2019 Season 

Adam Taylor’s Report

CROFT MEN’S THURSDAY NIGHT B TEAM REPORT

The 2019 season was another enjoyable one for the Men’s B Team. Due to the restructure of the Newton Association we were placed in Section A, along with the Men’s A Team. Section A had 14 teams in total resulting in 26 league games throughout the season. Considering we only play once a week this meant that it was quite a challenge fitting all the games in and the final fixture was completed in mid-September.

The standard of the opposition was the strongest we have faced to date. 6 victories were recorded in total, with a couple of narrow defeats. Our final league position was 13th and we wait to hear which section we will be placed in next season.

I’m pleased to report that we welcomed three new players to the team who settled in immediately. On an individual note, Jim Thomason was the leading player with 20 wins out of 26 played. This also placed Jim 5th in the overall league averages.

As ever, thanks to the team’s commitment this season and thanks to the ladies for giving up their time at the home games.
Adam Taylor

Dave Pownall’s Report

TUESDAY AFTERNOON SENIORS ‘A’ TEAM REPORT 2019

Quite a successful season taking everything into consideration. The team finished in eighth position out of fourteen teams in the 1st division, which is a fair achievement considering the strength of the teams involved.

Most weeks we were competing with the bare eight players required, which is not very satisfactory, meaning that players were not having to compete for their place in the team.

There were two outstanding players, namely, Jim Thomason who won 19 out of the 25 games he played and Steve Grimshaw who won 18 out of the 25 games he played. Very well done to both of them; they both only missed one game each all season.

We are hopefully going to recruit two new players for the coming season to strengthen the team and make us more competitive. Thanks to everyone who helped to make it a successful and enjoyable season.
Dave Pownall

Eric Stokes’ Report

2019 SENIORS ‘C’ TEAM

The season started well with a good win at home to Rainhill.

Top players of the season were David Sawyer followed by Roy Wallis, Rod Bevin and Sam Hughes. John Rathbone was unable to play due to a bad back but is hoping to be fit enough for the 2020 season.

A number of games were lost mid-season but we finished well with three wins, ending the season in the bottom half of the section. Hopefully our position will improve next year.

Once again to my thanks to my vice-captain Sam Hughes for all his help and support.
Eric Stokes

2018 Season

Derek Ryder’s Report

CROFT A THURSDAY NIGHT TEAM

Well here we are already into 2019 and really looking forward to the new bowling league season.

2018 started really well with the team winning its first three matches. Unfortunately that was short lived as we entered a difficult phase of the season with six matches lost, although most of these were pretty evenly matched. Three matches were lost by 1, 3 and 4 points when some of our stronger players weren’t present for differing reasons.

However in true ‘A’ team style we rallied at the latter end of the season with the team winning five of its last six matches. As a result we moved from next to bottom of the division to finish fourth and we collected prize money of £60.00 from the Newton Association who generously pay down to fourth place in each of the divisions.

We had eighteen registered players in 2018 with two of these being emergency members only. We are hopeful of a couple of new members joining us for 2019 which would once again provide us with a squad of eighteen from which to select our weekly team of ten players.

As team captain I would like to extend my thanks to all of the team for their commitment to our Thursday night Croft ‘A’ team and just maybe in 2019 we might be able to improve upon our best ever finish in 2018.
Derek Ryder
Team Captain

Our previous reports were from:

Adam Taylor, captain of the Croft ‘B’ team who play in the Newton and District Thursday night league, Eric Stokes, captain of the Croft Seniors ‘C’ team who play in the Newton and District Tuesday league, Sam Hughes, captain of the Croft Friday Night Team, Paul Caddick, captain of Croft Seniors ‘A’ team who play in the Newton and District Tuesday League and Ken Taylor, captain of the Croft Seniors ‘B’ team who also play in the Newton and District Tuesday League. Thanks to everyone for submitting their reports which you can read below.

Ken’s Report

Well that’s another season over and it was blessed by a great summer. The weather gave a distinct advantage to all the home teams making some greens virtually impossible to play for any away teams. Overall we had a successful season maintaining our position in C Division finishing fourth on 31 points.
There were some outstanding results from:-

T Gittins. Played 18. Won 14
B Wilson. Played 18. Won 14
P Reynolds. Played 20. Won 13
R Jones. Played 16. Won 12

We had 12 Registered players, but sometimes we were down to a bare 8, through holidays and other commitments. We really could do with more players. There is a real willingness to win amongst the players, and team spirit, come and join us and you will be made most welcome.
Being Captain I would like to thank all the team members for their achievements over the past two seasons, and look forward to the next season. Also I would like to thank my Vice Captain MR BEV FRYER for the good work he does for the team, which at times goes unnoticed. Once again I thank MR ALAN TAYLOR who gave us his support and when called upon played when needed, and made himself available throughout the season. Regards Ken Taylor.

Paul’s Report

The ‘A’ team had a tough start to the 2018 season with games against four of the league’s stongest teams, namely Golborne, Unison, Garswood and Eccleston. We eventually registered our first win of the season in game 5 against Parr Conservatives.

