Veterans League
It isn't usually the Team KO competition that produces all the shock results with the Bistro format tending to have the shock results history but maybe not this year. It is a fact that there are more Division 2 teams in the last 16 than there are teams from Divison 1.
Three Division 1 teams were beaten by lower-placed teams whereas only two Division 1 teams managed to beat lower-placed teams. They being Cowcliffe who edged it past Almondbury BC 'A' 133-131 and Kirkheaton Con who had a more comfortable passage when beating Lindley BC 'A' 138-117.
Let's look at the Division 1 teams eliminated by teams from lower divisions. Brockholes 'A' were relegated to Division 3 at the end of last season but they came back to haunt Division 1 team Waterloo when beating them 148-145 with the 22 handicap difference (27 v 5) proving too much to claw back. Milnsbridge 'A' are at the bottom of the Division 1 table but will not have been happy going out to Holmfirth 'A' (138-146) from Division 2 who have only won once this season to date. Then Meltham 'A' have had a good start to their top-flight campaign but were not good enough to get past Division 2 high-fliers, Netherton Con 'A', who won with a 150-136 aggregate scoreline.
Some will be looking at the new handicapping system to excuse a surprise outcome and that is for someone else to judge later in the competition no doubt. You have to feel some sympathy for Waterloo who won 6 of the 7 games in their match but were still eliminated. It will be interesting to see if the new handicap system is up to the task as the rounds progress and then what the impact will be in the Bistro KO when it comes around where the 5-Pairs format tends to be a real leveller anyhow without a revised handicapping system. Time will tell.
There were two all-Division 1 clashes which saw Clayton West beat Lowerhouses 150-84 and then Lockwood Con 'A' saw off Longwood 133-121. There were some close scorelines but no massive shocks in the other ties which saw Lockwood Con 'B', Shepley, Denby Dale, Thorpe Green, Lindley Lib 'A' and Thongsbridge 'A' all move into Round 2 (draw below) which will be played next month on neutral greens still to be allocated.
The last 16 teams in contention are made up of 6 from Division 1 and 7 from Division 2. Three of the six Division 3 teams that started the day in the competition remain involved after Round 1 namely Brockholes 'A', Lockwood Con 'B' and Denby Dale.
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