15 May 2013

Cononley Bowling Club A team are heading the Walker Foster first division with an unblemished record so far, gaining eight wins and a 15 point lead over last season's champions Crosshills A.

Recent matches have seen them get wins over Crosshills A 7-5, Keighley A away 7-5, then 12-0 over struggling Steeton A, then at Gargrave A 8-4. Crosshills A had the defeat at Cononley but worse then followed with an 8-4 home defeat to Craven A. They held on to second place with wins away at Colne Legion A 9-3 and at home to Colne Cricket 8-4. Craven A are making good progress as they moved into third place. After the win at Crosshills they beat Keighley A at home 7-5 which could have been much better as they had four 21-20 losers. They consolidated third place, two points behind Crosshills A, with a 10-2 win at Steeton A. Silsden and Keighley A are one point further behind: Silsden put together three wins then went down to Lund Park A away 7-5, Keighley A went through a three match (unheard of) losing run with defeat 8-4 at Broughton Road A, 7-5 at Craven A and 7-5 at home to Cononley A before a 10-2 home win to Colne Legion A stopped the nightmare. Steeton A are really struggling with life back in division one. They find themselves with just 18 points from 8 matches and are already 13 points behind Settle A who are also struggling with just one win so far, 10-2 over Steeton.

Keighley B and Oakworth are going well at the top of the Andrew Town Joinery division two. One point separates the sides with Keighley B still unbeaten. Latest results saw two 9-3 wins at home to Rolls Royce and away at Settle B. Oakworth closed on the leaders, 11-1 at home to Keighley C and 8-4 at Colne Legion B. Devon B had a brief spell in top spot but dropped into third place after defeat at Cononley B 8-4. Grassington have returned to division two with renewed vigour. Two good wins against lower opposition, 10-2 at home to Settle B and 8-4 away at Keighley C has pushed them into the heady heights of fourth place. Addingham A look set for another season fighting relegation after no wins in eight games. Settle B are also in a similar position with just one win and both will be hoping to improve as the season goes on.

Broughton Road C are not often seen at the top of the Skipton Building Society division three but five good wins have propelled them to the top spot. Their latest results were 9-1 away at Addingham B and 8-2 at home to Whinfield C to leave them 5 points ahead of Gargrave B. The Gargrave side have a game in hand and will no doubt be pushing for top spot though last week's defeat at Steeton B 6-4, not helped by being two players short will not go down well. Steeton B and Sutton B will be closing in on top spot when they play their games in hand. Both had big wins last week, Steeton won away 9-1 at Crosshills C while Sutton won 8-2 at home to Silsden P F C.

The Arthur Bairstow Trophy final at Keighley Bowling Club saw Peter Clark of Skipton Devon come out with the first prize and trophy. A quarter final win against Settle’s David Leeming, then a 21-9 win over David Blackburn from Sowerby Bridge Hill Crest put him in the final against Oxenhope captain David Hemsley. Hemsley had a good win over Paul Hillam in the quarter final then got the better of David Scott 21-19 in a very close semi final. The final saw Clark get a good start. Hemsley kept picking up points but could never get back into the match as Clark ran out 21-14 winner.

Robbie Ellis featured once again for Yorkshire County juniors last weekend when he travelled to Cumbria to play with the away side. It saw Robbie at his best with a 21-1 win contributing towards a big Yorkshire victory.

The Yorkshire Cup second round sees Cononley travel to The Hollies at Bramley to take on top side Spen Victoria. Crossroads meet Slaithwaite at Guiseley while Oxenhope are in the Derek Radley Trophy and travel to Ossett Flying Horse to take Linthwaite C & B C. The ties take place on Saturday 1st June.

The Whitakers Chocolate League Handicap qualifying round has been drawn with Crosshills and Sutton the two qualifying greens. There are places still available please ring Peter Haworth on 01756 790902. The Yorkshire County Merit qualifying round will be on Friday 24th May, entries are still being taken ring Peter Haworth.

The Inter District Veterans take on Leeds this Friday 17th May start 1.30 pm with the home tie at Silsden Playing Fields. The team selected is: L Buxton, D Seed (captain), P Deighton, D Varley, D Hemsley, M Duke, C Wortley, I Wade. The away side travel to Scatcherd Park Morley with team as follows: T Hargreaves, J Parkin, B Turnbull, A Pennington, C Taylor, K Brenkley, W Hardwick, T Harris.

Broughton Road are running the John Rycroft trophy and require entries please contact the club.