09 Jul SHEFFIELD 2022 CHAMPIONS
Sheffield ran out worthy winners of the 2022 of the Yorkshire Veterans’ Crown Green Bowling Competition referred to as the Hickson Trophy in honour of the original sponsors.
Eight teams competed this year in Skipton who were hosting the competition. The teams were Sheffield and Barnsley from South Yorks and Bradford, Castleford, Halifax, Huddersfield, Skipton and Wakefield from Yorkshire. West Riding were an original entrant but they pulled out at the last minute and the Association are grateful to Wakefield stepping in with less than a weeks notice.
It was a glorious day for a bowling competition and the host greens were in tip top condition. Huddersfield were the reigning champions and their first match was against Sheffield played at Skipton Craven. Sheffield ran out comfortable winners from this quarter-final tie.
Meanwhile at Skipton Whinfield the hosts, Skipton took on Wakefield a late replacement for West Riding. Although Wakefield were defeated the team were very positive about the event and gave notice of their attendance at the 2023 event to be hosted by Halifax. Bradford were winners against Castleford at Addingham and it was good to see the Castleford team turn up at Skipton Whinfield to see how Bradford faired in the semi-final. The other quarter-final between Halifax and Barnsley at Cononley went the way of Halifax and again the Barnsley team turned up to support Sheffield in the semi’s only to find Sheffield practicing on their own at the wrong green!
Both semi-finals were tight run affairs. Sheffield finally turned up at the correct green – Rolls Royce in Barnoldswick and took on the hosts Skipton who obviously had some green knowledge. The tie went down to the last game on the green when a draw was looking a possible conclusion the writer was hurriedly referring to the bye-laws in the 2019 Yorkshire Handbook to see how it could be settled but Sheffield made certain by winning the tie by 6 chalks. The other semi-final between Halifax and Bradford was equally tight with Bradford having a handsome lead of 30 when the last four were on the green but Halifax saved their best to last and ran out winners, this tie was also played at Skipton Whinfield
The final was played on Skipton Broughton Road between Halifax and Sheffield. Once again Halifax stacked the last four with their best players but this time Sheffield had built up a lead that couldn’t be pulled back but nevertheless the result was still not resolved with the last pair taking to the green. Sheffield won by 16 chalks. A tiring but rewarding day for Sheffield having a two hour drive to reach Skipton then playing three games starting at 10 am and finishing at 9.15 pm.
The trophy was presented to the winning captain Mel Hobson by the past Yorkshire President Mr Roy Sanderson a generous sponsor of the Yorkshire Veterans Inter-District League.
