Bowls round-up: Mondays are magic for Foster, chance for young bowlers and Wraight eyes a double
Mondays are proving magic for Shrewsbury bowler Ian Foster this year, writes Malcolm Fletcher.
Exactly two weeks on from being crowned County Veterans Merit champion, the Battlefield man had another memorable Monday at the Salop Leisure Shrewsbury Senior Citizens League’s mixed singles.
Foster, part of the Battlefield A team that sits top of the first division, won the main title at Meole Brace by beating Nick Marshall (Prince of Wales Hotel) 21-12 in the final.
“We had an entry of 32 players and the two losing semi-finalists were Dave Povey (Pontesbury) and Bernie Garbett (Meole Brace),” said league chief Chris Kershaw. “The consolation was won by Roger Candlin (Llanymynech) who beat Den Walton (Pontesbury) 21-18, with the two losing semi-finalists being Mark Thomas (Meole Brace) and Chris Partridge (Albert Road).”
“Our next one day competition will be the doubles at Meole Brace on Monday, August 7.”
Youngsters in the spotlight
The county’s younger bowlers take centre stage this weekend.
The 18-25 Merit at Bayston Hill takes place on Saturday, with two qualifiers to go forward to the British finals on Sunday, August 10, at Dudley Dell.
Start time is 10am and entries costing £5 will be taken up until then by county competitions secretary Mike Potter.
Then on Sunday Shropshire’s under-18s have a title-deciding showdown against Yorkshire in the British Junior County Championship.
Meole Brace No.2 will host the 12-a-side home leg of a clash that will decide who finishes champions of the premier division, while the away squad travel to Broad Oak in Linthwaite.
Callum's big-money target
Two more big-money titles are the target for Shropshire bowls king Callum Wraight this weekend.
The red-hot Shrewsbury star has the Metro Sports Open Classic crown in his sights on Saturday before heading to Wakefield next day for finals day in the £5,150 Sandal Classic.
But Wraight is not the only Premier League man chasing the £700 first prize in Manchester as Martin Gaut (St Georges) and Greg Smith (Wrockwardine Wood) are also in the hunt.
Smith also heads over the Pennines for Sunday’s Sandal Classic with its £1,000 jackpot when Wraight opens up with a last-16 tie against Yorkshire star Ashley Tattersley.
