No bowls, but Julian jubilant
Julian Cooke's preparations for the finals of the Cross Gates Open Doubles were hardly ideal - he turned up at Ford without his bowls. But by Saturday night, having borrowed Nigel Bound's bowls and used them to great effect, Cooke and his Meole Brace team-mate Mark Thomas were £250 better off as the new champions.
And they did it the hard way, battling back from 14-3 down in the final against county teamster Daryl Edwards and his Pontesbury team-mate Gareth Ingram to win 21-16.
"I don't know if money changed hands after Julian borrowed the bowls, but Boundie said they had never been so close to the jack!" joked Ford chairman Andy Jones.
Cooke and Thomas had battled hard to qualify for the finals, beating big guns Paul Williams and Martin Lloyd en route.
And they really turned on the style in the semi-finals as they saw off Premier Pairs winners Dave Rhodes and Chris Grocott of St Georges 21-17.
At the same stage Edwards and Ingram were beating Dave Redge and Doug Edwards (Prince of Wales BC) - and they looked sure to be winners of the £700 comp as they raced ahead in the final.
But they lost their length, and some good drawing and striking from Cooke and Thomas turned the game into a well deserved win.
Favourites Wayne Phillips and Tony Hotchkiss (Meole Brace) lost 21-16 in round one to Rhodes and Grocott.
Quarter-final scores:
Redge & Edwards 21, Clay Flattley (Castlefields) & Paul Smith (Chester Road) 15; Edwards & Ingram 21, Steve Broome & Dave Semper (Wrockwardine Wood) 17; Rhodes & Grocott 21, Stuart Rutter & Martin Gaut (Wrockwardine Wood) 10; Cooke & Thomas 21, Dave Stamp (SJ Bayley ) & Chris Randell (Moor Lane) 10.
By Malcolm Fletcher
Popular stories:
Chaos fears on new car law
Three extra CCTV cameras
Find bargains with StarBidz
Daily news blog
Rare guitar stolen from shop
