Shropshire Veterans Merit 2021 – Monday 2nd August 2021 – Bridgewater BC, Whitchurch.
14 of the county’s elder generation gathered for a lunchtime start of the Veterans Merit staged at Bridgewater BC in Whitchurch. With the players and their supporters enjoying the mild Summer conditions, six prelim games were played on the big green, before the last eight players moved on to the smaller green to contest the quarters through to the final. All players had 5 on the card with the exception of “homesters” Alan Shaw & Mike Proudlove, playing off 3.
Prelims
Dave Watkins(Hodnet) 21 Mick Jones(Newport) 17
Keith Pessall(SJB) 21 Bob Renke(Bylet) 17
Alan Shaw(Bridgewater) 21 Peter Hayne (Bylet) 17
Bob Cliffe(Meole Brace) 21 Keith Phillips(Hanwood) 12
Alan Boulton(Adderley) 21 Tony Roche(SJB) 11
Mike Proudlove(B’water) 21 Cedric Bancroft(Woore) 20
Quarter Finals
Dave Watkins 21 Keith Pessall 18
Alan Shaw 21 Bob Cliffe 19
Dave Povey 21 Alan Faulkner 18
Alan Boulton 21 Mike Proudlove 09
Semi Finals
Dave Watkins 21 Alan Shaw 13
Dave Povey 21 Alan Boulton 15
Final
Dave Watkins 21 Dave Povey 14
Highlights from the quarter finals
Dave Watkins and Keith Pessall shared the first half of the game as the scores tied at 12-12 until from 14-14, Dave made a run to go 20-15 and despite keith’s late run, Dave held on to win 21-18. Another close game saw Bob Cliffe match homester, Alan Shaw and took the score from 14-14 to lead 18-14, only for his scoring to stall that allowed Alan the space to win 5 of the last 6 ends to steal a 21-19 winning card. The second homester, Mike Proudlove, found the going tough as Alan Boulton scored 5 consecutive ends as he went from 9-4 to lead 19-4 and despite hitting a couple of double scoring ends himself, Mike couldn’t stop Alan winning 21-9. In yet another close game, Dave Povey and Alan Faulkner could not establish any lead that saw the scores move from 9-9 on to 13-13, 15-15 and 17-17 however after winning 12 ends each, Dave won through to the semi finals 21-18.
Semi finals
Dave Watkins took advantage of a good start to take the game away from Alan Shaw as the card went from 10-4(4ends) up to 13-5, 16-8 and 18-11 and it wasn’t long before Dave secured his ticket to the final 21-13(20ends) meanwhile, in a much closer encounter between Dave Povey and 2 time winner of this event, Alan Boulton, saw early exchanges level each other with the scores at 10-10(10ends) and 14-14 until from leading 16-15, Dave managed to hold the jack and single chalked his way for the last 5 ends towards a 21-15(21ends) win.
The final
In the final of the David’s, the Hodnet bowler, Dave Watkins opened with a strong attack to take a 14-8(10ends) lead over Pontesbury’s, Dave Povey and maintained it to go on to 18-11(15ends) and after a brief fight back to close the gap, to trail 14-18, he had to admit that it was never to be as Pontesbury man, in his third final had to settle for the runners up prize as Dave Watkins went on to victory that would see his name added to the list of Champions etched on the cup after winning 21-14(20ends)
Competition Secretary/Deputy President, Mike Potter thanked Bridgewater BC for their hospitality and staging the event on behalf of the SCGBA before making the presentation of the prizes to the worthy winners and from Hodnet, the 2021 Veterans Merit Champion, Dave Watkins.
