Hadnall lift the Harris cup
The celebrations went on into the early hours as Hadnall marked their first-time entry in the Harris Cup by winning the trophy.
Based in the village near Shrewsbury, the club made the most of a 42-shot handicap advantage to edge out St Georges in a thrilling final on Newport’s No.1 green.
It was Hadnall’s second big Premier League scalp in the 10-a-side competition that is the Molson Coors Mid Shropshire League’s main knockout, skipper Andy Marshall’s side having ousted new Premier champions Wrockwardine Wood in the semi-finals.
They started slowly in Saturday night’s showpiece watched by a crowd of more than 100, the Dragons of Telford clawing back 17 shots by winning three of the first four with Josh Bradburn their 21-12 best as Steve Ashton (21-19) replied.
But Matt Ealey’s 21-11 card and James Weaver’s 21-15 in the middle made sure that most of the damage done by St Georges’ joint captain Andy Morgan’s 21-7 win was balanced as Hadnall ended the middle four still 23 to the good.
Ian Gaut’s 21-9 success at No.9 cranked up the pressure but, with the noise levels rising, Tim Jordan kept his head to get the 15 chalks Hadnall needed to make history in the 72-year-old charity KO.
An elated Marshall received the trophy from league president Mike Potter and thanked all his players, promising the Whitchurch League team would try and defend the trophy next year.
St Georges joint captain Tony Rhodes said: “On behalf of St George's Bowling Club, massive congratulations to Hadnall BC in winning the Harris Cup – great game and well played folks.
