14 Sep OUTLANE STKO CHAMPIONS 2023

The Sub-Team Knockout final was played in glorious sunshine on an immaculate Broad Oak green today, Thursday 14 September. The competition is played in the same format as the 10-man league matches with four singles and three pairs except that the only thing that matters is the total aggregate score. The teams competing this year were all from divisions 3, 4 and 5 of our leagues.

The competition is sponsored by Croftlands Care Home and each year Alan Stephenson welcomes a group of residents and their carers to Broad Oak.

The finalists, Outlane Bowling Club and Huddersfield Recreation were both previous winners, in 2016 and 2021 respectively.

At one point it looked like a procession for Outlane after they won the first three pairs games with an aggregate lead of 25. However, Huddersfield Recreation weren’t done for at that stage when the four singles went on with an Inter-District squad member in their ranks in Andrew Wike. The Outlane captain Malcolm Dibb had to take one for the team going down 21-5 to the inter-district man and reducing the Outlane lead to 9 at a stroke. Two further Outlane losses followed losing to 15 and 18 and hey presto the Outlane lead had disappeared with one game still on the green.

The final game on the green was between two ex-teammates from their ICI Recreation days, Peter Thornton of Outlane and Mike Pointon of Huddersfield Recreation and when all the other games were off Peter was leading 20-10. There was more drama to come as Mike took the next point and had he run out from that position he’d not only have won the total aggregate by 1 but also 4 games to 3. It wasn’t to be, however, and Peter scored the decisive point and Outlane won the contest 127-117.

Frank Greenwood congratulated both teams for giving us a tense encounter, the referee Ray Tunnacliffe, the Broad Oak club members for staging the event and David Sykes, our League Secretary and stand-in Competition Secretary. It had turned out to be a clean sweep for Outlane as they not only won the match but also both prizes in the raffle so they could enjoy their win with a hearty breakfast swilled down with a bottle of wine.

Photos courtesy of David Frost