BURSCOUGH & LATHOM MENS BOWLING LEAGUE

Review of the 2007 season

Despite the atrocious weather this summer, the league had once again a very full & successful season. One of the highlights of the season was Wayne Ditchfield (aged 16) of New Longton BC, winning a hat-trick of league titles as well as adding to his impressive Junior record & continuing as the No.1 Junior player in the sport. After winning his fifth successive Under-18 league merit title, he went on to win the league pairs competition for the second time & the inaugural Ste.Rimmer Memorial Singles Shield. He also successfully retained the BCGBA All England Junior merit for the 3rd time (the 1st player ever to achieve this feat), the North Lancashire & Fylde Junior merit title for the 2nd time & the Federation of Crown Green Bowls Intermediate merit for the 2nd time as well as winning several other junior titles. He also won his first senior singles open event at New Longton. He completed a remarkable season by reaching the last 8 in the BCGBA Champion of Champions at the Waterloo. Another highlight of the season, was the success of the inaugural running of the Ste.Rimmer Memorial Singles Shield which attracted an entry of 104 competitors.

It was fairly predictable that Mere Brow A would once again dominate the league & this proved to be the case as they succeed in retaining the 1st Division championship for the 16th successive time & for the 20th time in 23 years. They won 15 out of their 16 matches, despite losing their opening match 7-3 away to Banks St.Stephens A, they remained unbeaten for the rest of the season & had 32 points to spare over second placed New Longton, who finished in second place for the third time. At the other end of the table, Mawdesley A were relegated for their first time in their history after losing the relegation playoff with Burscough RBL A. The 1st Division Player of the Year award was won for the 1st time by Dave Fenney (Mere Brow A), who scored 36 points winning 14 of 16 games.

In the second division, the championship was eventually won by Fleetwood Hesketh A for the 4th time, by just 7 points, after a season long battle with Botanic Gardens A & Zetland. The second place position was decided on the last day of the league season, when Botanic Gardens A had to travel to Zetland needing to beat them to snatch the promotion place. The result hinged on the last game on the green which was won by Roy Wyatt (Botanic Gardens A) 21-14 giving them the aggregate victory in the match & scoring 8 points to Zetland's 5 points to secure promotion by a single point. It was Botanic Garden A's fourth time as runners-up. At the bottom of the table, Tarleton B & Croston Black Horse were relegated. The 2nd Division Player of the Year award was won for the first time by Carl Hankin (London Hotel), who scored 40 points winning 16 of 17 games.

In the third division, Fleetwood Hesketh B won the championship by 16 points & gained promotion to the 2nd division after being relegated last season, with Hesketh Bank finishing as runners-up with two points to spare over Longton VM B. This is the second time, Fleetwood Hesketh B have won this title & the 1st time Hesketh Bank have finished as runners-up. The 3rd Division Player of the Year award was won for the first time by A.(Tony) Haywood (Mawdesley B), who scored 35 points winning 14 of 16 games.

The KO Team Trophy Final was a thrilling climax to the season, with surprise winners, London Hotel, taking their 1st ever KO team trophy title when narrowly defeating Burscough RBL A in an extremely close fought final on the superb Longton VM No.2 green in front of a good crowd. In the early stages of the match, London Hotel got off to the better start winning 3 out of the first 5 games, including a 21-4 win by man of the match, Carl Hankin, to give themselves a 30.5 chalk advantage at the halfway stage. However, Burscough RBL A fought back by winning the next three games, including a 21-6 win from Miles Forshaw, who was Burscough RBL A's best player on the night, to reduce the deficient to just 3.5 chalks with the last two games on the green for a grandstand finish. Both these games were extremely close affairs & both sides look like they were going to take the title at various stages of these games, but eventually, with Ken Livesley (London Hotel) beating Bill Neale 21-18 & Dave Haskayne (Burscough RBL A) beating Brian Redford 21-19, the match & title went to London Hotel by a narrow 4.5 chalk margin. Pre-tournament favourities Mere Brow A & New Longton were knocked out in the early rounds, Mere Brow A lost to Banks St Stephens A by 3.5 chalks in the 1st round while New Longton lost to Burscough RBL A by 14.5 chalks in the 2nd round. Semi-finalists were Croston Subscription & Mere Brow B.