We did struggle at times to field a competitive team in what is a very strong division despite having sixteen players signed on, and on two occasions we played without a full team. However a mid season run of five successive wins secured our position in Section ‘A’ for the 2019 season.

Once again our star player was Jim Thomason who registered fifteen wins throughout the season. This was no mean feat in what is a highly competitive division.

The ‘A’ team would like to strengthen for the forthcoming season if at all possible. Hence we would ask that anyone reading this report either from the Association or as a prospective new member who would like to take the opportunity to play in Section ‘A’ should register their interest with Paul at – paul.caddick@hotmail.co.uk

Sam’s Report

Croft Friday Night Team Report for 2018
The men’s Friday Night Team play in the Warrington and North Cheshire Bowling Association League. The team consists of 12 players and to ensure availability for each match we had a registered complement of 20 players for the 2018 season. The method of scoring is based on 1 point per win from each of the 12 games, plus 2 points for an aggregate home win or 3 points for an aggregate away win. The home team is therefore playing for a maximum of 14 points per match whilst the away team plays for 15 points.
Croft have played in the Friday Night league for many years, competing initially in Section E until 2014 and thereafter in Section D as the number of teams reduced and the league was reformed into 4 sections from 5. The team from Croft has usually finished in the mid-table range with the best position being achieved in 2012 coming 4th out of 8 teams at an average of 7.5 points per match. The 2018 season however has seen our best performance to date recording 3rd position out of 9 teams at an average of 7.8 points per match. The eventual winner and runner up was Richmond A and Orford War Memorial respectively. The standard of bowling is very competitive, so this was a significant achievement from every member of the team. Although we missed out on promotion we were rewarded for our efforts with £85.00 in prize money. At this point it would be appropriate to recognise our best performers. Jim Thomason achieved the best average of 20.2 chalks per game and Paul Reynolds won 13 games from 16 played. Well done to both of them.
In addition to the league games Croft also competed in the 3 following competition’s:-
• The Stan Bann Cup (10 man team) :- Lost in the 2nd round to Penketh Park.
• Warwick Lowe Trophy (5 man team) :- Lost to Rylands A in the 1st round.
• Centenary Trophy (8 man team) :- lost in the 2nd round to Padgate Canaries.
Having hosted the final of the Centenary Trophy in 2017 Croft Bowling Club was pleased to be chosen as a neutral venue to host 5 games from our 3 competitions.
Over recent years the number of active bowlers in the WNCBA league has been in decline. The association has therefore been considering a number of changes to overcome the problem of absentees on the team sheets. The 2019 season will therefore see a reduction in playing numbers for each team in the Friday Night League from the present 12 to 10. This change will obviously mean less game time overall and more competition for places. All team members were consulted on this issue and agreed to support the change. It will be a challenge but we have a great team spirit and everybody knows that team selection will be made on a fair and equitable basis and that each member will get the opportunity to play. We look forward to the 2019 season.
Sam Hughes
Team Captain

Eric’s Report

The 2018 season started well with a good win at the home of the eventual champions Leigh RU. However the team only won three more games during the remainder of the season, eventually finishing second from bottom of Division 3.

Our top player for the 2018 season was Phil Sharratt who won 70% of his matches. Dave Sawyer and Rick Lowton also played well with each of them winning 45% of their games, whilst our most improved player during the season was Les Griffiths. It was unfortunate for both John Rathbone and Phil Ellis that they missed the whole of the season through injury.

I would like to thank all my team members for the team spirit that they displayed during the 2018 season even when it was clear that we were going to finish near the bottom of the league. Particular thanks go to my vice-captain Sam Hughes for all his help throughout the year.

It’s likely that we will be relegated to Section ‘D’ for the 2019 season but I’m confident that we will soon be back to winning ways once again. In that respect I would like to wish all the ‘C’ team a successful season in 2019.

Adam’s Report

– The 2018 season was another excellent year for our team following promotion to Section B of the Newton & District League. The standard of the opposition was notably stronger than previous years yet we managed to finish mid table following some excellent victories, including a close fought win at home against the runaway league leaders.
Our team was highly competitive throughout the season and we had some great games, both at home and throughout the local area. In total the team managed to win six out of nine home games whilst picking up two away wins. This resulted in a final league position of 6th out of 10. A decent effort given that it was our first season in this division.
Match nights were really enjoyable with all members mucking in to mark cards, measure ends, organise the raffle and offer support to their teammates on the green. The spirit throughout the team was as good as ever and it’s a pleasure to be the captain. It’s thanks to this atmosphere that all bowlers, both new and experienced, have been able to improve their bowling and to contribute to the overall success of the team.
It was also great to be able to play our Croft A team in the league for the first time. Honours were shared, with the away team finishing as victors in both games, and we’re looking forward to playing again next season.
Special thanks, as always, for the ladies coming down to support the team and to look after the thirsty bowlers. It’s this family feel that makes the bowling evenings such a great night.
Finally, if there are any bowlers looking to join a team for next season then feel free to give me a call. We’re always looking for new members regardless of previous experience. Friendly tuition can be provided from a number of our existing team members. Regards Adam – 01925 968022.