Hamblin Trophy retained

Down in Winchester this last Sunday evening, Andover Bowling Club retained the Hamblin Trophy, winning by an overall margin of five shots: a fantastic result in an extremely tough finale to the competition.

Gordon Bazley and Jackie Kingston, both involved on the night, together wrote the following report:

Andover Bowling Club have won the Hamblin Trophy for the third consecutive year, plus a cash prize of £200 for Club funds.

The competition is held at Riverside Indoor Bowls Centre in Winchester throughout the winter season and is for outdoor clubs with fourteen teams taking part in two leagues of seven, the format being two mixed rinks with the aggregate score deciding the winner. The winner of each league played in the final with the runners up playing for 3rd & 4th places.

Andover had wins against Waterside in November, Lyndhurst in December, Littleton in January, Hyde Abbey in February and Winchester in March, with our only loss being against Alton Social in February. Winning League B meant going into the final against the winners of League A, Banister Park, who were unbeaten.

The final was a very close match. Andover started slowly but got going after a few ends, matched Banister’s score and gradually eased into the lead. Going into the final end, Andover were four up and, with just the skips to play, Andover were one down on one rink and two up on the other. Banister Park’s skips were unable to turn it around, with Andover winning by five shots, 37-32.

The Andover skips of Pete Anthony and Lesley Taylor were ably supported throughout the competition by Jackie Kingston, Robin Kingston, Gordon Bazley, Sue Milton, Les Reeves and Cynthia Hamilton, plus substitutes Cathy Hopwood and David Hamilton who replaced the holidaying Jackie and Robin in December.

This is the second indoor trophy Andover have won in five weeks, having won the John Ash Trophy in February.