The first club competition of the season saw members form drawn pairs to play a one-day tournament following Australian Pairs rules. The winners would receive the Jim Ashby plate. Each pair represented a royal palace, castle or dwelling in recognition of the forthcoming Coronation of King Charles.
Photo above: The winners (R: Howard and Russell) and runners-up (L: Brian and John)
It was a packed day of bowling. The morning saw a round-robin format across 10 rinks as the twenty teams battled to reach the knockout stage. The best performing eight teams entered the knock-out leading to a 1st/2nd match and a 3rd/4th match. The 12 teams who didn't make the final knockout played further matches to produce a final rank-order of all 20 teams.
A brief downpour caused just a few moments of interruption before the matches continued in light rain for a while. Spectators watched from the sanctuary of the clubhouse!
Cash prizes were awarded to 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th places. Also, eight golden envelopes worth £10 each were distributed to a random selection of other teams. A great day was had by all. The one-day tournament format, with Australian Pairs matches over five ends proved popular again this year following last year's successful event organised in a similar way to celebrate the Commonwealth Games. Let's see what 2023 might bring?
Many thanks to Jo Doust and Brian Whittaker for organising the tournament. In particular, thanks to Brian, who did an outstanding job in organising the draw and cards, and then keeping up to date with ranking all the results and allocating teams to the afternoon matches. With 20 teams, each playing five or six matches over the day this was quite a feat!
Some more photos from the day (clicked images should open as full size)
Top row: Some golden envelop winners
Middle row: Howard Medway pleased with his success. Another golden pair
Bottom row: A well-earned drink; happy spectators
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