Thank you to Competitions Secretary Mike Potter for the below report.
Shropshire Junior Merit 2025 – Sunday 20th July 2025 – Bicton BC
An increased entry number from last year’s 15 saw 21 of our county’s young bowlers and their families gather around Shropshire’s deputy president, Andy Jones’s chosen venue of his home club Bicton BC to contest the 2025 running of the County Junior Merit and Consolation Competition. And as the day unfolded, it became clear to see at the venue near Shrewsbury, that everyone there were to be treated to viewing some fine bowling by the young talent on show.
Players losing their first games were to be given a second chance of tasting Cup glory by being allowed free entry in to a consolation competition for the Peter Ashton Cup.
Highlights from the Shropshire Junior Merit
Having 21 entries gave us 5 pre-lim games in order for us to get a round of 16 players. These games saw Jordan Millman turn a 0-3 deficit in to a 10-3 lead over Ellis Reeves and went on to 17-5 before ending it 21-6. Similarly, Oliver Gray turned his strong 14-1 over Jacob Brookes and finished the game 21-4. Sam Desborough, from 9-0 up on Jack Lawrence went on to 19-8 before Jack found resistance to prelong the game that ended in Sam’s favour, 21-14. Logan Church fought back from 6-8 down to lead Pietro Farruggio, 12-8 and from 16-12 he ran out to win 21-12. From leading Miles Fisher 10-6, Toby Gray soon found the going tough as he then trailed 12-17, but fought back to level it at 18-18 and kept going to win 21-19.
The 1st round then saw Dan Corbett tie with Ellis Griffiths 6-6, 11-11 & 14-14 until from 16-16, Dan took control and ran out 21-16. Salvatore Farruggio opened up a 9-4 lead on Rory King and kept the pressure on, going 15-8 and finished it 21-9. Jamie Pritchard was quick to get a 10-1 lead on Luis Reeves and slowly added to the score at 1 chalk at a time to go 15-3 up and eventually won 21-6. Rhys Jordan had to come from 5-9 behind to Rowan Fuller and took an 18-12 lead that was levelled 18-18 before Rhys finished it off 21-18. Evenly matched Emily Hotchkiss and Billy Walmsley could not lose each other on the green until Emily turned her 11-6 lead upto 15-9 only to be pegged back to 18-18 but went onto win 21-19. Holly Hotchkiss took only 11 ends to force herself in to a strong 17-2 & 20-4 lead over Toby Gray and won 21-08. Jordan Millman and Oliver Gray matched each other 6-6 after 11 ends, however Jordan almost completed a run out as he won the game after only another 10 ends to win, 21-7. Sam Desborough from 6-6, found the going hard when Logan Church went to 16-8 before Sam hit back strongly to win 21-19.
In the Quarter-finals, Dan Corbett soon forged himself a strong 15-4 lead over Holly Hotchkiss and continued to press home his advantage, going onto win 21-7. Jamie Pritchard saw his healthy 15-3 lead as Emily Hotchkiss hit back to eventually level at 18-18 before Jamie resumed control to get over the winning line 21-18. Rhys Jordan had his 13-4 lead cut as Salvatore Farruggio levelled it 15-15 but could not add to it as Rhys ended it 21-15. From 9-9, Jordan Millman had to battle back to level 16-16 with Sam Desborough and from 20-16, after some late resistance, Jordan held on 21-19.
The Semi-finals saw Rhys Jordan open a lead by a couple of chalks as he led Jamie Pritchard 10-7 and 14-11 before almost running out to book his place in the final with a 21-12 card. Dan Corbett & Jordan Millman matched each other as the scores went from 9-9 and on to 16-16 before Dan took 4 of the last 5 ends to win, 21-17.
The Junior Merit Final saw Rhys Jordan turn around a 3-6(7ends) deficit to tie 12-12(18ends) with Dan Corbett and found himself behind again, 13-18(23ends) from which point Rhys almost ran out as he nudged his way to win after 30 ends 21-19 and become the 2025 Shropshire Junior Merit Champion.
Highlights from the Peter Ashton Consolation.
The 10 players that lost their first round games in the main Merit competition contended the Consolation competition that saw in the 2 prelim games, Billy Walmsley began well getting to 10-0 up before Jacob Brookes got on the card and got himself a half dozen of points before Billy regained control from 16-9 and run out 21-9. Jack Lawrence and Pietro Farruggio started level 3-3 however from 8-8 Jack went on a run, losing only 2 ends of 11 to go onto 14-11 and then run out 21-11.
The Quarter-finals saw Ellis Reeves go 10-4 up on his brother Luis and went on to lead 19-11 before Luis made a comeback to close the gap as Ellis finished it off 21-18. Rowan Fuller saw his 12-7 lead disappear as Rory King caught and passed him but stalled at 14-12 when Rowan went to lead 19-16 and just held on to win 21-18. Miles Fisher was pegged back to 9-9 by Ellis Griffiths only to see Miles push again on to 18-9 and just after Ellis made double figures, Miles finished the game off, 21-12. Billy Walmsley began strong to go 13-1 & 17-5 up, but Jack Lawrence got himself back in to the game to trail 14-17 but could not keep going as Billy went on to win 21-14.
In the semi-finals, Rowan Fuller was strong on a straight mark to go from 2-2 on to lead Ellis Reeves, 19-3 and then finished the game off, 21-8. Billy Walmsley tied with Miles Fisher 14-14 that then saw Billy go to edge 20-15 and after a late surge, he made his way in to the final, winning 21-19.
After starting well in the final, Rowan Fuller went from 8-4(8ends) on to 13-5(12ends) ahead on Billy Walmsley and went on to 17-7(16ends) before finishing it 21-9(20ends)
Competitions Secretary, Mike Potter thanked Bicton BC for their hospitality, staging the event, the parents for their supporting and not forgetting the young competitors and revealed both Rhys & Dan will represent Shropshire in the All Britain finals day where it is also hoped, Jordan & Jamie will join them as reserves. He then invited 2025, County Deputy President, Andy Jones to make the presentation of the prizes to the worthy winners.
Congratulations to all.
MP
The full Junior Merit scores are here.
The full Peter Ashton Youth Trophy scores are here.
