Mansfield

On to the second event of 2023, and we were off to Mansfield. Well, most of us were - mother nature decided that we would have some Arctic conditions and we were greeted with heavy snowfall leading up to the event. Despite all the cold weather up t'North it turned out that if you lived in Yorkshire you couldn't beat a bit of white stuff to get off of your driveway!

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On to the bowling. 21 bowlers managed to brave the deep snow of the car park and make it up the stairs inside the bowl. A matchplay singles format was the flavour of the day. The top 12 would qualify for the matchplay knockout round with the remaining bowlers battling for the consolation plate. It was quickly apparent scoring would be high. After the six games of qualifying last years Order Of Merit winner Will Line from Sussex finished up with 1376, a scratch 229 average, however this was blown out of the water by the Met's Chris Hignett with a incredible 1462 - a monstrous 242 scratch average!? TVP's Chris Goodall rounded off the top 12 with 1095. Last years OOM runner up Tom Walsh (West Yorkshire) probably wished the snow had stopped play for him, finishing all the way down in 20th place!

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On to the next round with a two game knockout. Chris and Will continued their high scoring, eliminating Harry Scott (Norfolk) and Dave Westendorp (Kent) respectively. There was also wins for Norfolk's Alex Nelson and the Mets Jim Kenny, and Geoff & Pauline Mitchell. 

 

The scoring wheels came off for Will in the next round, with him being pitted against Pauline. and her running out the victor. 420 to 371. Chris was pitted against Geoff, starting with a 238 game. However the wheels were also beginning to work loose for him as well, as a 160 second game saw him scrape through by the barest of margins, 400 to 395. Jim dispatched Alex 433 to 393 leaving him top of the upcoming one game stepladder, with Pauline second seed, Chris third and Geoff in 4th as the highest loser. One thing was certain, there would be a Met winner today!

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First match was Geoff taking on Chris in a rematch. Chris improved to a 191 but this was not enough to dispatch Geoff who took the match with a 212 including handicap. This would mean a husband and wife match up in the next rung of the ladder and surely an awkward drive home afterwards!! Geoff showed little mercy on Pauline and continued his winning streak throwing in a 201 game giving him a 234 total against Pauline's 190. This meant only Jim Kenny was blocking his path to victory. Despite a lot of trash talk from Jim, he couldn't back his words up and could only throw 161 to Geoff's 179. Scores in the end of 212 to 179 and a long awaited return to the winners podium for Geoff. 

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In the plate, the Met made it a clean sweep with Heather Turner topping the table with games of 177 and 221 to give her a handicap total of 432, holding off another Met colleague in Dan Meaton with 421. Tom Walsh finally found a bit of form and finished third, throwing games of 201 and 200. 

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No surprise in the all-events to see Chris Hignett top of the tree after his ballistic scoring in the morning and a total of 1462. Will Line was second with 1376 and Jim Kenny third with 1353.. Including the games in the finals rounds, Chris averaged over the whole day a massive 231 over the 11 games. Is this the start of a Met resurgence in the OOM? 

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Next up in the calendar is Stroud on Friday 9th June for a trios event. In between then in April is the PSUK Indoor Championship in Suffolk with several of our bowlers taking part. A report will be provided in due course.

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Click for Qualifying Results

Click for Finals Results