CHESHIRE COUNTY BOWLS ASSOCIATION
CENTENARY
Held at Rudheath Bowling Club.
BY GERALD MERRY, From the book CCBA Centenary Souvenir.
The final day of the Centenary merit took place at Rudheath Private Sports and Social Club on Sunday 19th September 2010. The green was in good condition and all other facilities and duties required of the host venue were as expected from this forward thinking club, for which they received due thanks
A sparse crowd was in attendance partially due to the biting wind but more as a result of other events taking place both locally and nationally at what is a very busy period in the bowling calendar.
Twenty three hopefuls were on the programme having battled their way through the qualifying rounds that had been run by the leagues throughout the County.
The Lord Major of Chester and Lady Majoress, Neil and Kathie Ritchie honoured us with their presence, in what was their third of four engagements for the day, arriving as the final ends of the last sixteen games where taking place.
For the quarter final places Rob O’Shea (Chester) got the better of Alan Vickers (Mid Cheshire) with his second 21-17 win of the day. Jim Large (Frodsham) fell to Martin Kettle (Mid Cheshire) 21-13 after both players had single figure wins in the earlier round. Francis Penlington (Chester) edged out Chris koral (Frodsham) 21-19 and there were even closer wins for Ron Jones (Knutsford) and Jon Gurney (Mid Cheshire) both went through 21-20 against Allan Dean (Mid Cheshire) and Terry Norman (Alderley Edge) respectively. Steve Egerton (Chester) took out Pete Illidge (Mid Cheshire) 21-15, Rob Winnington had an emphatic 21-6 win over County secretary Steve Cook (Altrincham) and Andy Murray (Altrincham) went into the last eight by beating Craig Bourbonneux (Mid Cheshire) 21-13.
It was therefore the perfect opportunity for the President to publicly welcome the distinguished guests and the crowd showed their appreciation for attending.
With at least six of the last eight players coming in the category of young, it was a great advert for the sport being one for all ages, and the field was still wide open with still no out and out favourite.
As it transpired Rob O’Shea lost to Martin Kettle by the same 21-17 score he had beaten the last two opponents, Francis Penlington breezed past Ron Jones 21-12, Jon Gurney got over the line 21-18 against the spirited challenge of Steve Egerton and Andy Murray out played Rob Winnington 21-13.
Into the semi finals, and in the top half of the draw saw Martin Kettle and Francis Penlington play an extremely good game of bowls before Francis bowed out 21-17 to the greater consistency of his opponent, whilst in the bottom half of the draw Jon Gurney blitzed away from Andy Murray in the early stages and it looked like a comfortable win was in sight. Andy had other ideas, clawing back a double digit deficit to lay up with two decent bowls when the score stood at 19-20. By this time Jon had completely lost his length and in the circumstances chose to play at the jack, which much to his relief he managed to catch, sufficient to carry it to his back bowl for a 21-19 victory.
Thus we were to see two young Mid Cheshire players , both still in their 20’s compete in the final, thus displacing the myth of our sport being an old man’s game. Martin Kettle from Wharton Cons now back in the game after a few years away versus Jonathan Gurney former homester, now playing for Comberbach. It was a competitive game throughout and a credit to both of them, but in the end the most consistent player on the day Martin Kettle notched up his third consecutive 21-17 win to become the worthy winner of the Centenary merit.
