LEIGH & DISTRICT

2014 Saw a field of 20 bowlers of which Danny Mayers, John McCaul and Angela Hampson were double qualifiers. With one player absent at the time of the draw there were three preliminary rounds to be played. The top half of the draw including the prelims was by far the tougher to negotiate. The green had been subject to heavy overnight rain and a steady drizzle was still falling as the contest started. The prelims saw Garth Smith  out stretched Billy Rigby to win to 8, John Hayes disposed of poor performing Stuart Hodson to 7 and Danny Mayers came back from 14-7 down to beat Alan Hill to 16.

 

Round 1 had two previous winners John Hayes and Garth Smith drawn against each other with Garth running out an easy winner to 11. Danny Mayers, on his debut, never gave John (Cash) McCaul a sniff as he cruised to a 21-6 win. Debutant Owen Peters got to grips with the green early beating Angela Hampson to 6. Defending champion Ian Inman struggled to a win against Michelle Glover winning to 14. Three time winner John Heathcote had to work hard to overcome Sue Walkden to 14. Another debutant Brian Medley made a brave fight against Jordan Dowbekin only to lose to 16. Denis Dootson and John Massey had a good scrap with Denis finishing the strongest to win to 16. George Chadwick showed his class early in the competition with a win to 5 against Eric Berry.

 

The top half of the draw continued to throw together tough draws with Garth Smith being out played by the seasons in form bowler Danny Mayers. Ian Inman’s familiarity with the green proved too much for Owen Peters (11) to handle. Jordan Dowbekin outplayed John Heathcote (9) and Denis Dootson (18) narrowly lost out to George Chadwick.

 

The semi-finals of Inman versus Danny Mayers and Chadwick versus Dowbekin made for a youth versus experience in both games. Danny failed to capitalise on an indifferent performance by Ian and ended up losing out to 18. While Jordan couldn’t beat the canny George Chadwick going down 21-17.

 

The final of Inman versus Chadwick saw Ian take a commanding lead of 13-2 after 11 ends. George started to bowl well but the rubs and luck all went Ian’s way. The game tightened up as George pulled back to 13-17 down only to see Ian push on to run out a 21-14 winner and retain the trophy for a second year.