07 Oct NEW NAME ON THE CUP

On Friday 6 October the final rounds of the John Hoyle Cup, played at Brockholes produced a new name on the cup and a new bowler on the block destined to win more of our trophies.

The new format for the competition drew quarter finalists from Divisions 1, 2 and 3, some of which started on scratch as inter-district bowlers whilst others had handicaps of 3 or 4 coming from Divisions 2 and 3. 29 entries were received and 25 were in the draw done at greenside of Thongsbridge on 28 September.

A couple of the quarter finals pitted teammates against each other, Peter Fuller of Lindley Bowling club beat teammate Tony Allen 21-8 whilst Tim Poulter beat his teammate Malcolm Gilbert 21-20. In the other quarter finals Trevor Atkinson of Huddersfield Recreation was beaten 21-13 by the incumbent champion Mick Cox whilst Gary Foulkes of Waterloo beat a third Clayton West Bowler Stuart England 21-5.

Mick Cox was defeated for the first time in this competition by Tim Poulter in the semi-final and Gary Foulkes defeated Peter Fuller 21-14 giving us a final with two inter-district bowlers, Gary playing for Waterloo in our 10-man league and Wakefield in the inter-district, Tim being a regular in the Huddersfield away team.

The final was a very right run affair and the lead switched regularly between the two bowlers with some superb bowling. The bowlers were tied at 18 across before Tim took the lead to 19-18 but Gary wasn’t to to be denied edging back to 20-19 up with Tim equalising to all-but across which couldn’t have been a better climax to the days bowling. Tim lead a good first bowl which Gary improved upon, Tim put up another good bowl that referee Ray Tunnacliffe called a good measure. Gary was about to walk up and check the situation but Tim sportingly conceded.

Yet another of our finals had been played in rain, albeit just a constant drizzle on the day so the presentations were done indoors by the writer who thanked the supporters for their attendance and raffle entries raising £98. The Hoyle family were in attendance in numbers and they were thanked for their generous sponsorship of all prize monies. Brockholes had hosted a magnificent final and Ray Tunnacliffe was thanked for yet again another wet final.

Jeremy Hoyle presented the prizes and Gary Foulkes donated all his winnings to the associations Kirkwood Hospice Fund. With the proceeds from the raffle and a further raffle on 9 October, the entry fees, the £100 donation from Huddersfield Recreation and a couple of smaller donations made during the season the fund should exceed the previous donations from this particular competition.

Photos are by courtesy of Bob Haigh, Huddersfield Recreation