cotton for running the qualifiers. Thank you to Sinclair, Madeley Cricket Club and Trench for hosting the qualifiers. Thank you to Malcolm Fletcher and Sean Round for helping me run the finals night.

The Over 60s Merit had 20 entries at Donnington Wood and was won by Ian Gaut who beat Pete Spragg 13 in the final. Well done to Ian. Thank you to Donnington Wood for hosting.

The Mixed Doubles had 11 entries at Edgmond, and was retained by Ange & Martin Gaut, defeating Beth & Steve Reeves 15 in the final. Well done to Ange & Martin and thank you to Edgmond for hosting.

The Under 25 Merit at Sir John Bayley only had 4 entries, Tom Killen coming out on top beating Lucy Hireson 9 in the final. Well done to Tom and thank you to Sir John Bayley for hosting.

The Under 15 Merit had 5 entries and well done to Jordan Millman who beat Rowan Fuller in the final.

The Under 18 Merit had 8 entries and well done to Dan Corbett for beating Akeel Duncan in the final 15. Thanks to St Georges for hosting both and Brenda Slingo for helping run the competitions.

The Thursday Night Merit had 16 entries and well done to Pete Farmer on winning it beating Joe Killen in the final at the Bayley. Thank you to the Bayley for hosting.

The Dixon and Driscoll Doubles at Edgmond had 16 out of the 18 pairs turn up. Well done to John Potter and Harry Church for winning, beating Jamie & Phil King in the final. Thank you to Edgmond for hosting.

The Fletcher Junior Doubles at the Bayley had 5 entries, including Rory King and Luca Moseley who have a combined age of 11! Well done to Dan Corbett & Luke Morris for winning in a great final against Logan Church & Jordan Millman 20. Thank you to the Bayley for hosting once again.

The Ashton finals were a huge success at Wrockwardine Wood. Thank you very much to them for hosting, and to Louise Cotton for doing an excellent buffet. Well done to Newport for winning the Ashton Cup by beating Horsehay and Donnington Wood for winning the Ashton Shield finals after defeating Much Wenlock.  

The Harris Cup Final was a close affair with Highley defeating the Bylet by 9 overall, going down to the last game! Thank you to Sinclair for hosting, Mike Potter for refereeing and to Malcolm & Marg Fletcher for doing the buffet.

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

The 2023 Harris Cup Final features two teams from the South of Shropshire for the first time. Highley won this trophy back in 2019, whilst Bylet have featured in the final before in 2018 against Bowring and in 2006 or 2007 against St Georges.

Both teams are separated by just two places in the Premier League, with Highley finishing 10th compared to Bylet in 12th, Bylet getting the advantage of an one point handicap.

Bylet had a tough draw to get through, defeating Shifnal B by 61, then shocking St Georges Prem by 4 and then beating Wrockwardine Wood A by 40. Highley beat Allscott Heath A by 74, holders Hadnall by 32, Newport A by 65 and Shifnal A by 29, only losing 4 games on that run.

Bylet spokeswoman Cheryl Caswell says “we look forward to what I’m sure will be another good match against our friends and neighbours, Highley. It’s going to be a tough match, particularly as we miss a few key players and Highley appear to be at full strength. However, similar to Highley, we have players with some knowledge of the Sinclair green and will be hoping that we can draw upon that experience to get the result we would like. But whatever the result, we are delighted to round off the season with a final and I want to congratulate my team on that, whilst extending that congratulations to Highley for their achievements and look forward to the Harris Cup being brought south!”

Highley captain Reece Farr says “we’re looking forward to tonight’s game, a local derby in a final. I’m sure there will be a lot of banter round the green and a decent display of bowling, our lads are up for it and hopefully we can bring the silverware home!”

The action starts at Sinclair at 6.30 p.m. Live scores will be available here.

The draw and details for the Harris Cup Final are below.

Saturday 23^rd September

Bylet v Highley

At Sinclair

6.30 p.m. start

Referee: Mike Potter

Dress Code Applies

Bylet(P)	Score	Score	Highley(P)
Nick Wyer	0	0	Reece Farr
Scott Harries	0	0	Andy James
Rob Fuller	0	0	Darrell Handley
Jamie Taylor	0	0	John Heath
Nick Lewis	0	0	Frank Leek
Grant Cooper	0	0	Stuart Gittings
Cian Danter	0	0	David East
Cheryl Caswell	0	0	Danny Statham
John Newey	0	0	Jacob Ash
Simon Rhodes	0	0	Jack Hill
Games	0	0
Aggregate	0	0
Handicap	-16	-17
Aggregate	-16	-17

Bylet Reserves:

Tim Ealey

Ian Hopson

Lee Bowden

Highley Reserves:

Kris Johnson

Bruno Heath

Geoff Wylde

Sean Lockley

Connor Bray

Please see pictures below of the Ashton Cup & Shield kindly taken by our League President Mike Potter and League Chairman Sean Round.