The 5th under-18 merit competition was keenly contested by the 8 competitors taking part on a round robin basis on Saturday 30th June at London Hotel BC. Undefeated 16 year old Wayne Ditchfield (New Longton) won the competition, for the fifth successive year, by defeating runner-up Mark Chester (Fox Lane) 21-16 in a thrilling final. Semi-Finalists were John Gibbons (Scarisbrick BC) & Martyn Walsh (Formby RBL). The play throughout the competition was of an exceptionally high standard considering the ages of the competitors & the atrocious weather conditions.

The following day, Mick Lynch (Tarleton) won the League's President's day defeating Alan Wolfe (Mere Brow) 21-20 in a keenly contested final. The event was well attended with 31 competitors taking part, who throughly enjoyed the day, including the superb salmon tea, which was hosted by the league president, Mr Joe Abram. Play throughout the day was of the highest standard on the superb Tarleton No.1 green. Semi-finalists were Roger Lambert (Hoole Village Hall) & Bill Rose (Mere Brow).

By winning the 2007 league pairs competition, Wayne Ditchfield (New Longton) won his second league pairs title & his second league title of the season. Despite giving 3 chalks start to all their opponents, he & his partner, Phil Lee (Burscough RBL) cruised through the final day rounds with wins of 21-15, 21-8 & 21-13. In a one sided final, Phil Lee, using his homester's green knowledge, produced some excellent lead bowls on his favourite 30 to 35 metre marks around the green & was ably supported by Wayne who produced some excellent bowls when required including some pinpoint accurate strikes. This prevented their final opponents, John Berry & John Cragg (Mere Brow), from getting into the game & producing their earlier good form & they cruised to a 21-7 win allowing their opponents to score at only 3 ends. Semi-finalists were Colin Moore & Carl Hankin (London Hotel), Tony Wakefield & Mick Thompson (Zetland).

Wayne Ditchfield (New Longton) made it a hat-trick of league titles by winning the inaugural running of the Steve Rimmer Memorial Singles Shield in comfortable style. He continued his good form with comfortable wins of 21-14, 21-15 & 21-14 to take him into the final with some excellent leading & pinpoint accurate striking despite the showery conditions. In the other half of the draw, Roy Webster (Banks St Stephens) was keeping the home club chances of taking the title alive with wins of 21-13, 21-15 & 21-19. In front of a large crowd & in improving weather conditions, the early stages of the final were nip & tuck with the players levelling the scores at 10 across after 15 ends but then Wayne took control of the match scoring 8 chalks to 1 over the next 6 ends with some pinpoint accurate strikes & excellent scoring bowls as required. The next 5 ends were shared 3 chalks each, giving Wayne the game & title 21-14. The League & competitors would like to give many thanks to Yvonne Rimmer for donating & presenting the splendid trophies & to Banks St Stephens Bowling Club for the use of their excellent facilities including the superb condition of their green & to their many league members who supported & helped in the running of this competition, making it a very memorable & successful event.

Bill Rose (Mere Brow), representing our league, was in outstanding form to win his second Ormskirk Advertiser Trophy title by beating Barry Davies (Timms Lane) 21-14 in this year's final on the excellent but tricky Burscough Cricket & Bowling Club green, in front of a good & appreciative crowd. Earlier in the day, he had cruised through the earlier rounds with some superb bowling, beating Phil Lee (Burscough Cricket Club) 21-12 in the semi-final, Colin Shaw (Hare & Hounds) 21-8 in the last 8 & Tommy Draper (Aughton Institute) 21-10 in the last 16. Our other league qualifiers lost in the earlier rounds, Dave Fenney (Mere Brow) reached the semi-final stage, losing 16-21 to Barry Davies, Mick Lynch (Tarleton) reached the last 8, losing 13-21 to Dave Fenney & Alan Wolfe (Mere Brow) lost in the last 16 to Colin Shaw 10-21.

All officials & players are now looking forward to the start of another rewarding & exciting season in mid-April 2008. If you are interested in joining this Friday Night league, there are currently vacancies for players &/or teams of 10 players for clubs based in the West Lancashire & Southport Areas. For further information, please e-mail me on secretary@burscoughleague.org.uk with your details.