Stuart Greenhalgh reports on the men’s and women’s Champion of Champions tournaments staged at Owley Wood…

THIRTY-TWO of the top men’s bowlers arrived at Owley Wood to take part in the 50th anniversary Champion of Champions.

Each player had won a qualifying competition this year in order to qualify to be in Saturday’s field.

Owley Wood made every effort to get their number two green into near perfect condition as unusually for a one-day comp at Owley, it was all to be played on their second green.

The one Mid Cheshire player who had qualified by winning the Cheshire Merit was Glynn Cookson.

His first match was against Lee Longfield from North Lancs and Fylde, and it was a nice first game for Cookson as he kept in front and started to increase his lead until he rounded it up at 21-11.

There was one particular first-round match people had been looking forward to - Greg Smith versus Callum Wraight, two of the absolute best the game has to offer.

And this match had the extra spice in that the winner would play Cookson in the last 16.

The match proved to be an anticlimax with Smith always in front and Wraight not at his best in a 21-7 loss.

Cookson unfortunately caught Smith at his absolute best in their last 16 match.

This turned out to be Smith’s best game of the day, although he did make it to the final.

In the last eight Smith dispatched Nick Tideswell, the Midland Masters champion.

Then in his semi-final match David May Derbyshire got off to a great start and he will reflect on how he managed to lose 21-20.

In the top half of the draw Paul Dudley, Federation Merit winner, played fancied Leighton Roberts, the Richmond Classic winner.

It was Dudley who started his day with a good win, 21-15.

Dudley played well all day but in the last 16 he had his toughest game, beating Josh Brown 21-19. He continued his impressive form right through to the final where he beat Smith 21-13.

The following day it was time for the women to take centre stage.

This time Mid Cheshire had two bowlers in the field - Sue Worrall who won the Mid Cheshire Merit and Nicola Boulton who won the September Isle Of Man.

Sadly, it was not to be as both players lost in their first matches.

Worrall lost 21-17 to Shannon Kernick and Boulton fell 21-20 to Tina Ralph.

Kernick lost her second match 21-11 to Merseyside winner Lynsey Gorman, who had beaten Jane Glaister in the first round.

The quarter-final gave Gorman her biggest test as she just defeated Carol Darley 21-20.

Gorman, who had picked the green up and played superbly on it all day, cruised to a 21-7 semi-final win against Cheryl Caswell.

In the final she faced Andrea Ainley, South Yorkshire, and continued her good form to take the title 21-13.

Over the two days the poor weather sadly got in the way a little but it did not distract from the overall quality of the venue or the bowling.

Owley Wood showed crown green bowls just how special a venue it is, not only with the condition of green two, but also how much the club and the members are willing to get involved and put on one of the biggest days of the BCGBA Calendar.

The Saturday had a crowd believed to be around 400 plus, while the Sunday action had more than 100 watching.

It was announced by the BCGBA that Owley Wood would host both these competitions next year - a compliment to the club and the bowls section who helped enormously over the two days.