Winter League
Peter Hopkinson & Rob Senior are the first winners of the Winter League's Pairs Knock-Out competition and the first recipients of the Robert Hitchen Trophy. They beat the Huddersfield Recreation Club pairing of Trevor Atkinson and Mike Hollingdrake by 21-19 in yesterday's final.
Robert Hitchen presented the trophy named after him and presented to the League by his club, Elland WMC, in recognition of his 53 years membership and his work as the greenkeeper for them. Robert spoke about when the club asked his permission to name the trophy after him and he said that he had no objections as long as the engraving didn't say 'in memory of.' Robert went on to praise the introduction of winter bowling and speak positively about it, both as a bowler and a greenkeeper including a special mention for today's green at Thorpe Green.
A mainly dry day coupled with a strong wind unsettled some bowlers and may have contributed to some of the results but there is no denying that the draw produced the best two bowling pairs on the day for the final. Unusually the final produced three scores of four chalks, two of them to the eventual losers as the pairs went nip and tuck together through the gears drawing level on six occasions through the course of the final. The last time was at 19-19 from which the Golcar Lib pairing struck for home, justifying their favourites tag but not without some anxious moments along the way especially when going behind at 10-14 after an end of four chalks for the Recreation Club pairing.
The Huddersfield Recreation Club pair of Trevor Atkinson and Mike Hollingdrake have suffered relegation from Division 3 this season but Trevor was the Top Division 3 Bowler of the season, which is an unusual honour for a relegated club. You wouldn't bet against them leading an immediate return to that level based on these performances.
But the day and the title belong to Golcar Lib as they were gifted with matches against lower division pairs throughout but only on standing and not in display on the day. Worthy Champions after beating tested at each level and rising to the occasion each time to contribute to a good day in the developing history of the Winter League.
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