- The South East County Challenge was back for another year. Started in 2012 – with a break between 2020-2022 for the Rona pandemic. Traditionally this is an invitational tournament for the counties in around the M25ish sort of region. This year the venue was Dunstable, which means we ran the tournament over two days so we could then extend the invitation out to Northants, Cambridgeshire, and Oxfordshire.
The South East County Challenge is a tournament where counties make up teams from across the age groups, mixing up the team and giving all those who entered their counties trials a chance to pull on a county shirt. Some use it as practice for the main team, some use it as a kinda development tournament for the squad players – it’s something for everyone to be honest.
Thanks to the long term supporter of this event Bowling Vision we are able to get some raffle prizes and each county are encouraged to sell tickets and raise some money. Fund raising for Local Associations is vital…– The two balls Bowling Vision kindly supplied us with were the Radical No Doubt https://radicalbowling.com/products/balls/current/no-doubt-hybrid and the DV8 and a Heckler Taunt – https://dv8bowling.com/products/balls/current/heckler-taunt
The winners were Susan Porter from Oxfordshire who won the No Doubt and Austin Taylor from the Bedfordshire leagues who won the DV8 Heckler Taunt
Some great scores were shot the Saturday, Keiran Patel of Northants shot a 298, and high average was Richard Balaam from Cambridgeshire who shot +177 a 235 average.
Cambridgeshire Cross Keys team were top on 5360 a player average of 214. 2nd Place were the Bedfordshire Handpumps – Basher, Stevie Dynes, Harrison Kroplenicki, Bailey Guymer, and TQ.
In the 14 years of running this event, this was the very time I had actually bowled in it.
As play started on the Sunday it looked like the Hampshire team would challenge with Lewis Johnson opening up with a 279, and a team game of 1126, but their challenge was never a serious one and they ended up in 4th place. The Main challenge came from Sussex Blue who came back after lunch and shot two 1100+ plus games and hauled themselves up the field after a sluggish morning session. They needed another 1100+ game to take the title, but they ran out steam and shot a 979 to eventually finishing 2nd 1pin ahead of the Bedfordshire Handpumps.
So Cambridgeshire etched their county name on the big trophy for the first time.
Highest scratch bowlers in the men’s were Sussex’s Aaron Mitchell with a 243 average, slightly ahead of Dan Cathorne who averaged 242 and in third was Joe Copper with a 236 average.
In the ladies for a change, it wasn’t Annie Volkes who was top average, she had to settle for 2nd place with a 204 average. Top lady average went to Northampton’s Vannesa Cowie who averaged 205.
Thanks
Big thanks to our Hosts Dunstable Gobowling, and to my significant other Alison and to Jacqui Gibson Jones who really helped out on the Saturday.
My appreciations to my Jug Headed Mate Alex at Bowling Vision – they have literally supported this event ever since 2012.
And as bowlers we need to thank all the Area Secretaries and county managers for arranging and organising the teams and putting up with stupid questions and people pulling out at the last minute and then having to ring around and get replacements.
Shall we do it again in 2027 ??? – Back at the Airport ? – anyone for chicken ??
Results