County quintet do battle for big prize
Five Shropshire bowlers will chase a slice of the biggest prize purse in Britain this year at a proud Telford club this weekend.
Finals day in the £7,300 St Georges Open on Saturday promises to be a feast of action with some of the biggest names in the game taking aim at the £1,500 first prize and ticket to the Champion of Champions.
And among them in the 32-strong field – and all in the bottom half of the draw – are Andy Duckett and Adam Jones of Premier League champions Castlefields, Bylet No.1 Scott Harries, Tom Roden of County Cup holders Sir John Bayley and new Newport signing Josh Bradburn.
Unfortunately Duckett and Bradburn must do battle in round one while Harries is rated an 11-1 shot with the bookies.
But it’s the likes of title favourite Simon Coupe (3-1), Wayne Ditchfield (5-1), Graeme Wilson (6-1) and Ryan Prosser (7-1) that a lot of the smart money will be going on.
Organiser Graham Turner, delighted by the quality of the finals field, said: “There will be a bookmaker in attendance so why not come along and have a wager and support your favourite bowler.”
The raffle prizes include a set of Thomas Taylor bowls and the action on the top green starts at 10.30am, after the finalists have been allowed half hour practice sessions.
Full first-round pairings:
Chris Ward (Staffs) v Steve Gilfedder (Lancs), James Martin (Yorks) v Jordan Baddeley (Nth Mids), Graeme Wilson (Yorks) v John Bailey (Wales), Simon Homer (Staffs) v Felix Abba (Derbys).
Paul Dale (Potts) v Paul Leah (Gt Man), Dean Missere (Sth Yorks) v Kevan Shaw (Lancs), Ryan Prosser (W & W) v Nigel Egan (Staffs), Nigel Hughes (Merseyside) v Steve Freer (W & W).
Wayne Ditchfield (N Lancs & F) v Jason Galvin ( W & W), Chris Eccles (Wales) v Nathan Dawes (Staffs), Adam Weaver (W & W) v Tom Roden (SJ Bayley), Tom Palmer (W & W) Josh Mordue (Yorks).
Josh Bradburn (Newport) v Andy Duckett (Castlefields), Gareth Herbert (W & W) v Scott Harries (Bylet), Gareth Coates (Yorks) v Adam Jones (Castlefields), Simon Coupe (N Lancs & F) v Rob Carter (W & W).
Gary Beff of Chester Road was the sole Shropshire success on the first weekend of qualifying in the slimmed-down West Brom Open.
He beat K Hocknull (Willenhall Nordley) 21-19 to secure a return on finals day while Wrockwardine Wood pair Stuart Rutter and John Clarke both missed out by losing in their third game and Callum Wraight (Castlefields) lost in round two.
