There was a very reasonable turn out of 20 bowlers on a glorious sunny day for this year’s Roy Ashcroft Memorial Trophy, and it was good to see some of our newer members coming along and giving it a try. We split into two groups of 5 pairs to play in a round robin and played in a new revolutionary format.  Each match was played over 8 ends but the twist was that 4 had to be played on one green and then the other 4 on the other green.

In Group A Les Farrell and Rylan Irwin were in fire wining all their games with a +25 points difference.  Ian and Hannah Jones came in second after managing 2 wins and a draw.  Group B also saw run away winners, with Steve Denning and Dean Simmonds winning all their matches and amassing a large +32 points difference.  Ian Gill and Dave Roper scrapped into the semis with 2 wins and a +17 points difference.

On to the semi finals and the hot favourites, Steve and Dean crashed out 13-2 to Ian & Hannah, with Hannah playing an amazing game on the carpet to seal it. The other semi final was a bit closer and it was neck and neck after the first 4 ends on the grass.  However Ian & Dave pulled away on the carpet to take it 8-4.

The final was therefore the battle of the group runners-up with the winners of each group having run out of steam in the semis.  The crowd seemed to be favouring Ian & Hannah, but it was Ian & Dave who proved to be the villians of the piece and they ran out 11-3 to lift the trophy.  it proved to be a great day though and the format seemed to work.