2025 indoors season cup competitions
The indoors bowling season is already in its final stages; and this season the Club is entering teams for three local cup competitions:
1. The John Ash Trophy (matches played at Five Rivers, Salisbury; 8/9 February)
Update: WINNERS! You may have already read about this via the news link on the home page; if not, the story is available right here, too: just click to read.
2. The Hamblin Trophy (matches played at Riverside, Winchester, with a 6.30 start time), in which Andover are the double defending champions.
The Hamblin Trophy is a mixed competition, with each team (of four players) consisting of at least one man and one woman. There are two leagues in the Hamblin Trophy; the Club has now played all the sides in our league (League B), with the results as follows:
17 Nov: Waterside (0 points) 25 - 49 Andover (2 points)
1 Dec: Andover (2 points) 46 - 29 Lyndhurst (0 points)
26 Jan: Littleton B (0 points) 13 - 50 Andover (2 points)
2 Feb: Alton Social 32 (2 points) v 27 Andover (0 points)
16 Feb: Hyde Abbey B 29 (0 points) v 36 Andover (2 points)
2 Mar: Winchester 13 (0 points) v 40 Andover (2 points)
The full fixture list can be found in the link at the bottom of the page.
One game remains to be played in League B, but this will not affect the standings at the top of the table, where Andover have topped the group! The season's record was five wins and one loss, and an aggregate F-A shots record of 252-137. This means a final fixture against Banister Park, who topped League A, to decide the winners of the Trophy for 2025. This exciting finale to the competition this year will take place on 16 March.
The same day will see the two second placed teams battle it out for 3rd and 4th places. The League A standings have yet to be resolved, but the team that finishes second there will play Hyde Abbey B in that fixture.
3. The Moreton Cup (matches played at Longmeadow, Whitchurch) - 2 teams (Andover Lions & Andover Eagles)
This is an open competition with no specification as to the composition of the teams. The full rules can be found here but essentially this year the Moreton Cup featured four groups of four teams, with the knock-out stages taking place in February and March 2025. The quarter finals - the first in the knock-out stages - featured the first placed and runner-up in each of the groups.
Fixtures and results
27 Oct: Parkside (1 point) 32 - 37 Andover Eagles (4 points)
3 Nov: Andover Lions (5 points) 62 - 19 BTC (0 points)
24 Nov: Andover Eagles (3 points) 34 - 29 Winchester City (2 points)
1 Dec: Andover Lions (5 points) 46 v 26 Littleton (0 points)
12 Jan: Andover Eagles (3 points) 40 v 32 Oakley (2 points)
19 Jan: Andover Lions (0 points) 22 v 35 Kingsclere (5 points)
Thus Eagles qualified for the quarter finals as group winners, joined the following week by Lions who qualified in second place in their group. The quarter final results are as follows:
23 Feb: Andover Eagles 27 v 38 Whitchurch
2 Mar: Atherley 37 v 32 Andover Lions
Thus both Andover side's runs came sadly to an end at the quarter final stage - but good luck to both Whitchurch and Atherley in their respective semi finals (against Eastleigh Rail and Cove). Full results and fixtures for all the teams in the competition, plus all the league tables, can be viewed in the links at the bottom of the page.