Indoors season cup competitions
The 2025/26 indoors bowling season turned out to be one of 'so near... yet so far' as we were runners-up in both of the Hamblin Trophy and in the John Ash Trophy, while Andover Lions were finalists in the Moreton Cup. Agonising, in some respects - but competition is good (as it makes us all better bowlers) and the prize money for finishing second provided a welcome boost to Club funds. Naturally, we will be looking to go that bit further this coming season!
1. The Moreton Cup (matches played at Longmeadow, Whitchurch) - 2 teams (Andover Lions & Andover Eagles)
Twelve teams have entered this year's competition, divided into three groups of four. This is an open competition with no specification as to the composition of the teams, each team consisting of two 4s. Lions have been drawn in Group 1, alongside Whitchurch, Cove and Basingstoke; while Eagles have been drawn in Group 3 alongside Oakley 1 (Oakley being the current champions), Old Basing and Newbury.
Here are the fixtures and (eventually) the results, with the points won in the brackets:
Andover Lions
15 Nov: Basingstoke v Lions
10 Jan: Whitchurch v Lions
31 Jan: Lions v Cove
Andover Eagles
22 Nov: Eagles v Newbury
24 Jan: Eagles v Old Basing
7 Feb: Oakley 1 v Eagles
Matches consist of 8 ends, 5 points being awarded for each match with 2 going to each winning four and 1 point to the team with the overall highest shots. Full results and fixtures for all the teams in the competition, plus the rules, can be found in the links at the bottom of the page.
The semi-finals will take place on 28 February, featuring the three group winners plus the best placed runner-up; while the final and the third/fourth place play-off will take place on 21 March.
2. The Hamblin Trophy (matches played at Riverside, Winchester, with a Sunday 6.30 start time)
The 2026/27 competition sees ten entrants with the reestablishment of two leagues, following the nine entrants and single league format of the 2025/26 competition. Andover has been drawn in League A alongside Littleton, the current champions, and Hyde Abbey B, who finished third, and thus we have four fixtures, as follows:
29 Nov: Atherley/County v Andover
6 Dec: Andover v Hyde Abbey B
10 Jan: Andover v Littleton
14 Feb: Andover v Fleming Park
The Hamblin Trophy an open competition for two rinks of four played over 18 ends with two points awarded to the team with the highest aggregate score over both rinks.
3. The John Ash Trophy (matches played at Five Rivers, Salisbury; on 7-8 February)
This is an intense competition taking place over a single weekend, with teams playing four matches on the Saturday afternoon across two rinks; with semi-finals and the final on the Sunday. We won this competition in 2025; and proudly defended our Trophy in 2026.
With some excellent performances in the 2026 competition, we finished top of the standings after day 1, beating Wilton 18-9 (winning one rink 12-3 and drawing the other 6-6), Fordingbridge C 17-10 (winning both rinks 7-5 and 10-5), Alderbury A 36-7 (again winning both rinks 18-4 and 18-3) and Fordingbridge B 29-5 (again, both rinks 11-1 and 18-4). Thus we topped the league without losing a single rink, level on points with Salisbury but with more shots for and a better shot difference - see photos below kindly sent in by team members Jackie Kingston and Mick Corden.
Returning on Sunday morning, the team faced Wilton again in the semi-final, and triumphed 27-12, but unfortunately were not able to overcome Salisbury in the final, Salisbury winning 39-28 across the two rinks. Nevertheless, the team put up a stout defence in representing the Club and, in the process, secured £100 in prize money for Club funds. Congratulations to Salisbury; and well played to all teams who took part.