Newport D and Donnington Wood B were the two victorious teams on a sunny evening at Wrockwardine Wood in front of a healthy crowd.

Newport D never let Horsehay C settle in the Ashton Cup Final, having two 21-6 wins in the first four, County President Mick Jones and Alan Gould. Carol Lomas won 10 for Horsehay to keep them in it at 11 chalks down. However Newport took the whole of the middle four, led by Patrick Evans Snr’s 11 win, to lead by 40, and two more winners in the back meant they won by 49 overall.

On the new green, it was a closer affair in the front four as Donnington Wood B led Much Wenlock B by 6 after taking 3 winners in the first 4, junior Hayden Jones leading the way 14. The middle four saw 3 further winners for Donnington to lead by 28 overall, captain Kevin Emlyn leading the way 21-8 as Sue Partridge won for Wenlock 12. They took the back two winners to win by 40 overall.

Well done to Newport and Donnington Wood on their success. Thank you to Wrockwardine Wood for hosting, and to Louise Cotton for doing the buffet after the match.

The results of the Ashton Cup final are here.

The results of the Ashton Shield final are here.

Luke Morris and Dan Corbett edged out Jordan Millman and Logan Church in a thrilling Fletcher Junior Doubles Final. They had to come back from 15-11 and 18-15 down to win in a high quality affair.

In the Semi Finals, Jordan and Logan beat Luca Moseley and Rory King, playing in their first doubles together with a combined age of only 11. In the other Semi, Luke and Dan were 14-13 down against Akeel Duncan and Thomas Clarke and ran out. The Prelim saw Jordan and Logan got 14-9 up on Jarratt Cotterill and Ben Cutler which was pegged back to 14 across. However Jordan and Logan kicked on to win 15.

Thank you to Sir John Bayley for hosting and to Brenda Slingo for helping run the competition. Thank you to Malcolm and Marg Fletcher for sponsoring the competition.

The Ashton Shield Final draw is below.

The final will take place on Saturday 2nd September at Wrockwardine Wood New Green at 7 p.m.

No	Donn Wood B	Score	Score	Much Wenlock B
1	Hayden Jones	0	0	Peter Rigby
2	Gwyn Jones	0	0	Jim Glancy
3	Warren Barber	0	0	Gordon Partridge
4	Simon Chand **	0	0	Peter Yates
5	Gary Gaut **	0	0	Marilyn Fletcher
6	Eddie Gillespie **	0	0	Mel Bardsley
7	Mick Thompson	0	0	Sue Partridge
8	Kevin Emlyn **	0	0	Robert Perry
9	George Emlyn **	0	0	David Arnold
10	Steve Corbett	0	0	Steve Preece
	Games	0	0	Games
	Aggregate	0	0	Aggregate
	Handicap	7	13	Handicap
	Total Points	7	13	Total Points

The Ashton Cup Final draw is below.

The final will take place on Saturday 2nd September at Wrockwardine Wood Old Green at 6.30 p.m.

No	Newport D	Score	Score	Horsehay C
1	Kevin Edwards	0	0	Peter Hayward ***
2	Mick Jones	0	0	Des Conneely
3	Alan Gould	0	0	Susan Harris
4	Patrick Evans (jnr)	0	0	Carol Lomas
5	Jeffrey Baddeley	0	0	David Burke
6	Robert Carter	0	0	Guy Lewis ***
7	David Chesters	0	0	Vinny Kirland
8	Patrick Evans	0	0	John Richards
9	Ian Edwards	0	0	Mick Davies ***
10	Neil Smallman ****	0	0	Neil Banks ***
	Games	0	0	Games
	Aggregate	0	0	Aggregate
	Handicap	0	16	Handicap
	Total Points	0	16	Total Points

Newport Reserves: Emma Chetwood & Martin Cotterill

Horsehay Reserves: John Roberts & Pat Feeney