24 Sep LOWER DIVISIONS INDIVIDUAL TROPHY

Thursday 26 September, 1.30pm at Ravensknowle Park

The Lower Divisions Individual Trophy is a relatively new competition for the association for bowlers playing in Divisions 3, 4 and 5 of the 10-man league. First played in 2007 and aimed at encouraging bowlers in the lower echelons of our league to enter competitions and pit themselves against the best of their peers and not the big guns in the Rosebowl and John Hoyle comps.

The competition is sponsored for the first time by PrintPod, the writer’s business. This and the Sub-team knockout are close to my heart giving opportunities to ‘run of the mill bowlers’ to achieve individual honours. That’s not to say that clubs in the lower division don’t have rising, or sometimes fading stars. I remember the final day of the 2022 competition where the last eight had two prospective inter-district players competing, Andrew Wike coming out on top. In very recent history two Division 5 bowlers won the Over 70’s pairs competition – see https://www.hvba.co.uk/over-70s-pairs-final-results-and-photo-gallery/.

There’s also a new venue for the final. Ravensknowle Park have stepped in at short notice and deserve their day in the spotlight after some very positive reviews of their hospitality and their hard work maintaining a park green.

The recent winners of the competition can be found at https://www.hvba.co.uk/ld-lower-divisions-trophy/

The weather forecast isn’t looking very promising but both the contestants and our hosts hope for a good turnout and some vociferous support.