Chadsmoor’s Mick Ledwidge rounded off a fabulous county season of crown green bowling by claiming his first Staffordshire Champion of Champions title.
The popular Ledwidge made his usual quiet but impressive progress to the final, firstly defeating Scott Baird from The Plough then seeing off the tenacious John Melia 21-12 in the quarter-final.
At the semi-final stage, he faced one of Staffordshire’s most enduring bowlers John Piggott, who in the previous round had beaten Keith Beaman 21-17.
Ledwidge, showing unerring accuracy on the Sedgley Ex-Service green, proved too consistent for Piggott and moved into the final with a smooth 21-12 victory.
In the other half of the draw, there were two games of the very highest quality as Gordon Hawkins (Victoria Park) narrowly defeated Carl Fellows (Woodfield) 21-20 in the first round.
The game had been an exhibition of lead bowling, striking and drawing with neither giving in until the end.
Hawkins, on a high after the game, then faced Staffordshire Merit winner Ian Whitehouse in the quarter-finals.
Settling on a long diagonal mark that split the green in two Gordon Hawkins built up a 15-5 lead and with Whitehouse struggling against his opponents lead bowls it looked curtains.
But Whitehouse showed a touch of genius as, facing a count of two down with bowls a foot away, he proceeded to produce a winning wood from the other end of the green.
With confidence flooding back Whitehouse strung together an exceptional run of 13 shots to an 18-15 lead before Hawkins managed to find a counting bowl.
It was too late, though, and the initiative was with the Nordley Liberals bowler and he pulled away to win 21-16.
His semi-final was also slightly one-sided as he proved too consistent for his opponent Bob Ferguson and recorded a comfortable 21-12 win.
The final was a game too far for a clearly tiring Whitehouse, who 24 hours earlier had been competing in the BCGBA Champions event in Blackpool, and Ledwidge began to pull away to open up a 15-7 lead.
Bowling a medium mark Ledwidge’s excellent leading was the difference as Whitehouse’s bowls were just slightly too heavy and he soon wrapped up the title 21-11.
• The junior champion of champions event was won by Woodfield’s Mark Orme, who defeated Olly Chard (M&B Cheslyn Hay) 21-13 in the final.
Results
Senior Champions First Round: K. Beaman 21 H. Lamond 20, J. Piggott 21 G. Andrews 10, S. Baird 13 M. Ledwidge 21, B. Evans 16 J. Melia 21, J. Walsh 16 B. Ferguson 21, C. Derry 7 A. Jones 21, S. Chapman 18 I. Whitehouse 21, C. Fellows 20 G. Hawkins 21. Quarter-finals: K. Beaman 17 J. Piggott 21, M. Ledwidge 21 J. Melia 12, B. Ferguson 21 A. Jones 20, I. Whitehouse 21 G. Hawkins 16. Semi-fFinals: M. Ledwidge 21 J. Piggott 12, I. Whitehouse 21 B. Ferguson 12. Final: M. Ledwidge 21 I. Whitehouse 11. Junior Champions Quarter-finals: J. Webb 18 O. Chard 21, J. Richards 3 S. Simpson 21, A. Stubbs 21 M. Wesley 20, M. Orme 21 R. Prosser 20. Semi-finals: O. Chard 21 S. Simpson 13, A. Stubbs 16 M. Orme 21. Final: M. Orme 21 O. Chard 13.
• Twenty four hours earlier Ian Whitehouse was competing in the BCGBA Champion of Champions event on the Waterloo Hotel green in Blackpool.
Unfortunately he succumbed in the first round. The title eventually went to top Welsh bowler John Bailey of Llanwrst who produced a masterclass of corner bowling to defeat Graeme Wilson 21-17.
Earlier he had been involved in a titanic tussle to see of recent Waterloo handicap winner Chris Mordue 21-20 in his opening game.
The following day Bailey capped a fine weekend by winning the Don Morgan Trophy in Llandudno - a tremendous feat considering that this was another 32 bowler field and he won 10 games without defeat.
•Jane Edwards of the Amery produced a career best performance in the finals of the Ladies Champion of Champions event, also on the Waterloo, by reaching the semi-finals.
In a tense clash of excellent quality she just went down 21-18 to Jane Bowler.
The final was won by former Thurston Ladies champion Nicola Dolby, who easily defeated Bowler 21-9 in the final.
• The Ray Leath Memorial Invitational event at Nordley Liberals was a huge success for all involved and saw Woodfield’s Stuart Rutter produce a superb display of bowling to eventually defeat Warwick and Worcester’s top bowler Ant Bracken 21-15 in the final.
Semi-finals: A. Bracken 21 D. Storer 9, S. Rutter 21 N. Newey 20 Final: S. Rutter 21 A. Bracken 15.
•Liberals B, Heath Hayes, King George V and Haunchwood have progressed to the finals of the Baggeridge four man team competition.
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