Shropshire No 1 takes some consolation
Shropshire No 1 Callum Wraight has won his first competition of the year – but not quite as he would have expected.
The reigning Champion of Champions missed out on the main prize at the third and final Severnside winter one-dayer.
But he had settle for £65 as the winner of the consolation KO, writes Malcolm Fletcher.
Castlefields star Wraight lost to John Hatzer of Birmingham in his first game, as another new record of 105 entries took part on Sunday.
But he quickly recovered to produce a string of successes to take the consolation prize, beating new Shropshire Ladies selector Sonya Lucas (St Georges) 21-19 in the quarter-finals.
He followed that by defeating former Bayley boy Lee Woodfield (Moor Lane) 21-20 in the semi-finals and then Dane Hopwood (Royal Oak) 21-15 in the final, as Martin Middleton of Meole Brace also reached the last four.
New St Georges signing Peter Grimston went closest to giving Shropshire success in the main knockout, losing agonisingly 21-20 in the semi-finals to Keiron Roberts.
The Esclusham bowler went on to claim the £115 top prize by beating Dave Clarke (Moseley CC) 21-11 in the final after Clarke had accounted for Grimston's former Newport team-mate Dave Rhodes, 21-18, in the last four.
Severnside's Chris Kershaw said: "It was another great day with 105 entries – 44 pre-entered and 61 turned up on the day – and we still managed to finish by 6.05pm!
"Our next one-day Sunday comp will be the Lew Page on a Sunday in November – probably the first or second Sunday."
The majority of those taking part had travelled from the Birmingham area, once again reflecting that Warwick & Worcester are the dominant force in the sport at present.
Quarter-final results in the main KO were: Clarke 21 Ian Jones 18, Rhodes 21 Jason Galvin 17, Roberts 21 James Dunn 18, Grimston 21 Chris Ward (SJ Bayley) 19).
