RECORD HAUL OF TROPHIES FOR OAKLEY MEN

This weekend saw Oakley's men contesting six of the eight Basingstoke and District Finals, held at Alton BC, the home green of the District President, James King. The Singles Final saw Bob Goodyear take on Rodney Rosier of Kingsclere and it was Bob who emerged victorious in the "battle of the veterans" bringing the title back to Oakley, 43 years after he first won the District Blue Riband event. As this game unfolded, Terry Heath and Ted Brown in the Pairs and Terry Varndell in the Novice Singles were engaged in absorbing and close contests which resulted in Terry, having bowled well for the majority of the game, going down to a narrow 20-21 defeat. In the Pairs Oakley also seemed destined for defeat as Alton Social's Marc Gorman and Adam White held a 5 shot lead with just a few ends left. A score of 4 brought the Oakley pair back into contention and they scraped over the line by one shot recording their third victory in the event. If the Saturday morning games were nail biters, the afternoon Fours Final was even more thrilling. In a repeat of the 2014 Final, Terry Heath, Spencer Kerley, Ric Newson and Ted Brown took on the Alton rink, skipped by David Sims which they had defeated on an extra end at Oakley. This time it was Alton with home advantage and, although Oakley made a good start, Alton buoyed by an enthusiastic and fair crowd looked to be heading for victory when at 14 ends they led by 10 shots. Oakley crawled their way back into the game but on the 21st end still trailed by 3 and with just two bowls left to play there seemed little hope of getting the three needed to take the game to an extra end. Dame Fortune was, however, on Oakley's side as David Sims already holding shot turned one of his own bowls on to the jack giving Oakley an opportunity, if they could play the bowl to move the jack to their back bowls. Cometh the hour, cometh the man as Ted Brown rose to the occasion and played the perfect bowl to give Oakley four shots and another title won by one shot. Next day saw the second tranche of finals with the holders and four times winners Terry Heath, Ric Newson and Ted Brown taking on Basingstoke Town in the Two Wood Triples. Oakley began well moving to a 10 shot lead and with 4 ends to play still led by a seemingly comfortable 9. Scores of 4, 3 and 1 saw the Town storm back into the game and so it was another last end decider with Oakley again sneaking over the line to win by 2. Having lifted 3 titles by an aggregate of just 4 shots, the final game the Over 60s Pairs proved to be a one sided event as Ric Newson and Bob Goodyear stormed into a 17-1 lead against Old Basing and although their opponents picked up a couple of late fours there was no way back for them as they conceded at 19 ends, so giving Oakley their fifth and club record total of 5 District titles in one season.