St Oswalds A bowls team win Warrington's Challenge Cup Final

They defeated 2022 winners Orford War Memorial A by four chalks in a thrilling final at The Grange Club.

OWM started the better by taking three of the opening four games, with Peter Goodrum defeating Dave Penketh 21-13 in a contest in which he gained five twos during the latter stages which earned him the man-of-the-match award.

Further wins followed from Dave Williams and Conor Flaherty, with Carl Armitage gaining the Padgate side’s only winner in the first four 21-17 against Mark Furber.

The middle four saw St Oswalds fight back with two excellent 21-10 victories by captain Duncan Wright over Lee Downing and Chris Goodhand against Alan Catterall.

This put St Oswalds in the driving seat, but the Orford team gained two further wins from Andy Pearce and Harry Horton who defeated Lee Johnstone 21-17.

After eight matches, St Oswalds held a nine-chalks advantage which included Orford’s -5 handicap.

Game nine saw Stuart Goodwin race into an 18-6 lead over Simon Jones and had looked to have sealed victory for St Oswalds but Jones staged a recovery to take the next 10 chalks to trail 16-18.

In the other game on the green, Orford’s Kevin Ellis convincingly got the better of Garry Stone 21-11 and gave his team a chance of taking the match as they had now gone in front on the aggregate by one shot.

However Goodwin managed to stop the Jones comeback and claimed a 21-16 win giving St Oswalds victory by four chalks.

St Oswalds A captain Duncan Wright receiving the Challenge Cup from WNCBA secretary Alan Rogers (Image: Contributed)

Challenge Cup Final result:

St Oswalds 178 v OWM A 174 (-5 handicap): D Bennett 17 D Williams 21, C Armitage 21 M Furber 17, D Penketh 13 P Goodrum 21, R Bate 17 C Flaherty 21, L Wells 19 A Pearce 21, D Wright 21 L Downing 10, L Johnstone 17 H Horton 21, C Goodhand 21 A Catterall 10, S Goodwin 21 S Jones 16, G Stone 11 K Ellis 21.

Earlier in the day, Orford War Memorial B claimed their third cup competition of the season beating Grappenhall in the Finlayson Cup by 17 chalks.

Orford took victory in six of the ten matches with man-of-the-match Derek Brewin playing some fine bowls to defeat John Davies 21-12.

Orford War Memorial B with their trophy (Image: Contributed)

Finlayson Cup Final result:

Orford War Memorial B 184 v Grappenhall 167 (-10 handicap): T Ryder 18 v M Widdocks 21, P Duffy 21 v M Maxfield 13, S Richardson 21 v A Davies 20, S O’Brien 21 v M Griffiths 17, D Brewin 21 v J Davies 12, S Leigh 15 v G Wright 21, P Williamson 13 v A Worrall 21, K Rushton Snr 21 v S Hueston 13, K Ruhston Jnr 12 v E Frangleton 21, B Martin 21 v C Hart 18.