Hale is a cut above the rest at Burway Open
A bowler who has played for the last two champions of the Shropshire Premier League enjoyed his own title-winning day in the £1,560 Burway Open.
Josh Hale was a clear cut above the rest at the Ludlow club on Saturday as he landed the £500 first prize, showing just why Sir John Bayley in 2023 and Castlefields last year benefitted from his services in the Premier.
And the Warwick & Worcester man beat a double British Senior Merit winner in Matt Gilmore with ease in the final.
Steve Burmingham of the organising team said: “Gilmore had a 6-5 lead but Hale won the jack back and dominated the next eight ends and had a commanding 17-6 lead.
“Gilmore just couldn't get the block back and scored one more shot as Hale saw it through to win 21-7 in a dominant fashion, win the competition for the first time and go on the reserve list for the Champion of Champions.”
Competitors travelled from as far away as Merseyside, Yorkshire and the Isle of Man and some surprising results early on included defending champion Callum Wraight beaten in the third round by county team mate Spencer Clarke.
Hale accounted for reigning Yorkshire Merit champion Gareth Coates 21-15 in the semi-fdinals after racing into a 13-1 lead while Gilmore got the better of the Bayley’s Dan Taylor 21-19 after battling back from 10-4 down.
Quarter-final scores in the Ludlow Motors, Prestige Plumbing & Heating and Ludlow Brewery-sponsored KO were: Taylor 21 Jon Palmer 16; Gilmore 21 Clarke 18; Coates 21 Aaron King 2; Hale 21 Ronan Allen 13.
